BIG NEWS!

I just wanted to post some wonderful BIG news that came tonight at the Pate house...

Claire prayed a prayer of salvation with her Daddy. It was a beautiful moment for us to share together with her. She came to me this afternoon and told me she couldn't stop thinking about something that she wanted to talk to her daddy and I about. I told her after dinner and bedtime for the little ones we could "talk".

She explained how the last couple of days she has had this "feeling" that in her heart she has changed and that she "feels" different. She has been asking a lot of questions lately and telling us many stories from her Sunday school classes. I have always talked with her about living a life that is pleasing to God and sharing HIS love with others. We are not shy at all about our faith but just recently she has really been talking about being a "follower of Christ".

She cried with me last night as we were praying for Riley (a precious little girl that is four years old battling cancer right now). After she said her prayers I asked her why she was crying and she said she just felt so bad for that little girl and wanted to do something for her. Claire has raised money from our yard sales to send to her family because Riley's mom lost her job. Claire also sent her tooth fairy money to Riley because she said there wasn't anything she really wanted other than animal bracelets and that wasn't as important as sending it to help Riley's family.

Anyways, point being that Claire has really been showing signs that the Holy Spirit has been working on her heart and I kind of thought this moment might be coming soon. Well tonight as I listened to her sweet voice pray to Jesus to save her from her sins and to please come in her heart and live with her forever, I couldn't help but cry. My heart was so overjoyed and full of love at that moment listening to her. It was almost like I had all these flashbacks of her sweet little life as a baby, toddler, preschooler and now big kid. I could remember moments that were so special to me that I will never forget and now I have experienced the best one of them all. Other than the day of her birth, this moment ranks as the most special of all.

I realized that today is the anniversary of the passing of my Nanny (her name was Mary Lucille Bassett) and when I told Claire that 8 years ago my Nanny died, she said, "Do you think God had known all this time that I was going to be saved on this day 8 years after she died"...Wow! That is incredible I told her, and then I explained that God plans IT all and that yes, my Nanny was praising the acceptance of Christ in your life right now in Heaven with many other angels!

Watching your children learn of Jesus and grow into a relationship with him, learning how to pray and then witnessing their prayer of salvation is definitely one of those mommy moments you just never will forget. I will remember it all for years to come. She was wearing her "claire beach airbrush shirt" and pj pants sitting next to her Daddy and me on the couch.

SO that is our big news of the day. We now have a new sister in Christ, and her name is, Claire McKinely Pate!