Elisabeth
Born: Belize, Central America
(Written by Elisabeth’s Mom…)
“Elisabeth was quietly pleased with my answer, responding with a simple yet convicted, “Oh!” Then we simply started to pray. To our surprise, we heard little Elisabeth joining in from behind us in her toddler seat, praying clearly in tongues just as we were. We didn’t say anything, but rather kept praying for a very long while, secretly listening to her intently.”
My husband and I had introduced to Elisabeth the concept of God as our maker and Jesus Christ as God’s only Son as soon as she was interested in listening to stories. We used simple role play using her little buddies to explain how God had made everything we see and how people soon lost their love for Him. They became separated from Him by their wrongdoings and this made God very sad.
We explained how God sent Jesus to die for us so we could be connected with God again. His death opened the door for God’s powerful Holy Spirit to come and live inside of us, to change us into good people who would love God always. We told her how the disciples in the Bible spoke in an amazing spiritual prayer language when they were first filled with the Holy Spirit and how they were always able to speak to God using this language from that point forward. We also explained the importance of baptism as a way of showing God how much we wanted to follow His ways forever knowing that His ways are the best for us.
Elisabeth quickly grew to understand that we had the Holy Spirit inside of us and that we had been baptized, and that one day this would happen to her, too, if she wanted it to. She would hear us talking about God and His Word every day amongst ourselves, she would sit with us during prayer times and hear us praying in tongues (at times joining in with little words in English), she would join us in worship and praise as we sang and rejoiced in God’s love, and we would read her Bible stories most days (changing the words here and there seeing that most kids’ Bible stories get some key things incorrect).
Then one day when she was 3 years and 5 months old, we were driving in the car on a family outing and we decided to have some prayer for a while. This wasn’t an unusual thing as we would often pray in tongues together as we drove long distances. This time, however, Elisabeth decided to ask us why we were praying. I sensed it wasn’t a casual question; she really wanted to know why.
So, I reminded her how God is our Father Creator in heaven who we cannot see with our eyes (but He can see and hear us). “You know how much you love to talk to Daddy here all day long, right, and how much Daddy loves it when you want to be with him and show him your love?” I asked as I pointed to my husband. She quickly nodded. “Well, it’s the same thing with God in heaven who made all of us. He is our Father and we love to talk to Him and show Him we love Him by spending time with Him in prayer!”
Elisabeth was quietly pleased with my answer, responding with a simple yet convicted, “Oh!” Then we simply started to pray. To our surprise, we heard little Elisabeth joining in from behind us in her toddler seat, praying clearly in tongues just as we were. We didn’t say anything, but rather we kept praying for a very long while, secretly listening to her intently. Eventually, we stopped praying and rejoiced together with her that she had just received the Holy Spirit that we had talked about so often in the past.
We then asked Elisabeth if she wanted to get water baptized and she was very keen, so my husband did that for her in a beautiful local lake after we returned from our trip. By the way, we have always encouraged parents not to have their child baptized until the child either receives the Holy Spirit anointing (God doesn’t make a mistake when He fills a child with His Holy Spirit), or until their son/daughter sincerely desires to be baptized of his/her own accord at an age of understanding with true repentance.
So, that was the beginning of our daughter’s walk with God, written by me (Elisabeth’s mother) because she doesn’t remember a lot of the details (which can be quite inspiring for other parents). Now in her teen years, Elisabeth has been born again for over a decade, and she has been an integral part of our family ministry every step since. It’s a precious thing as a parent to come to be spiritually united with your children, and to then see them grow their very own, solid foundation in Christ.