The First Day of....

...our daughter Lulu's new life in Christ!

Today she prayed that God would save her!

 Mark and I have been noticing for about the last year or so that Lulu has been really interested in heaven and hell.  She loves talking about Jesus dying on the cross and why He did that.  She's been asking so many wonderful questions and has shown concern for people in our life that don't love and follow Jesus.  Her heart has always been burdened for the lost people in our family.  She prays for these family members who don't follow Jesus because she knows that they are heading to hell and that really bothers her.  She knows that when they are in hell there is no way for them to get out.  She knows they will eternally be separated from God with no hope.  She wants so badly for these family members and friends to know and love Jesus so they won't be in hell when they die.  But what Lulu didn't know (maybe she did) is that her dad and I have been praying for her. We have been praying that her love for Jesus and the lost would turn into her crying out to God to save her.  We have been praying that God would save Lulu and that He would draw her to Him at a young age.  The thing that Mark and I have also been praying is that it would not be our doing but God's.  We didn't want to have her repeat some prayer that we told her to pray.  We truly wanted to see a heart change in her and for her to see her sins and want to run to our Lord to save her.

This morning we were all talking about heaven and hell.  We were talking about that many people don't believe in hell, they just like to believe in heaven.  We talked about how we know hell is real and that God has made it very clear in the Bible that hell is a real place.  Also God has made if very clear that EVERYONE is heading there.  Why?  Because of our sins.  Some questions we asked: Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stole anything?  Those are just 2 of the 10 commandants that God gave us.  If  you have done any of those then you are guilty of sin.  If you are guilty of sin where do you think God should send you?  Heaven????? No, you are guilty!  Hell is where sinners go.  And God has made it very clear that being a good person will not make up for your sins and being good will not get you into heaven. It's only by Jesus who died on the cross paying our debt that we owed.  We were sinners and Jesus stepped in and payed the price for OUR sins so that we can be in heaven someday with Him.   

So Lulu, Mark and I talked about her sins.  She told us she has sinned.  I then asked her if she were to die today where would she go?  And she told me "hell." She was very concerned and very burdened that this was where she was heading.  We told her that her mommy and daddy were once heading to hell.  We also told her that we cried out to God to save us and that we needed Jesus and His amazing grace.  She thought about all of this for a bit.  We could see in her eyes and how she was in deep thought all morning that God was working on her heart. Mark told Lulu that when God calls us we don't wait.  We need to run to Him right then.  Then she thought some more.  Mark and I started talking a bit and noticed that Lulu wasn't next to us.  We were wondering where she went.  We looked out in the living room and found her.  I asked her if she was praying and she said "yes." So we told her to go down to her room and spend some time praying to God and that when she was done to come out and tell us.  She was so excited that she ran down the hall into her room.  While she was down there Mark and I sat and prayed for her.  When she was done she came back down the hall with tears running down her cheeks.  She was crying tears of joy.  She was so joyful and she had a peace about her.  It was such an amazing thing to witness.  Mark and I were crying, Lulu was crying.  It was so special.  Lulu was so happy and was dancing around the house because she was a new creation in Christ.  

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

We have been celebrating all day what Jesus did for Lulu.  Jesus died on the cross for our sins and it is an amazing feeling to know that our little girl is now saved.