Savannah Rose

My Dear Savannah,

Oh my, you are getting so big these days! You are three years old and so smart! You love to do school with mommy, learning your letters, numbers, and shapes, among other things. You love art projects, play doh, and painting. You also love to sing and dance and lately have demonstrated that you can be quite the actress as you act out scenes from your new favorite movie, Frozen. You always play Anna and you make me play Elsa. :) You have a lot to say and you always want to make sure that you are heard; you're full of opinions, too! You are a leader, it seems, especially when it comes to your relationship with your little sister. You also love to read your Jesus Storybook Bible, and you are always asking me to tell you more about Jesus and why He came to Earth as a baby.

This Christmas season we took time to celebrate Advent during the month of December. Each day we read from an Advent book and also had a little Advent ornament that we would turn to the proper day, and it would recite a piece of the Christmas story. You wanted to know why Jesus came to Earth as a baby, and your Daddy and I counted it as our privilege to open the Bible with you and show you why God's Son chose to do such a thing. We talked to you about how God created all of us and how He loves each of us so much. We talked about sin; you learned that sin is when we do something that we shouldn't do. You understood this concept very well, because you know what it means to do something "naughty". We talked about how all of us sin, and we all have sin in our hearts. Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." God loves us so much that he wanted to provide an atonement for our sins. Atonement is a big word, and since you're only three, you learned that we needed someone to pay the price for our sins, someone who could take our sin, and our dirty, sinful hearts, and wash those sins away so that we can be clean and white as snow. John 3:16 tells us that "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." You learned that Jesus came to Earth as a baby so that He could teach us about God, and our need for a Savior, and so that He could die on the cross to pay the price for our sins. This was God's plan for Him, but our Jesus did not stay dead! Oh, no! Death could not hold Him down, so on the third day, He rose again (which is what we celebrate on Easter!) and went to be in Heaven with God the Father. Because Jesus did this, we all have a chance to be in Heaven one day, too, and live eternally. God's Word tells us that if we say that we are sorry for our sins, and if we believe that Jesus is God's Son and that He died on the cross for us, and if we ask Him to wash away our sins and do our best to follow Jesus all the days of our lives, then we can become children of God. We can be free from sin and we can live eternally one day.

Well, this was a lot for a three year old to take in! But you kept asking questions, and we could see that your little mind was working. You have always had such a sensitive heart to spiritual matters, and you have always loved to learn about Jesus. Sometime after Christmas, we were talking again about what Jesus did on the cross, and it seemed that you began to understand that each of us has a choice to make. We can choose to confess our sins, ask for forgiveness, and follow Jesus. You were asking about this, and I told you that yes, everyone can decide to do this if they want to. I told you that I chose to do this when I was a little girl. You asked if Daddy also chose to do this, and I said yes, he did when he was a young boy. You then moved on to playing with your toys, but the seed was planted in your little heart!

A few nights later you and I were eating dinner together, and Hailey was with us in her highchair. Daddy was at work late, so it was just us girls. You were asking more questions. As we were talking, you looked at me and said, "Mommy, I want Jesus to wash my sins away! I want to follow Jesus, too." I told you that you could certainly do that when you were ready. Since you are so little, I thought maybe you would be satisfied with that for now and we would pick up our discussion again one day in the future. Instead, you were insistent. You said, "Mommy, I want to pray to Jesus right now. I want Him to wash my sins away and live in my heart. I want to follow Him." I asked you if you understood that you had sin, that we all do, and you said yes. I asked you to tell me again why Jesus died on the cross, and you told me that He did that so He could wash away our sins. I asked you if Jesus stayed in the tomb, and you said no, He rose again and He did not stay dead. I asked if you believed that Jesus was God's Son, and you said yes. I then asked if you wanted to follow Jesus and live for Him by learning from the Bible and always trying to do what God asks of us. You said yes! So right there at the dinner table, on Monday, January 13th, we prayed together. I led you in prayer, and you asked Jesus to wash away your sins and come to live "in your heart". You told Jesus that you loved Him and that you wanted to follow Him. After we prayed, you said, "Does Jesus live in my heart now, Mommy?" I assured you that He does, and that He will always be with you, and that you are a precious child of God.

My sweet little Savannah, this is the beginning of your faith journey, your walk with Jesus. You are so little right now, but you understand so much for just being three years old. I truly believe that on that cold January night you were quite sincere in repenting of your sins and asking Jesus to make your heart as white as snow.I know that since then you have been talking a lot about what Jesus wants you to do, how He wants you to live, and you always want to ask for His forgiveness after you do something that you know you shouldn't. I am sure that this is only the beginning of your faith journey and that as you grow in maturity and in understanding that you will make many other decisions to live for Jesus each day (at least I pray so!) and that you will continually gain understanding of what it means to truly be a child of God. For now I have started a daily Bible time with you each morning after breakfast, so that we can read God's Word together and keep on learning what Jesus did for us and what it means to follow Him! We have always read the Bible together, but by making it a daily discipline, I hope to model for you how important it is to have a daily meeting time with Jesus!

Mommy and Daddy love you so much, Savannah, and we want nothing more than for you to love Jesus wholly and completely and always strive to live for Him. We will always be here to help you along the way. Although we have each walked with Jesus for many years we are always still learning, too, what it means to follow Jesus, and we promise to do our best to be Godly examples for you and to teach you what God has been teaching us over the years.

Just keep your eyes on Jesus, sweet girl.

Love, love, love,

Mommy