After church on Easter Sunday, eight-year-old Beatriz came up to me and shyly said, “I want to ask Jesus to be my Savior.”
I explained the gospel to her, and after she prayed we announced the news to everybody who was still at church. We clapped for joy, shed tears of happiness, hugged her, gave her a new Bible, and prayed for her. For almost two years, she and her older sister, Joana, have been coming to church faithfully. Last year, Joana made a profession of faith. For Beatriz, it took a little while longer to understand the gospel, but she finally did.
So, with a heart filled with joy, we locked up the building and began to take the kids home in our van. When we got to Joana and Beatriz’s apartment, Joana said,
“Wait here. I want my mom to come and talk to you.”
I had met their mother before, and she had always been polite but never expressed any desire to come to church, despite our invitations. When she came down, I greeted her, and Joana interjected,
“Now, tell my mom what happened to Beatriz today.”
At first I was a little reluctant to bring up Beatriz’s salvation to the mother, because I figured she wouldn’t understand, and so I said,
“Today at church we gave Beatriz a new Bible.”
Joana looked a little annoyed and pressed on,
“No, not that. Tell my mom what Beatriz did.”
And so, I told her, “Today Beatriz asked Jesus to be her Savior.”
A confused look crossed the mother’s face, and she stammered, “Oh, Okay… Well, we need to get going.” We said our goodbyes, and I drove off.
But I couldn’t get her response out of my mind.
“Oh, Okay.”
I wanted to say, “Oh, Okay???!!!
Dear woman, do you realize your daughter, Beatriz, just made the most important decision of her life? She was lost, but now she is found. She once was dead in her sin, but now she is alive. She is a daughter of the King of the universe. Instead of condemnation, she is crowned with eternal life. At this very moment, the angels in heaven are leaping with joy over the salvation of your precious daughter.
And to this your reply is…’Oh, Okay.’”
How sad a response and how blind this poor mother is to the infinite glory of knowing Jesus.
It moved me first with pity toward Joana and Beatriz returning to a broken home where they are the only two people who know Jesus. But, then it moved me also to pray for this family. I pray with all my heart that the mother, Paula, would one day know the joy of salvation. I pray for Joana and Beatriz’s older sister, Carolina, that she, too, would be saved and that one day the whole family would join together singing praise to their Savior and King, Jesus. Would you pray with me to this end?
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Take a moment to watch this two minute video of some kids’ testimonies:
God is working in Montijo from David Booth on Vimeo.
Booths in Portugal 