Jesus Loves the Little Children!

This summer I (Sandra) have had the privilege of being Emma-Joy's Sunday school teacher.  For one Sunday we had one other girl, and Emma-Joy has been disappointed every Sunday since that her new friend named Sissy has never come back.  We have prayed that she will.

I found some old Rod and Staff Sunday school curriculum in the cupboard in the nursery and have been using it with Emma-Joy throughout the summer.  The very first lesson was based on an event in Jesus' ministry found in Mark 10.  Verses 13-16 tell us:

And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them:  

and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.

But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, 

and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not:  

for of such is the kingdom of God.  

Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, 

he shall not enter therein.

And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

It was exciting to teach Emma-Joy once again that Jesus loves her very much and show to her in the Bible where God tells her so.  Children are important to Jesus and He loves them more than we can comprehend!

As we have traveled, the children have seen the Lord answer their prayers countless times.  This summer the Lord showed us yet again that the prayers for "small" things from a small child are very important to Him.

The children have gotten rid of or given away almost all of the toys they owned.  We started the purging process a year before we were scheduled to begin pre-field ministry/deputation.  Each step of the way was painful for the children as we gave them yet a smaller container that they could fill up with the toys they could keep.  

 

There were two particular sets of toys that were hard for them to give up, so never forced it.  We knew in God's time, if He wanted them to give them up, He would prepare them.  When we returned home, I prayed about what to do with these two sets of toys.  After prayer and some discussion, the kids were willing to sell the toys in order to get something they have wanted to use as they have been travelling.  The boys changed their minds every day about what they would buy if they were able to sell their set of toys.  Each time they came to us, we told them to pray about it. 

 

The girls knew exactly what thy would like to have.  They had the opportunity to visit the American Girl Doll store in the Mall of America as we traveled home this summer.  They knew when we went to the store it was just to look, it was a pretty neat store!  Such amazing toys!!  The girls took a liking to the Bitty Babies which are the babies of the American Girl Dolls.  When we discussed what the girls would like to buy if they sold their toys, without hesitation their answer was, "Bitty Babies!"  We posted the toys on Craigslist. . .and no one wanted them.  A couple of days after we had posted them I was cleaning the kitchen, sweeping the floor.  As I swept I was contemplating the situation.  The toys really did need to leave the house, but how?  I prayed, "Lord, could you please somehow just give the girls those Bitty Baby dolls?  Then I could just get rid of the toys and not feel badly about it."  The kids had all been praying that the toys would sell.

 

An hour or so later I was talking to my mom on the phone.  I explained the situation to her and asked her if she would pray with me about it.  She said, "Sandra, are those dolls called "Bitty Baby" dolls?"  When I told her yes, I never expected what she said next.  With excitement in her voice, she told me that two weeks earlier she had purchased two Bitty Baby dolls at a second-hand store for $2.50 each!  She never knew that our girls were interested in them, she just saw that they were nice dolls and was going to save them for some of her granddaughters to give them sometime in the future.  Through tears, I praise the Lord that this "small" prayer request was not so small to the Lord and that He had made the provision for the answer before we had even prayed!

 

These pictures of the girls with their dolls were sent to Grandma to say "Thank you!".  Notice Emma-Joy's doll has light hair and eyes like hers hair and eyes, and Shirley's doll has dark hair and eyes like hers!  Even the little details were taken care of!  (Please don't mind the messy hair and jammies on the girls.  They had just awakened and received them and were extremely excited!)

 

I'm so glad Jesus loves the little children!