A New Beginning

This evening the most amazing thing happened. I was lying on my son’s bed. We were reading the Bible, doing devotions, and prayers. He had had a rough day too. He said to me, “Mommy, I just can’t do what God wants me to do”. I told him that none of us can but God gave us a way to be close to him when He gave us Jesus. I asked him if he believed that Jesus was the Son of God. I then asked if he understood that Jesus died for us so the bad things we’ve done won’t be held against us when we die and stand before God. He said yes to both. I then asked him if he would like to know Jesus so that He could be right with God. He again said yes.
My son and I prayed. It was such a simple prayer and hearing it in the words of my four-year-old son was amazing. He said, “Dear God, thank you for this day. I believe Jesus is your son. I believe Jesus died for me. I'm sorry for the bad things I've done. Forgive me. Jesus, please come into my heart. Thank you. Amen.”
There was such magnificent power in that short little prayer my son said. I helped him with some of the words but most of it was his. It really put in perspective how a childlike prayer is all we need to say sometimes. It takes only a small drop of faith to say this and know that the prayer is answered the moment it is said.
My son looked at me afterwards and smiled. Then he kissed me on the cheek and said, “Mommy, Jesus is in my heart.” I am in awe over this.
As if this wasn’t enough, something else happened. I was sitting on my bed writing to my friends about my son and I saw something fly into the lamp. I looked over and there was a ladybug. Maybe that doesn’t seem like such a big deal but I’ve always loved ladybugs and I’ve always associated springtime with them.
When I think of springtime, I think of a new beginning. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Spring has always been a time of rebirth and life. That ladybug was like a promise to me. It was a small reminder of the great things that are yet to come.
God is only a prayer away. Jeremiah 29:13 says, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." God answers prayers. Sometimes he doesn't answer them the way we think they should be answered but He answers. As we draw closer to Him, His plans become more understandable. God's plan from the beginning was to have creation be in full communion with Him. When Adam and Eve chose to disregard God's plans, the earth and all creation suffered.
God longs for us to come to Him. He wants us to trust Him. It seems so simple a solution and yet it is the hardest thing to do. Our lives become so complicated and the simplicity of the gospel becomes distorted. We choose to believe lies rather than trust a God who longs to save us from the pain and sorrow. We get lost in the translation so to speak. We become so busy and will try to find any other way to overcome our inner demons that will not lead us to God.
Jim Elliot once said, "He is no fool if he would choose to give the things he cannot keep to find what he can never lose." Jim died as a missionary in Ecquador. Later, his wife Elizabeth and their children went back to the very tribe who murdered her husband and the other missionaries. That tribe eventually saw God in that simple act of love. The one who murdered Jim came to Christ and has become a father to Jim's son. It's a true story...and a story of new beginnings.
That is what God is all about. He wants a new beginning for all of us.