The Faith of a Child

Avery was QUITE upset one night last weekend because she lost her new bedroom slippers that Grandma Shirley and PaPa gave her for Christmas. She came to me crying hysterically over it. I was trying to dry her hair, and the drama was starting to get to me! You know how it is. Here's a glimpse of our conversation...

Mama: Avery, do you really think that all this crying and fussing is going to actually help you find your bedroom slippers? What can you DO that will actually HELP this situation? (the answer I was looking for was to actually LOOK for them!)
Avery: I can PRAY about it! (and she did, VERY sweetly, I might add.)

At this point she was convinced that they were going to immediately show up, and I had to explain that God might HELP us find them, but we might not find them tonight, this week or ever. Maybe God wanted to teach her to take better care of her things or to put things up where they belong? We looked EVERYWHERE I could think of, but no slippers. So…she prayed again about it! I am beginning to think that I have GOT to find them because this is breaking my heart. I called the grandparents, and she hadn’t left them at any of their houses, which left me with the option of explaining that sometimes God tells us to wait, and she’d have to wait for His answer.

About 15 minutes later, Avery comes into my room and asks,
Avery: Mama, how do you spell bedroom?
Mama: Why?
Avery: I’m writing a letter to God to ask Him to help me find my bedroom slippers. (Now that's what I call persistence! It was so cute! I helped her spell the words, and this is the letter she wrote….(in case you wonder, it says, "Dear God, please help me find my bedroom slippers." She put it in an envelope and wrote "To U God" on the outside."
Avery: Now, how do we send it to Him, Mama?
Mama: (not out loud) – Great question, how DO you send a letter to God? (out loud) Let’s put it in the pages of your Bible and see if He comes to get it. (So that's what we did, and of course God eventually did remove the letter from the Bible, much to her delight.)

Now, the original slippers still have not turned up, but a certain grandmother felt the need to intervene. I guess you can say that God provided a NEW pair of bedroom slippers. I gave them to her on Monday.

Mama: Avery, look what I found!
Avery: (SOOOOO excited) God got me some new bedroom slippers! I like these better than the other ones! (Guess God knows that she likes princesses.) She tries them on and they are a tad snug.
Avery: I think they are too small!
Mama: Oh well, I guess we’ll have to go buy a bigger pair.
Avery: No, Mama, I’ll wear them. I don’t want to hurt God’s feelings!

I love conversations like this! When I thought back on the whole ordeal, it made me realize that Avery taught me alot about God and prayer! She reminded me that the Lord wants us to come to him with childlike faith - realizing that He cares about the little things in our life, that He truly does hear our prayers, the He has the POWER to act, that He appreciates our persistence, that He will answer in His time, and that He wants us to be grateful to Him in the end. I'm just glad she didn't ask me why God didn't already know her shoe size!