Austin and I have re-started devotions together every night before bedtime. I am the queen of good intentions, and over the past four years, we have been faithful about reading and praying before bed every night, but not always faithful about reading and discussing God’s Word!
This past Sunday while visiting my sister’s church, the pastor’s sermon tugged at my heart about my consistency with Austin reading the Bible every single day – and my responsibility as his mom to instill God’s Word in his life.
Fortunately for me, Austin is in a wonderful stage where he absolutely loves stories – and particularly Bible stories. I am also so grateful that he has a sharp memory. He remembers things that I forget we even talked about, and it never fails that I learn tremendous spiritual lessons from my four-year-old son!
For Example:
As we made a long drive this past weekend, Austin looked out the car window and up to the clouds. “Mom, where is heaven?” He asked.
“Well, sweetheart, no one really knows. So, most people just point up to the clouds and imagine that heaven must be up there since it is so far away.” I replied, wondering if he would comprehend any of my answer.
“And God lives in heaven, right?” He asked.
“Yes, sweetheart. Mommy and Daddy believe that God lives in heaven, but He is also everywhere. He is all around us at the same time.”
“And He lives in fire, right mom?”
I immediately thought of our assumptions and teachings about heaven v. hell.
“Fire? Why do you think that God lives in fire, buddy?” I asked.
“Because that is how Moses saw him.” He answered definitively.
And immediately I thought of the story of the burning bush. “Oh, bud. I guess that you are right. God did appear to Moses in the form of fire.”
“And didn’t God use fire for the people mom. You know, the people when they were walking?”
“Austin, are you talking about how God used fire to guide the Israelites out of Egypt?”
“Yes, mom.” He stated in matter-of-factly. “And… he continued. Didn’t he live in fire in his house?”
“Are you talking about the tabernacle?” I asked.
“Yes, mom.”
“Well, buddy. I guess that you are right. God does use fire to show himself to people in the Bible. I just didn’t know that you remembered all of those stories.”
How am I going to keep up with this one???
So last night, I decided that we would just focus on the classic story of David and Goliath.
We read from a children’s Bible and then I asked Austin if there was anyone that he wanted to pray for.
“No.” he said. “Just mommy, daddy, and Austin.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” I said. “That’s fine. You pray for Mommy, Daddy, and Austin and I am going to pray for Grandpa again tonight. He is still fighting against cancer – just like David fought against that big giant, Goliath. Your grandpa is fighting a big disease right now, and we need to pray that he will win.”
“Don’t worry, mom.” Austin said. “David didn’t have any trouble at all beating that giant.”
And this was his prayer.
“Dear Jesus,
Thank you for this day. I hope you pray for Mommy, Daddy, and Austin. I pray for Grandpa that you would help him fight against cancer. And I thank you so much that my grocery store sells lime sherbet. Please help them to always sell lime sherbet.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.”
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