Caroline Realizing the Need to Pray

As most of you know, Caroline is our 5 year old daughter. She is the proud sister of Ella Cate. Caroline has known all along that Ella Cate has a heart problem and she has always shown concern for her little sister and her issue. Recently though, as we've either prayed over our meals or before bedtime, Caroline has started saying her own prayer for Ella Cate. It is one of the sweetest things in the world to hear.

Last night, Laura and I took Caroline and Ella Cate to church to see my nephew, Eli, get baptized. This was Ella Cate's first time to go to church. We sat in the balcony so, in case she got a little bit rowdy, we could just slip out. We watched Eli get baptized and then we sat through the worship time and through the preaching time. At the end, there was an invitation and there were several people who went forward to pray at the altar. Caroline noticed what was going on and asked her mom, "What are they doing down there?"...Laura told her they were praying. Caroline then said that she wanted to go down and pray. Laura asked her why she wanted to do that and Caroline said that she wanted to go down there to pray for Ella Cate's heart. A wave of emotion came over Laura and I when we heard our 5 year old say this and we knew that we had to take her and let her do this. So Caroline, Laura and I went down the stairs of the balcony and made our way down the aisle to the altar as a family to pray for our Ella Cate. It was one of the most awesome experiences I've had in the past 5 weeks! We all prayed separately and then before we left the altar, we all prayed as a family.

It was so awesome to realize that Caroline, at her young age, realizes the power of prayer and the need to pray. She is an example and a challenge to me as I know she is to a lot of you. Ella Cate's biggest prayer warrior might just be her sister!