As a Child

While having coffee with a friend one morning, she told me some things about her cute little grand-daughter.

One thing… her grand-daughter likes to dance around and just enjoy herself.

We started talking about how free kids are and how Jesus tells us to come to Him with the faith of a child.

I mentioned how one afternoon I came downstairs to the sound of my daughter’s squeals of delight. She had stepped outside on the patio and was jumping on her trampoline. It had started to rain and she was delighting in the feel of the raindrops on her face.

I hoped she never stops delighting in the feel of the rain against her face or dancing in a puddle.

Childlike things...

Childlike faith…

It can be harder and harder to just enjoy simple moments with the pressures and responsibilities of life. It can be harder and harder to trust when things in life slip you a curve.

How do you keep a childlike faith after watching a dream you’ve prayed about for years slip from your hands?

Or someone you love slip from life?

Or when a certain bad situation, whether it is health, finances, relational or whatever, keeps happening again and again?

How?

There’s one thing my daughter does and I’ve noticed lots of other kids do to. She will bring me something to fix and then as I’m fixing it, she try to take it back to do it herself. Or she will follow me around, even though I’ve said I’ll have it done in just a minute, and ask me over and over again about the same issue, instead of waiting for me to finish what I’m doing.

Even though I will admit I’m pretty good at acting just like that, I don’t think that is what childlike faith is supposed to look like.

There is something I’ve noticed too about my daughter. When something is going on in her life, or she has a question, or a need, she comes running right to me or her dad. She has faith that we will protect her, provide for her, and love her. Now, have we always come through in the way she wanted us too? Uh…that is a definite NO!

But yet, she continues to trust us and come to us. She continues to open her eyes every morning with a love for her parents. She daily wants to spend time with us and talk with us.

That I think is the key.

No matter what is going on in life, we push it all aside and believe. Believe in who GOD really is, not the circumstances that surround us. The more we learn about God’s character through His word, and how He loves us so much, the more we will want to draw near to Him like a child to their parent.

One of my husband’s friend’s past away this week after battling cancer for twenty years. The one thing his wife told me about his life that stands out in my mind is he never lost faith. Cancer kept coming back and attacking his body, but he never lost faith in God.

This man knew. He knew God and didn’t let circumstances try to tell Him who God was. Instead, he believed in the true character of God and how much He loved him.

Childlike faith, I don’t think is a sign of immaturity, but rather a sign of maturity.

When you come up against a mountain that you have to climb…go to Him, take His hand, and start walking. Your Heavenly Father is always with you no matter what. In the midst of the storms, He is there. In the pain of the moments, He is there. In the middle of chaos, He is there.