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Happy birthday, fine fellow! I'm so thankful God put you in our family! In the past year you have certainly shot up, and it's amazing to see you growing and changing so much.
Here are a few things you're up to:
- You've taken big steps forward in school this year, reading chapter books on your own, grappling with some much more complex math operations, and digging into some great new grammar practice and sentence diagrams! It is obvious that God has given you a good mind, and it is gaining increasing capabilities all the time.
- You are a very cheerful and willing assistant around the house. Whether I need someone to help unload the car, assist Jemima with her shoes or coat, or unload the dishwasher, you lend a hand with a ready smile and good effort that really blesses me. I pray that you will continue growing in your readiness to take responsibility and step into areas of service all through your life, as God enables you.
- You are wonderfully detailed and creative. You design incredible Lego machines, draw elaborate pictures, and have patience to construct very involved projects. You have a long attention span for these intricate activities!
- You have a total enjoyment of the goofy and slapstick, and you have a deep belly laugh which is contagious. Although sometimes you might need a reminder when humor is out of place, you bring a lot of joy and laughter to our home, and that is a reminder of God's great favor and pleasure in His purposes and plan.
- You've made great strides in your basketball skills this year! It's so fun to see you and your brothers outside shooting around and testing your dribbling skills, and you're enjoying another season of Upward as well. I'm thankful for the tenacity and endurance that you are learning even in tough games and the hard work of a sport.
- You are building a good habit of reading the Bible in the morning. I just love to hear what you remember from the Word, and I see your understanding of how the parts of the Bible fit together growing. It is also so encouraging to see you putting into practice the things we pray about regularly, like having self-control and kindness toward your siblings and being patient and faithful with your school work. May the Lord continue to bring evidences of His grace at work in your life!
- I'm thankful to see you growing in your peacemaker skills as well. Often if you have a dispute with your siblings (or if you're around when a couple of them are having a tousle over something), I hear you seeking to find a solution to the problem and a way that everyone's interests may be served. I pray the Lord continues to give you discernment and a heart that keeps God at the center so that you can help others to navigate troubled waters in their relationships.
- You really enjoyed studying your namesakes, Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, in history this year, and you clearly absorbed their story as Dad recounted it to you. I am thankful that one of Jim Elliot's quotes stuck with you, and you copied it in your notebook: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Indeed, may the Lord increase our faith and help us open our hands to His wise plan.
This spring, we were studying the first seven chapters of Romans in women's Bible study, and one of the beautiful and encouraging truths that stood out to me is that God has set us free from the power of sin in Christ.
Romans 6:13-14 says, "Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."
I just love that truth that God breaks the power of sin in our lives through Jesus, and our new life in Him includes a growing ability to actually reflect the righteousness of God, through His Spirit's enabling grace. What a privilege to offer ourselves to God for His use in His good purposes! How amazing that (even though we still sin and fall short) we can walk in a good path that will reflect Jesus and grow His kingdom.
Sin still has its hooks in our flesh, and it's a true, ongoing fight to put it to death. But what a hope-giving word that in Christ, sin will no longer rule (have dominion) over us. We have a better King and Master!
I pray you will be wholly Christ's and grow in the joy and life that are ours through His redeeming work.
I love you so much!
Momma
