Spiritual Birthdays

I went on a weekend trip to Malacca with my husband's extended family over Easter.

Because of the long drive to and fro, exacerbated by the rain, we had much opportunity to talk in the car.

On the way back, we got to talking about not fearing the dark or ghosts. My nine year old niece had cried in the middle of the night as she did not dare venture into the toilet on her own in a strange hotel. Her parents had offered to go with her, but perhaps she was disoriented and embarrassed. When i taught her that "He who is in her is greater than he who is in the world", and clarified that the Holy Spirit dwells within her, she suddenly realized that she need not fear anymore. She was rather quiet so i asked her whether she understood. I was concerned that she felt awkward or uncomfortable as we were focusing on her behaviour. She said no, she just got very 'excited' inside when she heard these truths.

She then asked about heaven and hell, and how the devil came about, and we had a good and lively discussion with all contributing. The driver actually missed a turning, and we went into the Woodlands customs instead of the Tuas link we had intended to go, but praise God, we cleared the customs rather quickly. :b

I was excited too, as i always am about things of God.

She revealed that her spiritual birthday was 29 March 2009. I expressed my surprise as she had always been sensitive to the Holy Spirit. I remember her telling us at another family vacation, when she was just six or seven, she sometimes had tears running down her face when she sang certain worship songs like Shout To The Lord and Light of the World. Anyway, she explained that this was the day she was sure of her salvation and understood what it meant to have Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. I shared with her that i did not remember the exact spiritual birthday, but i knew that i stopped raising my hand when the sunday school teacher asked us who had prayed with her to receive Jesus as Saviour.

We then turned our attention to her younger brother who will be four this June. She was concerned whether he would go to heaven, and we felt that he understood about Jesus and how he himself needed forgiveness of sins to confess Jesus as Lord. As he was four, his concept of heaven was still a little hazy. After asking certain questions about Jesus and sin, my sister in law led him in prayer. It was so touching to hear his little voice so sincerely praying and repeating after his mother.

My niece pointed out that all the angels rejoice because a soul has been saved... two souls, in fact, born again!