Create in me a pure heart, Oh, God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
- Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...
I’m so excited to share this one with you! I feel like a proud teacher, or a big sister sitting on the sidelines of life watching her little sister transform from the inside out, getting more and more beautiful every day! She’s a wife and a mommy. I met her more than a year ago through another friend of CPM. She has been in our trench classes and I have so enjoyed working with her and watching her journey. Her transparency and her teachable heart have been a huge inspiration to me in this trench class journey. She’s not afraid to ask questions … because she wants answers. She longs to get this whole marriage and parenting thing right for she knows in her soul that these are the two most important jobs she will ever do here on earth. I’d like to introduce you to Erica Bauchert. Enjoy this true story and the lessons she learned and who God used to teach her!
"I would like to share a story with all of you, especially for those of you who, like me, sometimes feel like Jesus has forgotten about us. This happened about 2 weeks ago
"So my son Andrew -- he is soon to be six years old -- was having bad nightmares. He started being afraid of the dark, being alone and he completely freaked out every day at sundown. He never, ever had shown this kind of behavior in the past. The nightmares went on for about ten days.
"We tried different things to help out, like putting him in our bed to sleep, and on a crib mattress on our bedroom floor. Nothing seemed to help. Every night he would wake up crying and scared. He would ask me to pray with him to help him go back to sleep. After so many nights of this, my husband and I were growing concerned as we didn't know if this was a phase or something more serious. Why is this happening? After all, we pray every night before bed and we have peaceful evening routines?
"Anyway on day ten, Andrew and I went shopping for a special bedtime plush toy. We wrote down a special prayer (I wrote it but it was Andrew's prayer) and stuffed it in the new toy. The idea was that if he woke up in the middle of the night, he could hug his toy as tight as he could and think about his prayer and hope that would help him sleep better.
"Well that night, Andrew prayed so beautifully. He asked Jesus to come into his heart and to give him peace and take away all the scary things because he already knows where Jesus is, there is always peace. I came so close to crying as I listened. I also prayed but I was feeling like God was not listening. I had been praying for ten days and I was losing faith.
"That night I couldn't sleep. In fact, I was awake all night; I was not sleepy for whatever reason. At around 4:00 a.m., I sat up and I saw Andrew moving around. I just knew he was about to wake up again. He them mumbled some words that I couldn't understand. I was in no way prepared for what I saw right after that: He raised his hand with his fingers wide open and as he hit the wall, he said very clearly "High-five!"
"I just giggled and lay my head down. I was grateful that he was having a good dream. Needless to say, he slept peacefully thru the night. When he woke up – not until 10:00 a.m. -- he came to me and said, "Mom, guess what?"
"I said, "What happened?"
"He said with this childlike joy in his voice, "I had a beautiful dream, Mom; I was with Jesus. We were playing together and, Mom, he high-fived me.” He said, “I don't need to be scared"
I let myself cry and felt this overwhelming slush pile of feelings: I was grateful; I was relieved; but I was also ashamed. See, I had been praying with anger and not with a pure heart. I was challenging God to show me He was there. But my son's prayer was pure and genuine. He wasn't challenging; he was surrendering himself to Jesus, and his prayers were answered.
"It might not seem like much to some of you but to me, I was up all night for a reason. Jesus wanted me to witness Him high-fiving my son in his dream so I could understand that He is everywhere and in everyone who seeks Him with a pure heart. He had not forsaken me; it was me who was not seeking Him in the right way.
I hope this story brings some light into the darkness we sometimes feel. Love you all!
Erica
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