Let me introduce myself

My name is Ellie van Heerde; I’m married to Martin, and we’ve been blessed with two lovely children.

Some time ago, when my two children were 6 and 9 years old, I was sitting outside during my time with God. My children are lovely little bundles of energy – lively, cheerful and full of life. In my heart there was a deep longing and a prayer: ‘Lord, how can I teach these children, whose attention spans are so short, to be with You and spend time with You?’ I prayed for wisdom, for ideas and for His thoughts to be on my mind. From that moment on, God blessed me with a stream of creative ideas to reach the children and teach them how to spend time with God and how, as children, they can have a living relationship with Him.

Het ontstaan van de Gebedsbox

I put together a little box filled with all sorts of materials, and each item was accompanied by a prayer: worship, asking questions, praying for others, counting one’s blessings, forgiveness, and so on. That year we went on holiday to Switzerland, and those weeks there were our ‘golden weeks with the box’. We learnt to use the items every day, first together, and then the children were able to do so independently (these included items such as a dice, a coin, a piece of string, a compass and so much more).

The impact on my children

After a few days, my little daughter was sitting outside the house in 30 degrees, surrounded by mountains. She’d chosen a few bits and pieces to help her spend time with God, and she said: “Hi God, here I am with my bits and pieces; I’m just going to have a nice chat with You now.” And so she spent time with her God. When we got home, my little son said: ‘Mum, from now on I’ll never stop praying, because now I know what I need to do during my time with God.’ And with his little things, this young child spent his time with God on the floor of our storeroom, where so much had happened.

The development of the idea

These two sentences from my children inspired us to carry on with what we’d started: developing resources to teach children just how much fun and how good it is to spend time with Jesus. New ideas began to bubble up, and the Children’s Prayer Box was born! It’s time to bless others – you, in fact – with this. Our team has since grown to include some wonderful, precious people, and together we share a common passion: bringing heaven to earth for children.