Praise God! My student accepted Jesus today!

Hallelujah!!! Praise God! One of my students, a boy for whom I have been praying for about a year now, made the decision this afternoon to accept Jesus as his Savior!

He and I have been able to develop a really good relationship over the course of the first two months of school, and this afternoon once school was over he explained to me that he finally realized what he needed to do. The truth had finally hit him! This is especially amazing since we had done much talking about the decision for Christ during times of running together on Friday afternoons, during recess, during moments of frustration and discipline, etc...but I had always left the decision in his court. I sensed I needed to let the Spirit of God speak to his heart, and when he was ready, he would talk to me. He knew how monumental a decision for Jesus would be, how it would change everything, and he was quite hesitant and fearful for a while. Even this morning during class devotions, we had talked about how the true mark of a friend is one who would lay down his life for someone else (John 15:13). Just as Jesus did that for us, we ought to die to ourselves daily.

After school he had been really burdened, desiring to share the truth of God and Jesus with his babysitter, a woman who doesn't know God. He said that he'd tell her everything he could today, and if she still had questions, he'd tell her more tomorrow and then the next day. He wanted to even know if he could be a missionary to her. I resoundingly said, "Yes!" When I asked him about the things he would tell her, he agreed that he needed to tell her about making a decision for Christ. That's when I asked him if he had made that decision himself. During the course of the conversation (which, by the way, had been started with his tutor, a wonderful Russian teacher named Katya), he admitted that he hadn't yet made a decision for Jesus. So Katya and I walked him through the ABC's of salvation (Accept, Believe, Confess), and he talked through what each of those letters meant in his life. Then this precious fifth grader prayed a prayer of salvation without any assistance from either of us. Oh how heartfelt his prayer was as we all knelt there on there classroom floor! Then Katya and I prayed prayers of blessings for him! He was so relieved to have made the decision, and he is very excited to start a new life, reborn as a child of God!

One other thing that he told me is that he wanted a new mind to help him think right, to keep him from becoming so bored all the time, to protect him from bad thoughts, etc. I assured him that upon receiving Christ, he also receives a new mind! What a promise!

I excitedly look forward to the remainder of this year as I love, teach, and disciple this student and others. Please keep him in your prayers, as I'm sure our enemy, the devil, will do everything he can to bring him down and cause him to doubt the victory that has been won this day. Join with the Heavenly Father, the hosts of heaven, many Hinkson staff, and me as we rejoice today!