And Can It Be?

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

I can't stop singing this song. 

Our first child was born in the last few hours of December 2003. He was born again on September 21, 2011. That's right- God saved our Noah last Wednesday night!

I want to start by saying that David and I are THE reluctant "my-kid-got-saved" parents. I wouldn't say that we are critical of a young child's decision to follow Christ, but we are cautious- very cautious. In regard to salvation and my children, I have often prayed: "God- let it be clear. Let there be no question."

And God was faithful!

Wednesday evening, after he had been in his bed for quite some time, Noah came out of his room and told both David and I a story from earlier that day in chapel at their school. He said (and this is not verbatim):

"Today in chapel, I saw a chandelier. It was a beautiful chandelier. The top was big and it was gold. This gold was God. And beneath the gold there were many lights that came down and around the gold. Those were the angels worshiping God. And in the middle of the lights, there was more gold. That gold was coming down in the middle of the lights. That gold was Jesus and he was coming down to save people from their sin."

Jaws dropped, and feeling like we had walked into an old testament prophecy, David and I muttered a "WOW" and sent our little prophet back to bed. 

Noah grabbed a Bible and laid back down. About 30 minutes later, I was folding some laundry in the hallway outside his bedroom. Noah casually walked out of his room, looked in my eyes, and said: "I just became a Christian, Mom."

As I have said many times in the past, I replied: "That's wonderful, Noah. How do you know that you became a Christian?" It was then that our great God placed himself on display in our upstairs hallway as my broken son spilled out the Gospel- justification, sanctification, and all- like it was the simplest concept one could know. He professed:

"Jesus is cool." Basic, but true.

"I had a heart that was black. Now it is white as snow. God doesn't see my sin anymore. When He looks at me, he see Jesus." Did my son really just get substitutionary atonement?

"I feel like the Holy Spirit is in me now. I feel sick, but happy." I felt the same way, Noah. That is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!

I have continually prayed for my children to have a boring testimony. A boring testimony is a powerful testimony! Why do we believe that the Christian that God snatches back from addiction, abuse, unrepentant sin, atheism, etc. has a more powerful testimony than the gentle child that was rescued from his sin as a young boy?

We are praising God for saving our Noah and we are praising Him that Noah responded in obedience. We are seeing the fruits of repentance in our sweet boy on a daily basis. Does he still have the same sin struggles? Of course. Our job as parents, however, just got more complicated. Now we not only teach, train, correct, and discipline our son, but we also have the responsibility and privilege of bearing the burdens of and speaking truth into the life of our now brother in Christ. 

Thank you, God, for hearing the cries of two needy parents and rescuing our son from sin and death. We pray the same for our other children as well. To God be the glory!