Breakfast Cereal and Baptisms

This week during my daughter Hope's bath time we were chatting about water baptism as she baptized her Barbie in a tub full of bubbles.  After stating she would like to get baptized, I asked her what was stopping her.  She talked about not knowing exactly what to say during the interview that happens just prior to getting baptized.  We chatted a little longer and then I was whisked away in my own thoughts about the things that have happened in the last month and a half in our daughter's Christian walk.

Just following Easter Sunday our church had a "Refresh" weekend with multiple services.  We taught both adults and children about the Day of Pentecost and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, along with the spiritual gifts as described in 1 Corinthians 12.  It was a powerful weekend.  Hope was able to fully participate in all that went on at it.  In fact when the kids were invited upstairs to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit and to be prayed for she was right there with the rest of them.  Many of the kids after receiving prayer then turned and began laying hands on adults around them who were seeking God.  We had an amazing time of worship and dancing and afterwards Hope told me she had been crying while jumping up and down because she was "just so happy".  But that was just the start of it. 

Two days later I woke up with a sudden case of vertigo and asked Hope to pray for me so that we would be able to get up and get ready for school and work.  I was speaking in tongues as we began to pray, and as Hope's hand touched my back I felt the Spirit's Presence flowing warmly through her little hand.  I prayed quietly just to hear what she was saying, when suddenly I heard her.  However this wasn't Hope's normal prayers, this was a Spirit-filled, tongue speaking, 6 1/2 year old Hope who was interceding for her mom's healing.  I interrupted her and asked "Hope are you speaking in tongues?!"  To which she replied matter of factly..."Yeah."  Feeling increasingly better I told her to follow me downstairs.  "Keep praying" I said, mostly so I could hear her speaking fluently in a heavenly language which was distinctly now her own.  She sat down at the breakfast bar and I asked her what type of cereal she wanted and she said "Lucky Charms" and suddenly rampled into speaking more in tongues.  The Holy Spirit was flowing so naturally that to her there was no break between her speaking in English about breakfast cereal and her interceding by the Spirit through her heavenly language.  There was nothing 'spooky' about it, nothing forced about the moment.  In fact when I asked her when she first spoke in tongues she explained that it was while she was laying hands on other people at the front of the church during our Refresh prayer time.  It seemed so natural to her then, that she didn't bother to mention it to me (her mom and children's pastor) until two days later when asked! 

Fast forward to 5 weeks later and I find myself pondering over a bubble bath whether my child is old enough to be baptized in water.  Baptism, as we understand it is a person's public declaration of their faith in Jesus by being baptized in water.  Seriously, Michelle?  Is there even one small part of me that believes that if the Holy Spirit thinks it's appropriate to baptize my daughter in the Spirit that she's somehow too young for water baptism.  The thought just made me laugh!

Hope wasn't the only child filled with the Holy Spirit that weekend.  Stories continue to pop up of other children experiencing God's supernatural Presence.  The interesting part about kids is that the stories don't come out without being asked.  Why?  Because to children who love Jesus, the Presence of God is something just so natural because of their innocence and pure undoubted faith.  Like bubble baths and breakfast cereal, it's just part of life. 

If you have a story about God's Presence working in your child's life, please tell us about it!