Childlike Faith

Mark 11:22  And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.”  ESV

When my daughter was about 4 years old, she was a very determined little person.  She got it in her head that she wanted a kitten.  Not just any kitten, but a black and white kitten named “Socks” because he needed to have 4 white feet.  She told us every day that she needed that kitten.  Finally, I tried to compromise by telling her that we would let her have this kitten if we could find a black kitten with white feet, but it had to be a boy.  She bounced around, excited as could be.  I thought I was off the hook, at least for a while.

That night, when I tucked her into bed, she said her prayers.  I am paraphrasing some but her prayer went something like this:  “And Jesus, my mommy said I could have my kitten so you need to make a kitten that is black with all four of his feet white and he needs to be a boy.  Amen”  We laughed about her praying for a kitten.

The next afternoon, I picked them up from the sitter and stopped by our business for something.  When we got out of the van, (yes, I was the mini-van driving Mama), we heard tiny little sounds coming from our work dumpster.  My daughter ran over to look. She came running back to me holding the most pitiful looking kitten I’ve ever seen.  He was scrawny and sickly….but he was a black and white kitten with 4 white feet and he was a boy.  She said, “See!! Jesus was listening, Mama, just like they said in Sunday School.”  Needless to say, we took the poor thing home, got him well and had him for many years.

How many times do we pray for the seemingly impossible, but have no faith that our prayers will be heard or answered?  Or we don’t even pray at all because we don’t feel that God will answer?  One of the hardest concepts for me to grasp is that God always listens.  He always hears our prayers.  He always answers our prayers.  He just doesn’t always answer them like I may want him to.  I don’t have that innocent faith like a little girl does, but I’m learning to have faith again.  I’m learning to see that His answers are always so much better than how I had it planned anyway.

Whatever you are going through in this season of your life, remember to ask God to guide you.  There is nothing that He can’t help you get through.  Just have faith.

Dear Jesus, Thank you for reminding me of this story about having faith.  Thank you for providing a life lesson to a little girl, but more importantly, to her Mommy.  Help us to remember that You are always faithful, even when we forget to be.