He Prepares the Way

During the last week of Christmas break, Shawn and I found ourselves engaging in some deep conversation with Faith and Jaxon.  Randomly, they wanted to know everything their little brains could understand about heaven and hell.  We wanted to keep everything short and simple, but also kid-friendly.  But, each time we'd answer a question or two, it welcomed more and more questions from their sweet mouths.  The more questions posed, the deeper our conversation became with our four and five year old.  Each night I found myself praying for wisdom and discernment, because  I was only prepared to answer the surface-level questions...not the deep ones, I mean, they're so young.  Why did God create people who he knew wouldn't believe in Him?  Why did he create that mean Satan character?   The list goes on and on.

Upon arriving back to school from the break, I was called into the ESL teacher's classroom along with one of our school counselors.  She informed me that a little boy in Faith's homeroom class died over the break in a horrible, head-on collision with an eighteen wheeler.  My heart SANK!  I felt awful for the family. I felt guilty that I was getting to see Faith after school, and all that mother probably wished for was to see her son once more.  My counselor encouraged me to talk to Faith that evening because her school counselor was going to talk to the entire class that next morning.  I got a phone call from Faith's teacher telling me the news, as well.  I immediately told Shawn the news as soon as we got home and we talked about what our talk with Faith would look like that evening.  I couldn't help but feel so thankful that our kids were asking all these heaven and hell questions just a few days earlier, because as a result of our conversations, Faith did a great job handling the news.  We made it very clear that she wouldn't see her classmate anymore at school, but there would be a day that she'd see him in heaven again. We asked her not to talk to any of her friends that next morning about what we told her, because we wanted to be sensitive to the kids whose parents might not have told them the news yet.  My heart still breaks for the family and we'll continue to lift them up in prayer during this difficult season in their lives.

I know God used the conversation we had with our kids over the break to help prepare both us and Faith for the news that was to come, and I'm so grateful for that.  I also believe that tidbits of the conversations we had will come up again with Faith and Jaxon when they are ready to accept Jesus as their personal Savior one day.  I'm thankful for a God that knows our future!

I'll fly away, oh glory
I'll fly away.
When I die Hallelujah by and by-
I'll fly away.