Song Stuck on the Brain: 'No Sleep 2Nite' by The Faders. It's the intro song on the movie She's the Man. I love that movie.
And now.... the final installment of the Little Hands - Big Hearts series. I hope you've enjoyed the stories. I'll have to work on prepping more... really, these kids have enough stories to keep me writing forever. :)
A.
The Faith of a Child
"Do you know where God lives?" Chloe looked at me expectantly.
"He lives in Heaven." The answer rolled off my tongue rather absently. I was picking up dirty clothes before bedtime and wasn't really paying a lot of attention to the conversation she had begun.
"No. He lives here."
I looked up and saw her tapping her chest.
"God lives in my heart, but He's sleeping right now."
"The Bible says God never sleeps, instead He watches over us always." Again the answer came without thought, but as her comment penetrated my mind I started to listen more closely. "Why do you think God is sleeping?" I said out of curiosity.
"Because it's quiet in there." She again pointed to her heart. "But I know that He lives there because I feel him."
The conversation ended as abruptly as it began. She crawled under her covers and that was that. I finished putting them to bed, but the conversation stayed with me. It never fails that I find their comments humorous at the time, but then I see the bigger message.
I've heard people say that God must have been sleeping because he allowed a tragedy to occur. In fact, when the times are tough, I've wondered myself why God seemed so quiet. What Chloe taught me was so simple. God is always there. Not in some distant place, but in our hearts. When we covenant with Him, we ask Him to take residence in our hearts and in our lives. Life can cause us to wonder if He's sleeping, but if you stop and really pay attention, you'll feel Him inside. Always there, always caring, always in charge. What I need is faith.
Faith is a thing hoped for but not seen. I've heard that all my life. I believe it, too. I also believe that as a Covenant child of God we must take it one step further. We must trust God. Trust is your faith in action. No one can demonstrate this better than a child. Didn't Jesus say we were to be like children? They place their trust in those that care for them without question and we, as God's children must do the same. It's not always easy, but when I see our children put their faith and trust into action, I see my own faith and trust grow too.
My sister, Angel, was shopping for a new car. She had found the one she wanted and she called our parents and asked them to come and look at it with her. Nana and Papa loaded three-year-old Aaron into the car and met Angel at the car lot. Nana and Aaron waited in the car while Angel took Papa on a test drive.
While they were waiting, Nana let Aaron out of his car seat so he could sit in the front and play with her. Not long after they had arrived, a thunderstorm blew up. It came up suddenly, with the sky turning dark and thunder rolling. Rain began to pelt the car. Aaron, a little frightened, began to cry.
"Aaron, let's pray and ask Jesus to help us, okay?" Nana held him in her arms to reassure him of his safety. Aaron nodded his little head.
"Dear Jesus, please make the storm go away." He prayed in his baby voice.
As soon as the words were spoken, the storm broke. Instantly the sky began to clear and the sun shone down onto the car. Aaron smiled and went back to playing. Was he surprised that God answered his prayer? No. He trusted that Jesus would take care of him. And why shouldn't he trust Jesus? As far as Aaron's concerned, Jesus has never let him down.
When Aaron was four months old, he went with me to stay the night at Angel's house. Aaron suffered terrible colic and sometimes spent half the night crying over his tummy-ache. That night Angel and I took turns rocking him and rubbing his tight little tummy. None of the store bought or home remedies helped. All we could do was pray. Finally, around one o'clock in the morning, Aaron went to sleep. We tucked him in to the cradle at the end of Angel's king size bed and then crawled in to bed ourselves. We were exhausted, but we had prayed that God would send His angel's to be with Aaron. We began drifting into sleep with out worry. As I lay there half asleep, I heard Aaron began to whimper, but before I could get up, I heard his music box wind. It began to play and Aaron went back to sleep. I was surprised that I hadn't heard Angel get up, but I was also relieved that Aaron was quiet. I went to sleep.
The next morning, Angel asked me if I had gotten up with Aaron.
"No, I thought you did."
"No. I heard a woman's voice whispering to him and I thought you had gotten up, but when I looked over at your side of the bed, you were still there."
"Well, then who turned the music box on?" I asked in surprise.
"I heard that too. I also heard it click when the spring had unwound, but the music didn't stop playing. It must have been the angel we prayed for last night. She came and comforted him and wound his music box."
Wow. That gave us both goose bumps, but in a good way. It's a testimony we've gladly shared with many, including Aaron as he's grown. I believe that it's from that seed his faith grew. It certainly strengthened mine.
(c)April Erwin
All Rights Reserved
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