A Great Start

I realize I have not posted in a very long time. With working full time and then trying to give Danika as much face time as I can (and sometimes being selfish of "me-time") I do not get to blog as much as I would like sometimes.

But yesterday Danika and I had a conversation that I knew I would regret not writing down and sharing.

I have been reading Elisabeth George's Raising a Daughter After God's Own Heart. One of the "tasks" she greatly encourages is preaching/teaching your daughter. That we should be the farmer casting out seeds of salvation to our children and praying daily that a seed would land on good soil and grow to a desire to know and love Him. She continues to calm down those worried about preaching and encourages us to just talk. She even said how easy is that to ask women to talk! :)

Yesterday after I got home from work Danika and I were snuggling on my bed. As we laid there and she told me about school I felt like I really should try to turn the conversation towards God. So I asked her what her favorite thing about God was. In the past I have asked her this and her answer would be "He plays with me" or some other cute answer. But this day she said "I love how He takes care of us". Just this answer alone fills me with joy knowing that at 4 she knows that God watches over us and protects us.

As we talked more about how God protects us and that He does so because He loves us so much, she turns the conversation over to how He died for us and His blood covers our hearts and makes them white. I had taught her class at church for Valentines Day a version of the wordless bible using hearts and the colors (black=sin, red=Jesus' blood, etc.).

While we laid there on my bed we went through what each heart meant again and talked about sin and heaven and Christ's blood. I told her that Jesus would clean a person's heart if they asked and believed that He died for them and rose again. Danika sat up, looked up (towards the ceiling) and said "Jesus, clean my heart."

I have to admit I was rather surprised. I was not expecting such a reaction from my squirrelly little girl. She turned to me and said, "Mommy, now you need to ask Jesus to clean your heart." I laughed and told her that I had asked Jesus to clean my heart and long time ago and that He lives in me. Not know how she would respond, or if she truly understood I asked her if she believed that Jesus died for her and rose again, that He cleaned her heart and made a place for her in heaven. To all these questions she answered yes. We prayed together quietly and talked about how angels would be cheering and singing. Danika pointed to different parts of the ceiling and said "angels over there are cheering, and angels over there are singing to Jesus!"

Such a sweet, sweet moment. I do now know how much she truly comprehends or if her prayer for Jesus to live in her heart was sincere or if she was just going along, but as my mom told me it is a great start, and I'll take it. :D

I look forward to more great conversations with her and will continue to pray fervently that Danika comes to know God and desires to grow closer to Him everyday.