"Jesus makes me so happy happy..."

Tonight, Isaac laid down with Lucas at bedtime.  He asked Lucas about what people in Mongolia thought about his feet.  Lucas said they didn't like them,
 "but here in America it's ok because Jesus is very strong"
and
 "Jesus makes me sooo happy, happy".
And he said in Mongolia he didn't pray to Jesus but here he does and he loves to pray.  Then he asked to listen to "Our God" (Chris Tomlin song)  which is his all time most favorite song ever!

Peter immediately saw this:
⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  (2 Cor. 12:9)

We've never had this discussion about Jesus before, where he brought up Jesus as a source of joy and how strong He is.

We do pray with him everyday.
 His prayers always start with...

"Thank you Jesus for our food"....morning noon and nighttime....
then he ususally gives Jesus a dialogue of the day's activities.  It's quite cute.
But, the reality is
How do you explain God? and this person we are praying to:
...to someone who doesn't speak your language-and is just learning to fine tune a new language?
...who hasn't really experienced God or heard of him until now?
...who has never had a father or family until now?

It really is a good reminder to me that we have very little to do with the process of coming to faith.
Yes, we place music in front of him that is loaded with the message, yes we take him to an awesome church, yes we pray.  We do what we can in many different ways to introduce our Jesus to him and pray for him regularly to come to an understanding.  We believe in the power of that prayer.
But, honestly the true work is done by the Power of the Holy Spirit working in him.  We cannot create faith.  We cannot cajole or convince him of the love of Jesus.  He has to experience that himself.  That's really the truth for all of us.  We like to think we have something to do with the process--whether we are the parents or we are the "believer".  But the reality is---ONLY the Holy Spirit is able to convince, create, and solidify our faith.

Our job as parents I believe comes from Duet. 6:6-8

⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.


God asks us to participate in these ways.


But the work and change does not come from us---faith is by grace alone:  
Eph 2:8-9


⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.


It is all a process as we continue to build into sweet Lucas and continue to make it a part of our daily lives.  But, please pray with us that he continues to grow in his faith and desires to follow Jesus.  Please pray that we are effective with both of our boys in helping them to grow and better understand the reality of Faith.