Confessions of a four year old...

Hannah called me back into her room after I had put her to bed the other night. She sounded very upset. I walked in and she was sitting on the edge of her bed, holding out a petrified orange thing, asking me what happened to it. When I finally figured out what it was, I told her that's what happens when you leave a carrot out for too long. Then came the REST OF THE STORY...

She told me that she lied to her dad. I asked her how she lied to him and she said that he told her to eat her carrots and she had hid one in her skirt and then put it under her bed. I wanted to know if Pete had asked her if she ate the carrot and if she had told him she had...she nodded her head very sadly. I had to hold back a giggle...it was so sweet. We talked about the fact that I was proud of her for telling the truth and that next time she needs to work on telling the truth before she makes a bad choice. It was such a wonderful opportunity to talk about conviction and the "bad feeling" she was experiencing. It led us to discuss how God allows us to feel that way when we make a bad choice and then how important it is to go to Him, confess, and be forgiven.

After it was all over I wondered if I did the right thing...praising her for telling the truth instead of punishing her for lying. Then it hit me~that's what I experience...I make a mistake (sin), feel bad, talk to God about it, and receive forgiveness. Most times the punishment is the "bad feeling"...sometimes it's worse. She was confessing to me and I gave her the forgiveness she needed. It was pretty amazing to stand in the gap and have the priviledge of teaching her that she can go to her Heavenly Father and He will forgive her and love her no matter what. :0)


What have your kids confessed to you lately?



One more for the road...the very next day Hannah was on the cell phone with Pete. She was asking him a question and he wasn't responding as she would have liked. She handed me the phone and with a very sad face said, "I did a bad thing on the phone." I looked at her and asked her what she did. She looked up at me with those sad puppy dog eyes and said, " I rolled my eyes at Dad when he was answering my question." Now HOW can you not giggle at that one??

Until then....