My Dearest Wade,
You just turned 9-years-old. That is hard for me to believe as it feels like just yesterday I spent the night before you were born in prayer. That's right, I spent the entire night praying for lots of things. At first my prayer consisted of requests that would help me be a good mommy...you are our first-born and you can imagine how scared I was at being responsible for you being so little and precious. But as my prayer continued through the night, I started asking the Lord right then and there to do something special in your life...to choose you, to use you, to love you, and the list went on and on. I wish I could remember my entire prayer conversation with the Lord that night so that you can see how faithful He's been to you throughout your nine years of life, but that moment was for me and the Lord...just the two of us to share. He heard every word I prayed that night. I know He did because I believe God hears our prayers. You've seen recently at just how God does, in fact, hear when we pray to Him.
We've been talking to you a long time about living your life for Jesus. We've been praying about it for a while, too. You've asked us to pray for you, because you told us you wanted to be ready when you made that commitment to follow Jesus with your life. Well, just a few weeks ago, on February 5, you informed your dad and me you had finally told the Lord you wanted to live your life for His Son. Wade, I know we've talked a lot already about this huge decision. You know how proud we are, but I wanted to take the time to let you know in this letter just how significant that decision was/is.
You will make a lot of decisions in your life. And you will need God's instruction on all of them. There will be many important things to decide like making good grades, going on to college, marrying someone who loves Jesus and loves you, choosing where to live and how many kids to have, choosing a career and how to raise your children in a Godly manner. All of those things will be important and will matter in life. But nothing...absolutely nothing will come close to the importance of living your life for Jesus. It is the only decision that has true eternal significance and it will serve as the foundation for all other decisions you make from this point on. It's hard to understand now...it's hard for grown-ups to understand, much less try to explain...but you hearing God's voice tell you to live your life for His Son was/is the most important thing that has ever happened and will ever happen to you. Do you hear me? The most important.
You know Satan hates that you've made this decision. And he has already tried to make you do things that go against the nature of God. I understand how frustrating this is, but try to see these attacks by the enemy as evidence that Christ does, in fact, reside in your heart. A piece of Heaven, a chunk of eternity, the Holy Spirit Himself lives inside of you. There is no greater miracle! The devil will do his best to steal you back as one of his. It will be a constant battle until you are Home in Heaven with Jesus. And you can always count on your mother to storm the gates of Hell on your behalf so that the enemy will know he can't have you and he will have to deal with me as long as he tries. You can count on that, my Wade, until Jesus calls me Home.
But you are a major part of this equation...your responsibility as a child of God is huge. You must know that you represent Jesus now. He is your Savior. He lives in your heart. And you have chosen to use His name as the way you identify who you are. Wade Andrew Crawford, child of the King of Kings, an ambassador for Jesus Christ, a chosen servant of God to bring others to His Son, to be a fisherman of people. There is no higher calling. There will be nothing you do on this planet that will mean more. That is why that right now, at nine-years-old, you seek Christ with everything you have. You talk to Him all of the time. You read His Word all of the time. You tell Him everything...when you mess up, when you're angry, when you're hurting, when you're thankful...and Wade, tell Him you love Him. Tell Him you love Him as often times as you think about it. Because even though I love you so much, it physically hurts...Jesus loves you more. I know!! Crazy, right?!! But He does. He loves you so much that He died for you. And now that you understand the significance of that, go and tell the world, unashamed, of how Jesus has changed your life.
I love you. You are a treasure in my heart. Remember what your daddy and I say...always do the right thing. And remember Who you belong to.
Love,
Mom
