Noelle and Jesus

Noelle and I have been talking a lot more about Jesus and God lately and it has brought about some priceless questions and answers. The main focus lately is on explaining how Jesus is always with her even though she can't see him. On the way to her dance class last week we were talking about God, I can't remember why exactly, but I was trying to explain to her how Jesus is in heaven but he's also here with us. A tricky concept for those of us over 3 and even trickier for her. When talking about him being in heaven she very assertively said..."well I think he should come back".  I got to inform her that he thinks he should come back too, and in fact that is exactly what he will do someday!  She was glad to hear that what she thought was correct. After talking some more about Jesus being in us...she proceeded to ask "is Jesus in my belly?"

Tonight we were at church for a women's retreat and at the end Noelle was in the meeting for a little while when the speaker was praying for someone and they used the word 'broken'. Well, Noelle doesn't miss a thing and this started a continual slew of questions like "is that lady broken?", "are they gonna fix her?". After we talked some more about what it meant to be broken and to pray to Jesus for him to fix us I asked her if she is ever broken and needs Jesus to fix her. She said "yeah somedays...well, no people can't be broken, just glass (pronounced "grass" by her". If you step on it you might break it". Ahhh...the mind of a three-year-old.

Another funny God story also occurred tonight.  She has heard the word mercy before on her VeggieTales show 'Jonah' and tonight during worship one of the songs had the word mercy in it. Noelle asked me "who's mercy mom". I explain what mercy is...it's when someone is mean to you but you are nice to them instead of being mean back to them...she thinks about it and asks a good question. "Does God show us mercy?" My heart leaps and of course I say yes, yes he does...I'm thinking "wow she really gets it...I don't know how she gets it but she does". A little time passes and she asks another question "is it a puppy?". I'm thinking "she can't still be talking about mercy" but I ask anyway "is who a puppy?" "Mercy" Noelle answers back with a little smirk on her face. Well, I thought she had the concept anyway!

I love getting to talk to Noelle about God and have her ask good questions. It challenges me to find really simple ways of explaining very complicated realities.  I've always prayed for her from the time I was pregnant with her and have talked to her about God but things are changing for her and her ability to engage in a conversation about it. She is also starting to pray such sweet prayers. I think she has a very compassionate heart and likes to pray for people. It's so wonderful as her mom who has invested time praying for her and speaking truth to her, to start seeing this little daughter of God start to respond to Him in an outward way that I can see. I can't wait for the next questions or the next prayers. It really does remind me of how close Jesus is to us because when she prays there is no doubt in my mind that Jesus is listening.