The Things I Remember As a Small Child

I accepted Jesus into my heart at the age of 5. I was led to the Lord by my father. In my parents bedroom. I remember that moment so vividly.

I grew up in church, and I loved Sunday school. Loved it. All the lessons, all the memorization of scriptures, all the Gospel Bill movies, fun crafts and knowing we would get snacks.

Of all the pretty dresses my mother bought for me to wear to church, there was one dress in particular that I loved to wear more than the others, and my mom would let me wear it whenever I wanted. It had short cap sleeves, had lots of maroon roses on it, and ruffles were on the lower half.

Outside of church I was brought up on Psalty, the singing songbook {Psalty was a big blue book that sang praises} - and man, did I wear those tapes out! I recall riding to school with my mom and we would sing children's songs on the way. What a great way to start the day.

I remember coming home from school and putting a "do not disturb, worship in progress" sign on my bedroom door nearly every day. On sheets of paper I would write out the lyrics to the songs that we sang at church and pretend that my lamp was a projector screen since that what was used at our church to lead the congregation in worship. And I also remember lining up all my cabbage patch kids, care bears, and stuffed animals on the floor and pretending that they were the congregation and I would preach to them.

I remember sometimes going into my bathroom {that was inside of my room}, locking the door, putting on worship music and turning off the lights while I worshiped and prayed. I had a great yearning to connect to God. Even at a young age, I felt the presence of the Lord so strongly during those times. Sometimes I would be afraid to open my eyes because I thought I would see an angel.

I remember attending christian kid's camp for a week every summer and growing in the ways of the Lord while there. I remember the ventriloquist Suzy Star. I remember the name of the boy that I fell in "like" with there. I even chose bow-and-arrow shooting for one of my electives so that I could be closer to him. And he took art as his second elective to be closer to me. And I remember that when I would return from that camp, my dad greeted me with a HUGE tub of rainbow sherbert ice-cream.

I remember my parents attending couple's banquets, bible studies, and mid-week and/or evening services. And I remember falling asleep on the floor during some of those services {this was back when church was less formal and more family friendly - that when a child fell asleep on the floor, the person behind you would offer their jacket as a blanket for your little one}.

I remember my father serving as an usher in the church {for years} - he had such a servant’s heart.

I remember when our church would partake in a big retreat at Arrowhead Springs every summer and I thought it was awesome that so many families/friends were together and that we would be spending a lot of days in a pretty hotel. I still remember what the eating lounge looked like and how much I loved the breakfast they served there. It was also the first time that I discovered what a raccoon looked like {they loved leftovers}.

I remember church picnics at parks that include friendly water balloon fights, good bbq and families sharing each others blankets.

I remembering praying at the table with my parents, at every meal.

I remember going to AWANA every Wednesday night. I loved, loved, loved it.

I remember seeing both my father and my mother, on separate occasions, bring food and clothing to homeless people that they would see on the street. They showed me acts of service a very young age.

I count all of the above as beautiful memories of my earlier encounters with the Lord and great testaments of how my parents raised me to know Him. I am so grateful for the things that they exposed me to. I wonder in what ways Ilah {and our future child/ren} will grow close to our Heavenly Father and discover how magnificent He is. I wonder what their early memories will be. My husband and I agree that the most powerful influence that a child has is their parents, therefore we also know how important it is to lead by example. As evidenced above, my parents imparted much into me at a young age and I can only hope and pray that by us doing the same, our children will also come into a great sense of who they are in God's eyes. {Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it"}.