A Child of God!!! . . . August 28, 2011

So, I'm not going to be able to wait until the end of this blog to let you know that - Aleeya accepted Jesus as her Savior tonight!!!!  It was wonderful and incredible and amazing, and all in God's perfect plan!

From the moment we knew we were going to adopt, we have been praying for our girl to come to know Jesus.  As we have prayed for Austin, Alec, and Ashley to accept Jesus as their Savior, we began the same with our new child!  Once I met her in June, the prayers began to become much more intense as I could now see her face and care for her even more deeply.

Since she has been in our home, she has been introduced to Christian music, a church where people love Jesus, a Christian school that teaches about Jesus daily, and a time where we read the Bible together as a family every night.  I remember those first couple of weeks as she began reading a children's Bible.  I could see that she seemed so interested.  I would pray as she read that God would open her eyes to the things of Him.

We have had quite a few talks about God and Jesus, and she has been very open and asked lots of questions.  Just last week, she began praying before a couple of meals in our home and I was pretty shocked.  When we first met her and went out to eat together, I remember her having a very unsure look on her face as we began to pray together before our meal and I wondered if she had ever prayed before.  Over vacation, I realized that the Royal Family Kids Camp had introduced her to some great Christian songs that spoke volumes on who God is, and I wondered if she had a relationship with Jesus.

There have been many times that I have wanted to sit down and find out if she wanted to accept Jesus, but I was concerned that she would do it more to make me happy and because she wanted to please us.  I very much wanted to be sure this was her decision and not something she had to do to be a "part of the Butler family."  I was thankful for the times when it came up naturally, but didn't want to push the decision on her.  I desperately wanted her to go to heaven when she died and to become a true child of God, but wanted to be sure it was God leading her.

Over the past month, we have been attending Club 56 (a special church service for kids in 5th and 6th grade) with Aleeya each week at church.  Their pastor does an incredible job teaching the kids about Jesus in a fun environment with sound effects, videos, and great passion.  I asked him recently if he would be sharing about salvation soon, and he told me that he would be doing that this weekend.  I began praying earnestly that God would use his message in her life.  At the end of the service, there was a really great video showing many of the works of Jesus, as well as his death and resurrection.  I asked her what she thought of it, and she said she could watch it all day, that she loved it!  I wondered if she had responded to his invitation to pray with him to receive Jesus, and he said she had not.  Part of me was glad because I really wanted to explain it all and be a part of this decision in her life, and part of me wondered if she had already accepted Jesus into her heart and life.  I had seen such love and kindness already displayed in her life and thought she may already know Jesus personally.  Throughout the day, God continued to work in my life and let me know that He wanted me to talk with her more about this important, life-changing decision.

So, tonight was the night!  I invited her into my room, and we sat on the bed.  I told her that I wanted to see what she thought about what was shared in Club 56 this morning and be sure she understood everything.  I asked her if she knew for sure that she would go to heaven when she died and she said "no."  I told her that the Bible tells us how to be sure, and I wanted to tell her about it.  She seemed happy to listen and have this time with me.  I explained about how in the Old Testament, the priests used to sacrifice a lamb to cover the sins of the people and the blood of the lamb would cover their sin for awhile.  But God decided that there needed to be a payment made once and for all for the sins of the people.  We talked about how we have all sinned and that sin makes it impossible to be worthy of being with God, because He is holy and perfect.  I told her that Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life and died on the cross to be the perfect "Lamb of God" and die for our sins.  His blood covered our sins and now He offers us this "gift" of eternal life when we believe in Him.  I told her that the greatest part about Jesus is that He rose again three days later (unlike all the other gods that people worship), and He is alive today.  We talked about how He created her and loves her so much, and how He longs to have her as part of His family, to be her heavenly Father that will never fail her (I reminded her that we will fail her at times because we aren't perfect, but He is)!  I told her that this was a decision that only she could make.  She had some great questions and we continued to talk for awhile.  I asked her if she had ever prayed to accept Jesus.  She said that she sometimes would pray after our family quiet time to ask God to forgive her of her sins.  I asked if she had ever asked Him to be her Savior and she said "no."  We talked about how Jesus has this "gift" for her, but it wouldn't be hers unless she decided to take it for herself.  When I asked if she wanted to pray and ask Jesus into her life, she said "yes."  She then prayed and asked Jesus to forgive her of her sins, and told Him that she believed that He died for her sins and rose again three days later, and she asked Him to be her Savior and help her live for Him.  When we finished, she had the biggest, sweetest smile and a great sparkle in her eye.

It was about time for our family quiet time, and I asked her if she wanted to tell everyone.  She quietly said, "no, I want to keep it to myself for now."  I told her that was fine, but let her know that our family would be really excited about this.  Then she said, "maybe we could tell them together."  The smile and gleam on her face as we sat together to read was awesome!  When we went to pray together, I mentioned that we had some exciting news.  When I told everyone, they all said "yay" and Scott and Ashley gave her hugs.  It was AWESOME!  Before she went to bed, she thanked me for telling her about Jesus.  It was so great to know that our whole family has accepted Him into their lives and will someday be in heaven together!!!  This adoption by God into His family is by far the most important one ever and we are so happy for all He is doing in her life and in ours!!!!  Now there is a new name written in the lambs book of life and a celebration going on in heaven!

One other note - she still is a little shy about sharing things with others at times, so please let her tell you about this on her own when she is ready.  Thanks so much!