Jump On In

"Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.' "- Matthew 18:2-4

The past two weeks have been amazing! I've been "roughing it" hanging out with my neices (mainly in the pool). They love to swim, but Sara Kate (the Squish) is only 2 and can't swim on her own yet. She is bold, and thinks she can do some things on her own. Unlike Carsyn, SK is a little fearful. Once she realizes she can't swim she is QUICKLY clinging to the nearest adult in the pool and wants "OOOUUUT!" The one thing SK LOVES to do though is jump. She gets on the ladder and says, "jump!" She waits (not very patiently) til someone (big enough) will stand in front of her and she jumps in before you even count to three. This past week Carsyn (who is only 5) decided she wanted to try to catch SK. I wasn't too sure about this. Not because Carsyn can't catch her (and I knew I'd be right there to help), but because I didn't think SK would trust her sister (whose head is the only part of her body outside of the water) to catch her. Well, the Squish proved me wrong. Carsyn held up her hands and said, "Come on Sara Kate, jump!" and without hesitation SK jumped right to her. Once again, the Lord used a child to remind me what faith is. She trusted without hesitation that her sister was going to catch her and not let her drown and she proved it by jumping in.

Then again Sunday night God used children to humble me to realize I complicate things way too much! I presented to the church I grew up in and the presentation went well. I received a ton of encouragement and was so blessed by this congregation. I even cried!

I cried because at the end of presenting the pastor gave me a check to go towards my support. I've received many gifts from people. They are all SO very precious to me and the Lord has used so many to provide and bless me as I head overseas.

This gift though was a little different.... It came from children!

The church does a Vacation Bible School during the summer, and during that time they ask the kids to bring money for missions. They of course make a competition of it between the boys and girls but always emphasize that the money goes to teach others about Christ. These kids know that giving to missions is a good thing because God says it is good. Why is it so simple for children to trust in that? They don't hesitate to give the money (they've saved or their parents have given them). They could keep it to buy a new toy, movie, etc., but they give it to what God says is good: teaching others about Christ.

Their gift helped me to remember that God is good and that's all I need to know. No matter what my gift is, what I give up: how big or small it may be, I "jump in" without hesitation giving(my life, my money, time, family, friends) because God is good and people need to hear about Christ.