Ava's Song

Sometimes, you have something inside of you that is a "Go Tell it on the Mountain" story.  Sometimes these are the most difficult to share.  But, as we head into this season...I am going to take the Shepherds' example and go run and tell what we have seen and heard.  For, I desire for you to know this year, as you hear all the parts of the Christmas story again...that each element it speaks of is VERY real...STILL....Yes, so VERY near to each of us in this day!..we are just simple fold here...this story could be yours as well...

The other night, I tucked in our children early and needed to head out to an important meeting about a heavy subject.  My Mama's heart was checked as I stroked little heads...I felt a need to pray for more protection over them as we would be apart that night.  I prayed something we often do...that God would send HIs angels of protection over the children, that He would set a fiery hedge around our home...as I passed by Ava's room, I was especially impressed to pray that God would FILL her room with angels...she had recently been feeling some night fear and I had been visiting her room to anoint it with prayer, asking God to send Joy and His Presence to her room, especially as she slept. We set them up with older brother's care and headed out.

At the meeting that night, i found myself keeping in touch with the kids, listening but also praying for them...the feeling was very strong...

The next morning in the morning rush, Ava tugged on me...
"Mommy, I had a REALLY good dream last night.  God sang me a song."

Honestly, I was half-listening.  I was in-between filling up 5 of the water bottles and stuffing plastic baggies with sandwiches.

After school, there was more time to listen, Ava shared again.
"Mommy, I shared with the boys and girls at school today the song God taught me last night.  He taught me two songs.  And, I went to school and taught it to my friends.  He told me He loved me."

Ava has a rich relationship with God and she is a little songbird, often coming up with new songs...I thought this was the end of her special story.  And yet, when she mentioned..."The song was a new song from heaven."  My heart did stir and warm.  Ava's teacher had recently counseled me that children's experiences with God are not just "cute".  They are real and no less than what we experience in God (there is no Jr. Holy Spirit after all!!).  Their purity and the childlike Trust that God so loves, and their need for His covering, sets them up for precious times with Him.

I mentioned that Ava could play the song for us on the piano at dinner and share about her dream with the family then too. I thought this was the extent of the sharing.

We were in the middle of our dinner, the children were all gathered up, well all except Jack, who was off to get seconds of something on the stove... when Ava reminded us she had a story to tell...and this is it:

"I was lying in my bed and my room felt scary.  So I remembered what to do.  I prayed to God.  And I closed my eyes REALLY tight and I said "Satan GO AWAY in the NAME of JESUS."  And I felt safe.  So I could fall asleep.  And right away I had a wonderful dream.  In my dream I was lying there in my bed, and all of a sudden I was awake. 

And there were angels...

And they were bright and light and white.  With Yellow on them (she points to her head) and they were flying in a circle above my bed and they were singing TO ME in the most BEAUTIFUL voices I have EVER heard.  I mean it!  It WAS like...choir voices...but MUCH more pretty.  And they were singing God's words to me.  They sung me two different songs.  the first one went, "I love you Ava. I Sing over you. You are Safe in Me." and Ava sang this sweet melody, complete with verses and a chorus.  She does not yet songwrite like this!  It was a COMPLETE and beautiful little song!!

 She next shared, "And the angels were circling above my bed and flying through the wall next to my bed into the hallway and back into my bedroom...And their EYES were like RAINBOWS!  They had EVERY color in them...like MORE than colors in them!  And after they sang songs, I heard God speak to me.  He spoke the same words as the songs over me, that I was loved, that I was His, that I was safe in Him.  He used my name."

SO...the family was all sitting there digesting this story...when Jack comes into the room from where he had been out of ear shot..."Oh, are you talking about the angels, Ava?"

"Yes."

"Oh yeah, they were very bright white and they had yellow on them and Colorful Eyes."

We all shot questions at Jack...Have you talked with Ava about this?

"No." They both answered.

"This was the first time I got to share my story Mommy." Ava answered.

Speechless, we all turned back to Jack..."Tell us YOUR story about last night, Jack."

"Well," He takes a big bite of his seconds," I was sleeping and had been for a little while when all of a sudden I was woken up by singing.  And you guys, it was the MOST BEAUTIFUL SINGING YOU HAVE EVER heard!  It sounded like...a...choir...but more beautiful...it was the most beautiful thing I have EVER heard.
So I got out of bed and I listened.  It was coming from the hallway.

And I opened my door and I went out into the hall.  And at the end of the hallway where Ava's doorway is there were angels.  And they were flying in this circle.  And they were going through the hallway wall and into Ava's bedroom and then out again.  And they were singing songs to Ava. "  He mentioned the same words of the love songs.

Tears are rolling now...down several of our faces and Ava and Jack are just glowing with Joy and excitement...they are flushed.

"So I went down the hallway."
(our bold one!!)
"I wanted a closer look."
"I stood in the doorway and peeked in.  The angels were circling over Ava and singing to her. "
"Did you ask them anything??" (a boy who would venture this close just might have!!)
"No, they looked at me, and when they did, I saw their eyes were like rainbows...or something like that...all the colors.. and I can't explain it...like more than colors...but they were not there to talk to me.  They were there for Ava."

"And Ava was asleep.  And she was talking and singing and praying back....IN SPANISH....I mean like, it was so clearly another language, like I could have learned it and spoken it in the morning!!"
"I watched for a while and then I went back to bed.  I knew we were very safe and loved last night."

...So the angels came...and sang in our hallway....to two of the children...

And we share this with you.
For it was real.
And so is God .
And so are the impact/reality of our prayers...
Each prayer is HEARD.

We  will continue to press in to God's Presence, knowing He comes and sings over us (as the Bible shows us in the shepherd story, and when God says that He sings over us)

We are lost in wonder and Praise over a VERY REAL and VERY NEAR Father God.

And that the stories in His Word are as fresh as if they happened in the hallway...JUST the other night...

Step into the stories, into the Truth of the Bible this holiday season.
Perhaps ask for more.
Love Him like a little child.
Ask Him to come to you.
Our Emmanuel....Worthy of our Praise.
God WITH Us.