Days 167 - 169 Knowing the Bible

My husband and I took our youngest daughter and our "little," Elisabeth, to church today. Elisabeth is part of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and I am her "Big." We have been together for nearly a year now.

Elisabeth is 6 going on 7 years of age. She's a pretty demanding little girl who comes from a broken family. Her parents are divorced and they both live pretty close to poverty level, if they're not already in it. Elisabeth had a set of twin little sisters...but one of them has died. I am uncertain the reason why.

But today Elisabeth sat between me and my husband in church service. She was busy coloring in the church's coloring book while the adults listened to the pastor's sermon. We opened up our Bibles and placed them on our laps. Elisabeth asked, "What're those?" She pointed to our Bibles. I thought for a second that I didn't hear her correctly. "What is this?" and I pointed to my women's devotional bible on my knees. "Yeah, what's that?"

"Well, it's my Bible." I said.

"What's a Bible," Elisabeth asked.

After pausing for a moment...partly in disbelief but partly because I wanted to answer a 6 year old little girl...I said, "The Bible contains God's words to us."

Elisabeth was content with my answer and continued to color her page with a child's Bible character on it.

I was aghast that a child her age did not know what a Bible was. I was also really, really saddened for her.

I hugged her throughout the sermon and songs, played with her long, stringy hair, and smiled often. She enjoyed being between me and my husband. She really enjoyed it when I scooped her up and onto my hip while my husband and I sang our hymns. She sang along, humming mostly because she didn't know the words one bit. I could tell she felt total peace and love. I thanked the Lord for this opportunity.

I'm not sure whether Elisabeth will want to return...she's content mostly to play outdoors and play with dolls when she comes over.

Lord, thank you for allowing Elisabeth to be exposed to Your songs, to Your sermon, to Your church, and to Your Bible. Amen.

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Update: My mother is not doing well at all. Since finding out that her cancer has, in fact, spread she has not been able to get up off the couch. She is depressed. But also, her body is now not healing well: her mastectomy site has had to be re-drained, which was painful, and her large incision site is leaking frequently. She is feverish and chilled at the same time. She is on new medication that upsets her stomach.

I lie awake at night trying to sleep but end up staring at the ceiling worrying about my poor mother. I long to be with her, to hold her frail hands and pray with her, to encourage her and to care for her. I hate being so many, many states removed from her. Usually, we can talk on the cell phone and all is well. But she is too sick to even speak to me on the phone. Yes, I am very concerned.

Lord, please bring someone into my mother's life who can care for her, encourage her, and pray for her, Amen.