He is so faithful to...

The Kertson household has been talking a lot about hearing the voice of God lately. Probably has something to do with the stage of life we are in at the moment as we are trying to make a very important decision that will set the stage for the rest of our lives. Pretty heavy stuff. You don't make decisions like this without hearing the voice of God, so naturally the topic comes up - around the dinner table, at night before bedtime, in the morning before school and in the middle of doing household chores when your mind slips away to dreaming of what the future holds. Yes, the voice of God is so desperately needed and wanted around here. And of course when you are earnestly seeking God, He always proves faithful to show up and tonight he showed himself to me once again through one of my children.
Around the dinner table after the first day of school I was challenging Peyton (6) and Amber (4) to try to do one nice thing for another person each day of this new school year. I began to give them some ideas like: You could let someone go ahead of you in line, or help someone carry something heavy to class, or play with a kid who looks like they are alone and needs a friend. Peyton stopped me right there and said "I can't really do that mom because my best friend at school doesn't like it when I play with other kids and not her." This information was a bit alarming to Brandon and I and we tried to explain to Peyton that it is good to be friends with everyone and if her friend was not letting her play with other kids then maybe she was not a good friend after all. Peyton nodded with a look of uncertainty and I felt a check in my spirit about the whole thing, I had no idea that Peyton was being controlled by this friend and I prayed that God would help her know what to do. That night before bed Peyton and I prayed that God would give her wisdom to know how to talk to her friend and how to show Gods love to everyone at her school. I don't know why it always amazes me when God answers prayers quickly! I think we often get used to the long wait that God sometimes requires of us, but today I was reminded that prayers can be answered immediately. Peyton came home from school today and told me that her school has this thing called a peace path. It's where one friend stands on one side of the path that says "It makes me feel ___ when you ____" and the other friend stands on the other side that says "I understand how you feel when I _____ I will _____ from now on" and you are suppose to stand there with your friend and repeat the sayings filling in the blanks with issues you may be having with each other. Peyton told me she asked her friend to go to the peace path with her that day and while they were there she told her, "It makes me feel sad when you don't let me play with other people" she went on to say that her and her friend had a really good talk at the peace path and together they decided it would be a good thing to play with other friends this year. I really could not believe what I was hearing. Could my 6 year old really have had the courage to do such a thing??? I was blown away! I told Peyton, "I think God answered our prayer that we prayed last night about giving you the right words to say to your friend." She said, "Yeah, I think he did because the peace path just opened today for the first time and I knew God wanted me to use it".
 He is so faithful to answer. I often question our decision as parents to put our kids in public school but Brandon and I feel a conviction to allow our children to be exposed to the world so that they might be able to be a light to it. It is scary because I know the world is tough and will easily tear you down but I cover my children in prayer daily and trust that God is protecting them and giving us the wisdom we need as parents to guide them daily. I was so proud of how Peyton handled this situation and it was a confirmation that we as a family are indeed hearing God's voice.