and the heavens rejoiced

On November 2, 2010 our precious N' asked how he could go to "God's heaven." We were completing a Bible lesson about God's faithfulness based on the story of Joseph and his brothers. He asked about how God could forgive Joseph's brothers for doing such a bad thing (selling Joseph and then lying about it). Soooo we talked again about sin (which we've discussed several times before) and about Jesus, the cross, and resurrection. He said, "that was bad" about the scourging and the cross and then said "that was pretty nice" about Jesus' willingness to suffer and die so that he could take the punishment for our sins. I explained (not for the first time) that Jesus did all that so that we could enter heaven when we die and spend forever with God.

So, N' asked how he could go to God's heaven when he dies. (I love how he kept calling it that.) So we talked it all through and he said that he loved Jesus and he was sorry for doing things that make God sad (sin) and that he wanted to ask Jesus to come into his heart. Oh I wanted to melt into a puddle of happy tears on the spot, but instead I said we should wait and talk to daddy about it when he got home from work.

So, we waited and I called PT to let him know there was an exciting conversation to have once he got home. It was a looooongggg night. N' tried to ask PT about it at dinner but it was just not a great time to doublecheck that he understood it all with the other kids interrupting every few minutes, so we just had to wait.

Finally at bedtime we put everyone down and then pulled N' out for a few minutes. PT talked with him to see where his heart was at and to make sure he understood what he was asking to do. I was there too and it was so sweet to hear him talk about it all. When PT asked him if he loved Jesus he said, "Of course I love Jesus." Hee hee! That's a good answer!

Anyway, we all talked through it all again right down to explaining again that you just need to pray and tell God that you love him, that you're sorry for making God sad by sinning, that you believe that Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for your sins, and that He was made alive again three days later, that you want Jesus to come into your heart, and that you want to spend forever with God. Then PT told him that he could tell God those things any time and that he and mommy would be glad to help him do that.

AND THEN PT asked him if he wanted to pray that prayer. AND HE WANTED TO! So, I sat on a couch in a room in a house and listened as my beloved husband helped my precious son become a believer!!!