Hannah's Heart

We experienced a gift from the Holy Spirit last week by witnessing His work in Hannah's heart. In the new year, Nedra has assigned a daily list of 'jobs' for the kids to do in the morning before school starts. They were to receive a reward when the chart was completely filled out. Ethan really got into the work and faithfully did his jobs everyday. He completed his chart just last week and was rewarded with a week long rental of Super Mario Sluggers for the Wii. Let's just say that the girls have not been as regular and motivated with their jobs as their older brother. However, once Ethan received his reward, we noticed their jobs getting checked off their list a little more quickly, a little too quickly. Nedra hadn't been keeping a real close eye on the chart, but knew that the girls had been significantly behind Ethan. So, when Hannah presented her completed chart and began asking what her reward would be, Nedra said she would to talk to her about it later. Hannah kept asking Nedra all day when she was going to talk to her about the reward. Finally, at bed time, Nedra expressed her hesitation in giving a reward because she was not certain the girls' hearts had been in their work. They needed to be reminded, prodded, and often scolded in order for them to complete (sometimes) the tasks. So, she said the reward would be postponed until we saw the right attitude in their hearts. There were no accusations or even thoughts of them being dishonest about the work chart.

Fast forward to later that night, after the kids had been in bed for awhile...Hannah came downstairs, bawling, telling Nedra that she needed to tell her something (I was at the church for a meeting). At first she wouldn't say what it was because "it's too hard!" She finally confessed that she and Sarah had one day crossed off five extra days of work from their charts. They then had a good talk about confessing sin, and that it was the Holy Spirit at work in her heart that compelled her to tell mommy. A great end to the night? No, it got better!

She came down a short time later and told Nedra that she couldn't sleep. When asked why, she said she thought that God was putting things in her mind that He wanted her to write down in her journal tomorrow, because it was all she could think about. Nedra told her maybe the reason she couldn't sleep was because God wanted her to write it down now. So, Hannah got her little notebook, sat down on the couch, and wrote for about 20 minutes. She showed it to Nedra and told her to "make sure daddy reads it when he gets home."

I don't remember exactly what she wrote (and wouldn't put it on here anyway because it's in her notebook), but let's just say that it was one of the most heartfelt prayers to God that I could imagine a broken little 8-year-old could write. I know that there was something about her asking God to help her be a better family member. She also wrote out John 3:16 in regards to helping people to know Him. It brought tears to my eyes.

We are greatly encouraged and humbled to see God's hand at work throughout the day, even though we had no idea what was going on in our daughter's heart. We were reminded of how God's kindness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). We often wrestle with a desire to see fruit in the lives of our children. Thank you God for a little glimpse!