There was a Saturday evening at the Popkin household, over a decade ago, that was chocked full of sin. I had been engrossed in a project, dinner was late, and everyone was hungry, grumpy, and short-tempered (mostly me). So after we had eaten, Ken didn’t think it was the right time to finish up our little book on the gospel, which we had been working through with the kids. But I said it was the perfect time. We had just illustrated, so colorfully, our need for salvation!

So, Ken got out the booklet to share the last lesson. Just moments, in, our seven-year-old, Cade interrupted (as he often did) and said, “I know that my heart is dark, and it’s just filling up with more and more sin, and I think tonight would be a good night to ask Jesus to be my Savior, and give me a new heart.”

God at Work in the Heart of a Child

When I heard him say this, my heart leaped for joy! But Ken leapt to a different conclusion, and told him sternly, “Cade, no interruptions. I need you to sit quietly and listen.” I tried to interject but Ken shot me a look that said, “Not you, too…”

So I stayed quiet and started praying. I didn’t want this moment, which I had been longing for and praying for, for seven years, to pass with the mundane Saturday evening chaos. I prayed that the Holy Spirit would continue to stir my precious boy’s heart.

Ken’s lesson included a backpack full of “sin rocks” getting heavier and heavier and an invitation to give our heavy sin over to Jesus at the cross, and find  grace and forgiveness. After Ken prayed, Cade spoke up again, saying, “Would now be a good time to ask the Lord Jesus to be my Savior and give me a new heart?”

Ken’s mind was obviously elsewhere because again he said, “No, I just told everyone to go brush their teeth…”

“Honey!” I objected. “Did you hear what he just said?” He hadn’t. (Don’t worry, my husband really does want our kids to belong to the Lord!) He sent the other kids to brush their teeth so we could talk to Cade alone.

God’s Work Alone

When the room was quiet, Ken and I leaned in so we could hear Cade’s heart. But he said, “No, I want you guys to go in the office and talk really loud so you can’t hear me, while I ask the Lord Jesus to be my savior.”

If you know Cade, you’re chuckling right now. He has always been pretty independent and resolute. So Ken and I did as he asked, only instead of talking loudly, we softly prayed. When Cade called us out, he said, “I told the Lord Jesus that I don’t know everything I need to know yet, but I know that I have a black heart, and I needed him to forgive me and make me clean.” (I John 1:9)

A Sin-Darkened Heart Made New

The next morning, when I picked Cade from Sunday School, his teacher shared that Cade had raised his hand and said, “I have something important to tell the class.” He had come to the front, pointed to the stick figure on the white board with the darkened heart, and told the class about God giving him a new heart, just the night before.

When I looked closer at the whiteboard drawing, I said, “Oh, the black heart! I’ve been wondering where he picked up that imagery.” He had been talking a lot about his black heart at home, and I was pretty sure he hadn’t been reading Romans (ie. ‘their foolish hearts were darkened'” Rom. 1:21).

It was a blessing for both me, and Cade’s teacher, to see that the seeds of the Gospel, tossed out in Sunday School, had taken root in at least one seven-year-old boy’s little black heart.

The night before, we had begun our Bible time with fresh evidence of our need for the Gospel. And we ended it with our precious boy finding grace at the cross. Then the following morning, our boy was telling the world he is a Christian. Glory!

The Agony of My Child’s Lostness

Do you know anybody with a sin-blackened heart? Does your child need to be saved?

As a mom, I have agonized over each of my children, and their need for salvation. The idea of them suffering eternally for their sin is too devastating for me to conceive of. I’ve gone to great lengths to get the truth into them, but ultimately their soul is at the mercy of God.

I can’t make them listen.

I can’t make God talk to them.

I can’t even get my husband to agree to the right kind of interruption.

But God is able. I think that’s what he wanted me to learn, the night my boy gave his heart to Jesus.

God is Able

God is able to make truth take root, even in a chaotic Sunday School classroom.

God is able to hold a seven-year-old’s attention, even after he’s been told to wait, and not interrupt.

God is able to save my son, even with me out of earshot in the other room.

And God is able to cause that faith to grow and shape his life–both the next morning and for the coming decades.

Bible Verses About Salvation

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Rom. 10:9

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph. 2: 8-9