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October 17, 2005

let Willik come to me...

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14 (NIV)

Wow! I'm not even sure how to go about writing about this, but I have awesome news.
Tonight, in the middle of dinner, Willik prayed to ask Jesus to forgive him, and be in his heart.
Yeah, I know that some might think he's too young to do this. Some of you might be wondering how I know this to be true. So, let me tell you about the unfolding of the event, and you can decide what you may. Either way, God knows...

The conversation that led to the prayer was one where Willik was telling me about who his school "buddies" are. He then went on to say that his brother, Phoenix was a best buddy, and so was I. Then I reminded him about how his brother should be always be a "best" buddy, and he should treat him right, and teach him right, cause his brother loves him and looks up to him so much.
We continued talking about how Phoenix "copies" Willik, weather he does good or bad things, and so, to make things better, and happier for everyone, Willik should try and teach him the right things.
Willik went on to say, that way Jesus can be happy, and we (mom and dad) can be happy too.

Then Willik said that "when you do things wrong everyday, Jesus throws you into the place with the fire." I took the chance to explain to him that we need to ask Jesus for forgiveness for the things we do that are wrong, and when we do, he helps us, and he lives in our heart so that he can always help us, and if we believe that Jesus died on the cross, and we really believe and want that, then he won't throw us into the fire.

To back up, you have to understand that Willik has been very interested in the subject of death and dying, and he knows that when you die, you will see Jesus, and he's very happy with this knowledge.
If you'll refer to a previous blog about his persistence in telling classmates about "everyone dies someday", you will get a better sense of what I mean.

Back to today's story, as I was in the middle of telling him this, he was interrupting me, and he told me he wanted to pray. I asked him to hold on, cause I wanted to finish speaking, plus I wanted to make sure he understood, cause I too, had my own skepticism about whether or not he understood. Throughout all this, Phoenix is making lots of noise, pushing off his high chair tray, and just making it very hard to have a conversation, much less pray. But even before I had a chance to get things quiet, Willik started to pray. As he began, and I tried to be praying alongside him, despite the noise, he started to pray for forgiveness, and without any prompting from me, he started to cry as he prayed.
He asked Jesus to be in his heart, and help him for the many wrong things he did, and he's still crying, but now he starts to laugh, cause he feels funny and embarrassed that he's crying...

At this point, I'm crying right along with him. I managed to get Phoenix out of his chair, and told him to go read a book, and I told Willik that it was okay to cry, because God likes it when we can feel sad, and we can let him know, and that he wants to know how we feel. So he continued praying and crying, and said that he believed that Jesus died on the cross, and the he wanted him. Amen.
We both wiped each others tears, and after a few minutes, we went on about our business. He finished eating his soup, I called Fabio, and then he talked to Fabio and told him.

If you'd asked me whether I thought he would pray this prayer this soon, I'm not sure I would have answered yes. I too wondered how I would know when that moment did happen for him. But now, as I was part of that moment, and saw his little 4-year-old brokeness before God, I know it was real.

So, I was gonna post a bit about the retreat our church had this weekend, but instead, I'll leave that for another day.
For now, just shower Willik with your prayers, that he can be a wonderful man of God, someday, and that God will continue to use Fabio and I to help him get there!

Posted by glassgirl at October 17, 2005 10:42 PM

Responses

Posted by: Nadia at October 18, 2005 10:21 PM

Posted by: Abuelo at October 20, 2005 11:33 PM

Posted by: Jill at October 21, 2005 06:20 PM

Posted by: Mércia at October 27, 2005 08:09 AM