Lost and Found

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind but now I see."




Wednesday, February 4th 2009, will be the most important day in the life of Sierra Stire. Yesterday, our 8 1/2 year old daughter was reborn into a new life in Christ!!!


For a few months now, Sierra has been asking lots of questions about what it means to "repent your sins", what a Christian is, and how to become one. Her little heart has been getting softer and more sensitive towards spiritual things. A couple of weeks ago we were talking about what it means to have Christ on the throne of her heart and how that will affect the "little" decisions she makes. She told me that just that morning she had seen some candy that she knew she was not supposed to eat and she almost took it but then she thought, "Mommy might not be able to see me, but God can always see me." She chose not to take that candy.

Well, last night Sierra and I were making dinner together(chicken pot pie, if you were curious). We began talking about salvation. I shared the whole gospel with her again and she was really attentive and asked lots of questions. She told me that she had been asking God her help her "repent her sins" and we talked about what that meant. When we got to the end, I basically went through what the "sinner's prayer" consists of and explained why all those aspects were a vital part of saving faith. After I had finished, she said, "Mommy, I prayed all those things in my heart to God while you were talking. Am I a Christian?" I was so thrilled to be able to share with her the promise from God that "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom. 10:9). I praise God that He gave me the immense privilege to be a part of and see this new birth. What a joy to be there for her physical and her spiritual birth for now she is my physical and my spiritual daughter! Wow!!!

Then we discussed the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer and how true saving faith will produce the fruit of the Spirit. She was so excited to begin to see that fruit growing in her life, as are Kris and I. At the dinner table we shared the good news of Sierra's conversion with all the kids and Kaitlyn said, "Sierra, welcome to the family!"

We praise God for answering our prayers for the salvation of our Sierra Michelle Stire. In the past we have requested that you pray for the salvation of our children and I wanted to share the joy of this answered prayer with you as well. Please pray that the seed of the gospel would have found fertile soil in Sierra's heart and that it would grow up and increase and yield a crop and produce thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold (Mk 4:8).

We say, "O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvantion" (Psalm 95:1).

By the way, you will notice on the photo that Sierra is without her two front teeth. She lost both of them in a 24 period this week. So they were "lost", but she is "found".