Part 3 of 3: A few things I pray for my children | REALNESS

When my oldest was probably around the age of 8 or 10 I began a new prayer for him, a prayer of realness. I began to pray asking for God to show Himself to my son in ways that a child of his age would surely know -this really is the Lord.

I pray for all of my children asking - God, please show Yourself to them, be real to them, in ways that their young minds can comprehend. God, I try to connect with them on their level and plenty of times I fail. You, God, are not bound to being real to only those who have matured minds and grown in the knowledge of You. I know that You can connect with my children right where they are in their little lives.

As parents we are the #1 spot in their lives to witness the realness of Jesus to them. We do our best to live out our Christian life before them. In my prayer, I want more than that for them simply because I am prone to mess up and hurt my children's feelings. I pray that my children will not mimic my faith in Christ- I want them to own their faith in Christ, it is their life, it is their relationship with the Savior. My faith in Christ will not save them.

Watching them follow Christ because they want to and watching them grow in the love of Christ all because they  know  the  gospel  is  real  gives  my  momma's  heart  no greater  joy.

I'm not at all asking for a hocus-pocus type of experience like the story of the boy who died and went to heaven, and yet awoke back on earth to tell of his divine encounter. I'm not starting a controversial conversation about that boy's story. I just mean to use it as an example against my prayer.

Here's a personal story of realness in my oldest son's life- God showed Himself to him when he thought he was saved.

At a VBS when Joseph was 8 years old

he accepted Christ as his Savior and was baptized.

However, that moment in his life turned out not

to be real to him after all.

I think he was in reaction to the promise of

heaven after we die. Who doesn't want to believe

that they will be heaven bound after earthly death?

Another key factor, I think, was that he knew

accepting Christ was a part of his parents' life; so

he must follow. To him it was a good and right thing

to do.

Jump to when he was 13 years old-

he was at a youth camp. He heard the gospel, just as every

Sunday at church, but this time was different.

Somehow in some way God revealed Himself to our

son showing him that his heart had not really entered into

a relationship with His Son. God, who is always real,

met him tangibly on that day. I imagine that Joseph felt as

 if he could reach out and physically grab the hand of Jesus.

In a quick response to the realness of God

 he bowed his heart in realness and truth

to Christ his Lord. He was baptized once again except, for him,

 this time it was real in the truth.

I now pray the same prayer for all of my children. I continue the prayer for them even as they keep growing in years.

HERE IS THE LINK TO PART #1 | DISCERNMENT
http://herdepressionherhome.blogspot.com/2016/06/part-1-few-things-i-pray-for-my.html

HERE IS THE LINK TO PART #2 | REALNESS
http://herdepressionherhome.blogspot.com/2016/06/part-3-of-3-few-things-i-pray-for-my.html