Full Armor of G-D!

We had some friends stay with us for a few days last week. Some of you may know Sharad Kunnath. He and his wife, Jenny have two kids, Arpan and Sanna. Arpan is one year to the month older than Safina and Sanna is one year to the month older than Serena.

We had a wonderful time with them and I personally felt so encouraged by Jenny. She is such a sweet heart. Apparently, her grandmother is from the same village in Kerela as Ashish's grandfather.

On Saturday we drove them into D.C. to show them the monuments. Arpan (Appu) rode with us in between Safina and Serena. Earlier during their stay Safina and Appu had an intense theological discussion about whether or not there were monsters in heaven. And, we continued that discussion in the car on our drive.

It was getting dark and Safina was starting to say things like, "I'm scared", "It's scary". After hearing her say this a few times, Appu finally just told her matter-of-factly that all she needed was the sword of the spirit! I was just so impressed by that.

And, because of Appu, I was thinking of doing a project with Safina and hopefully the other kids in our small group where we dress up in the full armor of God. And, have each child talk about a fear they have and then bring it full circle for them.

So, from Ephesians 6:13-19:

-TRUTH banded around your waist
-RIGHTEOUSNESS as your chest plate
-Feet protected in preparation to proclaim the good news of PEACE
-Raise the shield of FAITH above all else, so you will be able to extinguish flaming spears hurdled at you from the wicked one
-Helmet of SALVATION
-Sword of the SPIRIT, which is the word of G-D

And, it goes on to talk about prayer!

Safina has entered the stage where she has become so tuned in to what she senses around her that 'fears' become very real for her. As parents we certainly have to protect our children's innocence. But, fear still creeps in somehow. So, I'm hoping in doing this she will be encouraged.

I love how this passage talks about prayer too because so much of our armor is based on prayer and we're teaching Safina the power of prayer and I think in many ways she grasps this and has internalized it for herself.

Anyway, just wanted to share this sweet story.

I will type up just one more now and this time it's about Ashish.

Ashish and Sharad were preparing to take Safina and Arpan to the park Friday night. Sharad and I were standing at the top of our stairs while Ashish was downstairs getting ready to go. Sharad was telling me how Ashish's dorm in college was a zoo - in one corner there was a flute, in the other a guitar and stacks of paper all around the room. With great emphasis, Sharad went on to tell me that each morning Ashish was always searching for something he needed and could never find what he was looking for. And, right at that 'exact' point in the story, Ashish peeks up from the bottom of the stair and says, "Honey, I can't find my wallet, have you seen it anywhere?".

The timing was impeccable. I always enjoy the history shared between good friends. It is truly something to treasure.

Love,
juliana