I just had the most wonderful conversation with Andrew and Amerie!! It was one of those talks that started out on one topic and moved into something that was completely different, but the presence of the Spirit was so strong, I'm confident He had a hand in it!!
We were talking about dreams. They were in bed and were supposed to be sleeping, and I had gone up to shush them. :) They each wanted to tell me about dreams they had, and after they each had a turn, Amerie asked me to share one of my own. I told them about a dream I had when I was about their age (Andrew is 5 1/2 and Amerie is almost 4). To this day, my grandmother still remembers me waking and telling her about it. My response to the dream led my grandmother to believe it really happened. My entire life I have firmly believed in it, too.
I dreamt that i had gone to a church, one that I had never been in before. The church consisted of a sanctuary full of windows along both sides, with full summer sunlight light streaming in. Before entering the church, there was a large vestibule, with hooks around the walls for hanging coats. I was waiting in the vestibule, alone, but I wasn't frightened. I looked towards the entrance to the sanctuary, and Jesus came walking towards me. He was wearing a white gown, like most pictures show Him in. He had on a sash over the gown, which He removed and hung on a hook, grabbing a similar sash to put on in it's place. The two sashes were different colors, but I only remember that one of them was a beautiful light blue. After He changed sashes, He walked right to me and said, "Hello Elizabeth!" He knealt down next to me and we talked. I do not remember how long, or what we talked about. But we talked. Like He was a friend I had known forever and He wanted to personally ask me how I was and what was going on in my life. And He told me He loved me. I was very aware of the joy that He had and love that filled Him. I also remember that, although I was a painfully shy child, I felt completely comfortable with Him. I even have a vague memory of sitting in His lap. I wanted to stay with Him.
I told it to my kids, with less detail, and by the time I had finished, Amerie was quite upset and crying. Obviously, this was not a dream that I thought would upset either one of them!! I asked her what was wrong, and she started crying harder. She said that she's never gotten to meet Jesus, not even in a dream and she really, really wants to. I know this child, who has the biggest heart I've ever seen, already loves her Jesus very much. So I asked her if she wanted to pray about it and tell Jesus how much she wants to meet Him. In that moment, when I asked her if she wanted to pray, I felt the Holy Spirit completely surround the 3 of us. He was there with us in that room tonight. I felt it so strongly.
I prayed that He would hear her heart and that it would be tender to her request and her desire to meet Him. I asked that He would come to her in her dream tonight, and Andrew's, and that the Holy Spirit would speak to both of them. I asked that they would wake up in the morning with shining faces remembering the time they spent with Him. I asked Him to have it in His hands. And then I told them about the Holy Spirit, and how we have spirits, which are inside of us and do all the thinking and control of our bodies. I explained that when we die, our spirit is what goes to Heaven, even though our body stays on Earth. And then I told them that Jesus is in Heaven waiting for us, but when He died, He sent HIS Spirit down here to Earth, to live in us and stay with us all the time. We can't see Him, but we can talk to Him whenever we want. And when we are old enough to know how to listen, He will speak back to us. I told them that I talk to Him all day, and He talks to me. He tells me what choices to make, and what the future holds. He tells me how to take care of each of them and what kind of mommy I should be. And He tells me over and over that He is watching over us and taking care of us.
They are young. I'm sure that someone may be thinking "that's a lot for a 3 and 5 year old to understand." But you know what? They hung on every word. They had questions and responses when I was done that assured me they "got it." I know they understood as much as their little minds possibly can. And they see it in me. I am living that faith out every day and telling them about it every moment that I can. Aimee has already accepted Christ's death on the cross, and she feels very strongly that the Lord is asking her to be baptized.
I have been praying that the Lord would help me pass my faith on to each and every one of my children, and on nights like tonight, when we talk about Him and we pray together, I feel His prescence surrounding us and their faces shining with their love for Him. I am reassured that my prayers are being heard and that my children are already getting to know Him. I want them to have the relationship with the Holy Spirit that I have, if not even better. I want so much for them to lay all that they are at His feet and ask Him to wreck them. To tear up who they are and rebuild them into a reflection of Himself.
Only then can they truly experience who He is and what He has in store for them.
Only then can they know the pure joy of the Lord.
And only then can they see a glimpse of eternity and the endless communion and fellowship in His court. And what He wants SO MUCH to share with them and do in, and through, them while they are here on Earth. I pray they desire that relationship.
Tonight, they were introduced to the Holy Spirit. They heard, once more, that Jesus is with us and they can talk to Him whenever they want. They talked about Him like He's a personal friend of the family, and sweet little Amerie cried because she wants to see Him in front of her. To walk with Him, smile up at His face, and hold His hand. I know He loves them even more than I do, and He wants to see them fulfill every purpose and plan He has for them.
I am confident that He has my children in His hands, and that He is already calling their hearts. And my heart is so glad.
We serve an awesome God!!
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