I've had several posts on Amelia and how she's been doing lately, so I thought I should also chime in on Ava.
She's doing wonderfully, by the way. Growing up before our eyes...not just on the outside, but the inside too.
A few months ago, after bedtime, Ava came back down to our bedroom absolutely sobbing. Inconsolable. She realized that there was something she thought she loved more than God. And it had her very upset.
By God's providence, I had just finished studying Psalm 51 in my Women's Bible study. Ava and I opened up to Psalm 51 and read it, a Psalm about true repentance. We read it again and talked and cried some more. Finally, she went to sleep and when she woke in the morning, she sat down and wrote the following song. Her own personal Psalm, if you will, in praise and glory to God.
Here's the translation in case you can't read her handwriting: "If it Weren't For God"
Verse 1
If it weren't for God we would not be singing this song
If it weren't for God we would not have pets
If it weren't for God we would not have plants
If it weren't for God, we would not be alive!
Chorus
God told Jesus to die on the cross for our sins
From that day forth
God took our sins from our dark heart
And threw them away and forgave our sins
Verse 2
We love God, oh Mighty, we glorify Him
And when we die
He will take us to our new golden eternal home
We are His sons and daughters
He gives us our names
And when He takes us to heaven
We have eternal life!
Not bad for a 9-year-old third grader, right? A few weeks later, we were challenged in that same Women's Bible Study, to write a Psalm in our small discussion groups that we would share with the large group. We all struggled and were unsure of what to do until I offered to use Ava's personal Psalm. It was a hit (well at least to this biased Momma!).
And just last week, my same Women's Bible Study group had decided to stay after our meeting to have lunch together. The little kids were to bring a lunch. That morning, I was running late and I asked Ava to pack a lunch for Amelia.
She did so happily and when we got to church and it was time to eat lunch, I found this note Ava had put in Amelia's lunch sack:
Dear Amelia: Hope you have a great time. I wish I were there to worship God. Love Ava.
Now, lest you continue on thinking my girl is a saint, let me assure you she is NOT!
In fact, the reason I'm sharing about these two occurrences is because she does enough on her own to balance out those scales!
But oh, how it warms my heart to see these glimpses of the Holy Spirit working in her, sanctifying her, making her more like Him...
(For the photo specs, let me make a disclaimer here: I don't know what I'm doing really, I'm still mostly in "auto" mode, I just like taking pictures!) But for the record:
Camera: Nikon D3100
Lens: Tamron 18-270mm, 1:3.5-6.3.
First photo settings: 100, 50 mm, f/6.3, 1/160.
I then edited it (and all others) in Photoshop Elements using a variety of actions from MCP Actions and the Pioneer Woman!
Head over to Ni Hao Y'all for more Sunday Snapshot!
