Having mentioned in my last post that my 4 year old's favorite Movie is now, Miracles from Heaven, I wanted to take a minute to explain how that came to be. Had I brought this up last week, her answer would still have been Frozen, just as it has been for nearly 2 years now. However, one little girl's youtube video and a late night heart to heart unexpectedly changed all that forever.
While browsing Facebook, I recently ran across a little girl named Claire Ryan. For those of you who aren't familiar with this little angel, she is my sweet Gabby's age, and like Gabby, has her own youtube channel. Her videos appear professionally done and many are of her singing Disney songs with her dad. I knew Gabby would love it so I introduced her to Claire's channel.
One song wasn't from a Disney movie at all. "Gethsemane", panned back and forth between this little girl and what appeared to be takes from a movie about Jesus. Gabby was enthralled. We have taught her about the 'happy' side of things. She knows about God and his love for us. She knows how important it is to have a good relationship with him. She knows that my mother went to live with him before she was born. However, being so young, I had avoided many of the other details.
We had never really talked about death. Needless to say, the video showed sweet Jesus being drug away and a cross of thorns being placed upon his head. As a few drops of blood began to run down his face, she turned to me and asked why. I make it a point to try to be as honest as I can be with my children, without providing information that I feel they are too young to understand.
I took her little hands and I explained what sin is. I then told her about the sacrifice Jesus made for us. I didn't give the details such as the nails being driven into his hands and feet or the severe beating he withstood. I simply explained that they hurt him very badly and that he died for us.
Despite my efforts she began crying.....really crying. She asked direct questions about life, death, God, and human nature. We talked and she wept for over an hour. My heart broke as I watched a small piece of her childhood innocence and belief that the world and everyone in it is good, slip away. I worried terribly about how I answered her and if I should have postponed the conversation a little longer.
She finally accepted most of of her new found knowledge and seemed to have a basic understanding with the exception of Heaven. I tried to explain there are no actual pictures, and that different people have different ideas of what it will be like, but she needed more. I then remembered the previews of a movie I had wanted to watch, but never got around to, based on the true story of a little girl who got to visit Heaven and her experience. I asked her if she wanted to watch it with me. Of course, she excitedly agreed.
The next day, we picked it up at Redbox. She loved it! She watched it 3 times that night, and she nearly started crying again when we explained it had to be returned. I was pleasently surprised to receive it from her for my birthday a few days later. We've watched it nearly every night since! Each time is followed by new questions that convey to me her interest and level of understanding of everything we've discussed so far.
I've listened intently as her bedtime prayers have evolved and noticed she no longer needs reminded to say them. I reassure her when she needs it and remind her that what she thinks and how she feels is important. I will never forget that conversation with her or how I prayed the whole time for the wisdom to appropriately answer her questions. Some day, when she's older, I will explain to her that she was my very own Miracle from Heaven.
