A Life-Changing Experience

If you can't tell I am trying to catch up on my life without having one big, long post. Probably the biggest thing that has happened in the Uptain household, other than having a baby, is Riley became a Christian and was baptized. Riley is one of those children that is very shy in front of a group. She loves to act and sing and cheer, in the privacy of her room. And sometimes she will venture out and do these things in front of her immediate family. But in front of a large group of people, she gets very nervous. Which leads me to about 2 years ago. She had started asking lots of questions about Jesus and why He died on the cross. Was God real? Charles is the Children's Minister at our church so he talks to kids all the time about these types of questions. They talked on and off and she talked with me on and off about what she knew about Jesus. We both talked to her about the fact that the Bible says the only way to get to Heaven is by asking Jesus to forgive you of the things you have done wrong and believing that Jesus died for all those things. That He is the Son of God. If you think about it, this is such an AWESOME thing to get to talk to your child about. Well Riley knew all the right answers but did not want to ask Jesus to do anything for her. WHAT?! I did not understand. We finally figured out she was scared to death to go in front of the church and tell them her decision, which is what Baptists do, and to be baptized in front of the whole church. So we prayed and prayed and prayed. Finally, after 2 years of talking, Riley came down one morning in March and told us she was ready to ask Jesus to forgive her of all the bad things she had done. She had actually written herself a note the night before to make sure she remembered to tell us. So amidst all the morning routine of getting ready for school, we dropped everything and had the most precious prayer time with Riley. She knew exactly what she wanted to say and do. That is just who she is. It was wonderful! The absolute best way to have started my day! She was baptized on May 1st. You know, this was just another time God was showing me I needed to trust Him. He had her spiritual birthday picked out before she was even born. I kept trying to bring up the topic with her but to no avail. God had a plan. Will I ever learn?

Hope you have a blessed day!