Lessons from a little Blonde girl, be BOLD!

The week before last, something amazing happened. An ordinary morning in school unfolded to an extraordinary decision for Addisyn to give her life to Christ unprompted following our Bible time. I say unprompted, but these seeds have been planted for a long time as we have an amazing children’s ministry at our church and our kids are fed well with the Word of God. All Justin and I have done is make it easy for Addisyn to have her own personal relationship with knowing and loving God through reading His word daily, and practicing living out the Word of God.

That being said, it was an amazing moment when she began independently praying a prayer of salvation, almost without realizing what she was doing. I took the time to stop, explain, and pray with her, and then we rejoiced! We called Daddy and told him the good news, we celebrated, we made a big deal of it, because it IS a big deal! She knows she’s saved and this girl is committed to a life of following Jesus and is Heaven bound! I explained to her angels were rejoicing over her decision (Luke 15:10) and how amazing her choice was. It was a precious day!

That day, it dawned on me that we live very much in a world where this type of rejoicing is stifled, even if it be unintentional. Our next Sunday at church, our dear friend Angela greeted her with rejoicing and a brand new Bible, which she has adored reading each day (a totally sweet gesture from a totally sweet friend). There was cheering and clapping, and people nearby told her congratulations and it was sweet and special. It was amazingly unexpected! Why is it that our culture can easily celebrate and express excitement over sports and events, but become reserved when it’s about Jesus?

How is it that we can rep our sports teams, loudly cheer for and have whole parties for football games, but we’re hesitant to raise our hands in church to worship the one that created us? We cheer with delight for weddings, football games, births, and promotions. Children shriek for bubbles, and lollipops, and double scoops of ice cream, but their parents are hesitant to truly worship in church? What happened that made us think it’s okay to boisterously celebrate some victories, but that we should be timid in publicly and openly celebrating any victory with God?

I was sure to treat Addisyn’s big decision from quite the opposite point-of-view. At only 5-years-old, she is well aware of the responsibility with the decision she took. My goal in that moment was show her how proud I was of her and be sure that this was something she felt like shouting from the roof tops! We make a point to often expose and include our children in authentic worship; in our home, in our church, and even in our vehicles. My daughter will dance for Jesus and my son will sing loudly and raise his hands to God without prompting, and it’s amazing!

Perhaps it’s better to spend less time worrying about what the world, some opinion, or some outdated thought about reverence is, and more time intentionally creating authentic, real, amazing worship and celebration before the Lord. May we purposefully cheer for God louder than we cheer on our football teams, and may we forever worship Him as unapologetically as little children. May we all be this bold!