God's work in Kylee's life

If there was any doubt in my mind that Kylee's faith was genuine at her young age, God has certainly been showing me that her decision was true and real as can be. Kylee has taken her faith very seriously and I am so amazed at His work in her little heart. Here are a few examples of what He's doing in her.

******

Last week as we were driving in the car, Kylee spontaneously started praying, "Dear God, excuse me God, I want to pray for the kids who have no food, no drink, no homes, no basement and no cars. Could you please give them food and drink and toys and a basement to play in? If you need help, I can help you. Thank you, God!"

******

The next day, we were listening to "When God Ran" on the computer as I did the dishes. I didn't realize it, but there were pretty graphic images of Jesus carrying the cross, and then dying upon it and Kylee just started sobbing. "No Jesus!" she hollered, "Why is he letting them do that to him, Mommy? He's brave and strong, why doesn't he fight back?"

I explained to Kylee that he had to die to save us, that there was no other way. "Mommy, did it hurt him?" she asked with tears in her eyes. I nodded, also starting to cry. "Did he cry?"

Again, I nodded as I told her how he cried out to his Father God, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

"But Mommy, he IS God!" I then tried my best to explain the Trinity to my 4 year old.

"I wish he didn't have to take those pokes for me!" she said, still crying.

We talked about how much he loved us, why he was willing to die for us, and how we should always show him gratitude. Kylee's shoulders shook as she whispered, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you."

******

As I've mentioned earlier, Kylee's compassion for those in need have driven her to want to DO. It's not enough for her to send money to support our boys in Africa or to pack up Christmas gifts for kids who would otherwise have none, her hands want to be DOING! She loves visiting nursing homes and doing service projects for the elderly in our church and recently she's been asking me to please let her give food to the homeless. So this past Friday, Kylee and I drove into the inner city and worked at the Rescue Mission for several hours. A man named Mike, clad in a "I work for God" t-shirt, showed us around and explained our responsibilities. "Kylee, Mr. Mike loves Jesus too!" I whispered in her ear as we followed him. A smile spread across her face.

Mike (who is a recovered alcoholic/drug addict) overheard and turned to face her, "Do you love Jesus too, Kylee?" Kylee nodded and beamed. "Is that why you came to help today?"

"Yes, like Jesus helped people," Kylee responded shyly to the large man. Later, the man told me I was a good mom to involve her in this way. I shook my head and explained that this was not my idea, but God working in the heart of his little child.

For the first hour, Kylee wore a long apron and plastic gloves and served apples, cheese and bread to the moms and children from on top of a milk crate. She wore a shy smile, but I could tell she loved what she was doing because every time I helped "too much" she would scold me and ask me to please let her do it. When we were done at this point, we were advised to grab a tray and eat quickly before setting up for the next group coming through. So we took our plates and joined a table full of "brown children", as Kylee calls them (Milwaukee is the most segregated city in all of America, so I was grateful for her to be surrounded by people who were different from her). It was precious to talk to these little ones and to see how much they were just like my own children. We talked and laughed and teased. They said they liked Kylee's hair, and she told them she liked their braids and beads. By the end of their lunch, Kylee was ready to run off to the playground with these new friends of hers. But there was work to be done!

Kylee took her next assignment very seriously. She went around the enormous cafeteria meticulously pushing every chair in, after which she joined me in wiping down each table. Another large man then called us over to start setting up desserts for the 123 homeless men that were coming through next. Kylee jumped up on a chair and started lining up doughnuts and pastries on large trays as I cut up danishes. We then carried the trays to the serving table where we distributed one dessert to each man. I thought Kylee might be a bit timid of the men, who were a bit dirty and smelly, and gave her a quick talk about how each of these men were made by God and belonged to Him. However, the talk was probably unnecessary as she smiled and looked each of them in the eye fearlessly. When each man had gone through the line and were sitting at their tables, one of the workers announced loudly that the young lady still had some desserts to serve up. He then (with my heart pounding as she left my side for the first time that day) took her around the room with the tray as she used tongs to place the desserts in each man's hand. Later in the day, she told her daddy that her favorite part of the day was "serving the desserts to the gentlemen".

After cleaning up once again, we got in the van and headed home. I was fighting tears the whole way as I processed our time spent at the Rescue Mission. I was so proud of my little girl, and humbled that God used her to pull me out of my comfortable, Christian world for the day. I know that as long as He blesses me with life and with Kylee as my daughter, there will be many more days such as these.