A post from a sweet friend:

From my Kieran's journal today...... 

I want to be a preacher.  Why?   Because Preachers teach about God and tell you God is your Savior.  Preachers are nice.  You can count on them to help you out in tuff times.  Preachers are awesome.  I am happy I am making this decision because Preachers make big differences in your life, like mine and when I am a Preacher you never know, I might make alot of people happy and make lots of differences in lots of peoples lives.  Someday people will know me as Brother Droddy.

Kieran Droddy

March 2012-3rd grade 

This boy is so in love with Jesus right now.  I pray that he will always be.  I never prayed for my kids to be star athletes or straight A students.....never prayed that they would be popular or make the winning touchdown.....win first place ribbons or become famous.....I have always simply and passionately prayed that they love love love Jesus......that they know Him and love Him.....that he order their steps and that they have the wisdom to follow and the discernment to know where he is leading them.....I want them to be good husbands and fathers and good wives and mothers....these words have been my prayers for 15 years of mothering....Fifteen joyful, hard, sad, happy exhausting years of motherhood.....and they will be my prayers for many many more years to come......Tears poured down my face today as he read this to me, tears from a Momma's heart that saw her prayers turning into fruition right before her eyes as she heard her little boy read words straight from his innocent heart, words this his Savior put in his soul and words that he obediently put on paper....I can not wait to see what God is preparing for him!  I hope his sweet words bless you as much as they blessed me and Eric.

I think I may be partial to preachers so naturally I melted when I read this. What sweet words. Kieran wants to be a preacher and I think that's amazing, but its not just because he wants to be a preacher. Hayden shared a few years ago that he was not going to be a preacher. I quickly told him that I do not want him to be a preacher " just beacuse his dad is". I also told him that I don't want him to NOT become a preacher "just because his dad is". My prayer is that he (and Hallie and Rylie) would have a sensitivity to God's presence and work in their lives even now. I pray that they will be so in love with Jesus that they will know Him well enough that following His will in their lives will be natural and a joy. How refreshing that Kieran has embraced what he believes God wants him to do, and he sounds a little excited!

Lisa's recounting her persistent prayer for her children made me smile all the more. What else would we need pray for? {that our children would LOVE LOVE LOVE Jesus}. I could pray without ceasing and not be profiting my children like this prayer. Lord please help Hallie find friends. Please help Hayden focus at school. I pray that Rylie will find joy in reading. These are good and needful prayers, but we can't neglect this simple prayer. And we would do well to pray it over and over. You read the Bible with your kids-super. You pray with them-that's great. You're being a great example of loving Jesus-awesome! Keep it up, but I'm thankful for the reminder to come before our God asking for His help in our children coming to love him in an ever-increasing fashion. I love my husband and I love my children. Embarrassingly but probably not alone I admit that there are many times I have to pray that God will help me to love them. Love them even though I may be mad. Love on them though I may be really busy. Take time to love them even though their way is not my way. Likewise with loving Jesus we need his help to love him in trying and busy times. And I can guarantee that these are the times our children are in. Hope you find Kieran's declaration and Lisa's devotion refreshing as I did.

*Interestingly my next devotion has been written on letting go our golden dream only to embrace the riches God has planned for us. The Parable of the Golden Ticket shows a parallel between Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and hopefully us as we relinquish our "golden ticket" only finding that what we gave up pales in comparison to what God has in store for us. We all want our children to be "A" students with awesome looks and style, superb athletic ability and a host of friends and admirers. Let us not cling to those hopes like we cling to the hope that they would LOVE LOVE LOVE Jesus.