God lessons learned by Karis and Brayden

Yesterday both Brayden and Karis learned some life lessons that I wanted to remember.  We spent the day helping Jay move his things into his new office and decorating it as well (with the 3 kids).  Jay left a little earlier than the kids and I did so that he could go ahead and move most of the books while I got all the kids ready.  We realized when we were leaving that Jay had taken one of the booster seats in his truck from the day before and so Karis was going to have to ride in the car without a booster seat.  She was kinda afraid that we would either wreck or that we would get pulled over by the police.  She was really kinda panicking in her little mind so while driving, I said, "Karis why don't you pray and ask God to protect us on our drive then?"  So she thought that was a great idea so we prayed out loud while driving (with my eyes open of course).  In my mind, I was REALLY asking God to deliver this one because I also knew secretly we were driving on expired tags (had realized it late Friday afternoon and Jay is getting them renewed tomorrow morning first thing).  I so wanted God to answer her little prayer!  Several times in the car I looked back at her and she had her head down, eyes closed, hands together and quietly moving her lips praying...it was precious. SO we get all the way there...no wreck and no police.  She says, "MOM!  God answered our prayer!!!  Then she thanked God for answering our prayers and keeping us safe.  It made my heart smile!  We talked about how no request to God is silly and how God desires to hear from us no matter what it is about.  And we can be ANYWHERE and talk to God...in our beds, in the car, in the store etc.  He desires to hear from us!

THEN....we were going to a local home store to get a few decorations for his office and Brayden had found these little styrofoam balls that had come off of some Christmas decorations in the store.  He was playing with them while we were in there.  We got all the way back to Jay's office (15-20 minutes away)  and Karis came and told us that Brayden had those 4 small balls in his pocket!  Of course, Jay and I began questioning him and he had this panic look on his face.  We knew we had to take him immediately back to return them and make a believer out of him.  If you know Brayden, you know that he WILL test the limits at times and the reality is...scare tactics work with him.   So we told him that he had to go back and  return them, tell the lady what he had done and apologize, and hoped that she did not call the police on him.  He agreed that he would do that and off he and Jay go back to the store.  Jay said he was SOOO quiet on the ride back and when they got there, Brayden had his arm looped all the way around Jay's leg and a death grip on his jeans.  Jay told the owner that we had just been in the store and had to come back because our son had something to tell her.  Brayden (with quivering lips) said, "I am sorry.  I took these balls and they weren't mine."  The lady said, "It's ok.  Thank you for coming back and telling me the truth."  Jay said as they were getting back into the car, a police drove up into the parking lot WITH HIS LIGHTS ON!  What a perfect scenario with the lesson we were trying to teach him!  Jay said, "Do you think we need to go talk to that police?"  Of course Brayden said no. 

So they get back to the office where we are and I was asking Jay how it went and I hear Brayden telling Karis, "That lady said it was ok.  She said it was ok if people steal."  I knew what the lady meant, what she actually said, and how Brayden took it and it wasn't all matching up.  Remember she replied to him after his apology, "It's ok.  Thank you for coming back to tell the truth."  So we had to call him back in there and explain that when she said, "it's ok" she meant, "Stealing is NOT ok but I forgive you and I will not call the police on you."  He then apologized to us very sincerely and told us it would never happen again.  We then explained that he had asked the owner to forgive him, and he had asked us to forgive him, but there was one person he had yet to ask for forgiveness.  He quickly stated that he needed to ask God for forgiveness.  So he prayed himself (with quivering voice) and asked God to forgive him.  It was very sweet and brought tears to my eyes.   He was very mature about it and took responsibility for it.  I was proud of how he handled the situation and hope he learned a HUGE lesson.  I hated that it had to be through this situation, but it was so neat seeing the lightbulb coming on in him.  He recognized he had done something bad wrong and had taken the steps (as a 4 year old) to ask for forgiveness.  

I just held him and hugged him for a long time afterwards and thanked my Jesus for his forgiveness of Brayden's sin and my own.  His Grace is more than any of us deserve!