So, a lot of my friends are posting one thing they are thankful for each day in the month of November.  What a great idea, I thought, only the every day thing was just not going to work for me.  Not for want of thankfulness, you understand, just time.  A post every week is more my pace these days, sadly.  So without further ado, I bring you the first installment of “Thankful Thursday.”

Today I am thankful for “FTGI”.  I know what you’re thinking, does she mean “TGIF”  and she is just having a the-babies-ate-my-brain moment?  No.  It *is* nearly Friday, and I am thankful for that, too, but “FTGI” is something different, something amazing.

Yesterday afternoon as our little charge Ellie was being picked up by her Mommy (whom the girls *adore*), Pippa was putting the finishing touches on a picture she had drawn of Heaven (I wish I had snapped a picture of it – Mommy brain strikes again!).  She quickly decided to give it to Ellie’s mom and rushed over to show us her artwork.

She had drawn a beautiful little house with a curly gate and an inscription at the top: “FTGI”.  I was a little embarrassed in anticipation of hearing what she *thought* this might spell.  (Ellie’s mom is a kindergarten teacher, so, you know, the pressure’s always on.)

“This says,” she proudly explained, “FTGI, which stands for Free To Go In.”

I was dumbstruck.

My sweet six-year-old big girl had just given a (very simple) presentation of the Gospel.  She gets it.

Romans 6:23 says

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today I am thankful for the truth of her simple words.  We could never possibly earn God’s favor.  We are sinful through and through.  And yet His gift to us, through Christ’s death and resurrection, is that our eternity is secure if we trust in Christ.  Hallelujah, it really is “free to go in”!

And… I am very thankful for a little girl who knows it, and isn’t afraid to share that good news!