Motherhood V: The Faith of a Child
July 7, 2009 by Standing on Truth
Filed under Parenting
A few weeks ago, my son went to the dentist for the first time. He was quite scared. (How do kids know to be nervous about certain people or events if they’ve never experienced them before?) My husband and I tried to assuage his fear by talking to him about what to expect and assuring him that it would be quick and easy (or, piece of cake, as we like to say). We read a kid’s character book to him about some bears that went to the dentist and loved it. A couple of his friends, who loved their first visit so much that they want to be dentists when they grow up, encouraged him and told him how cool this experience would be.
He was still scared. He wasn’t throwing a tantrum or anything, but his face showed his fear.
Then we brought in the big guns. God.
I brought his devotional in the car with us and, in the parking lot before we went in to the dentist’s office, we read Bible verses and thoughts about fear and God’s protection and provision. He and I prayed together. And from that moment on, he was a different boy. He confidently walked in to the office and with very little hesitation, allowed the hygienist and dentist to clean and check all of his teeth. As we were leaving, he said, “I want to come back and do this again tomorrow.”
When I asked him how he got through what he thought would be a scary situation, he said, “I just talked to God. . .in my head.”
The power of prayer as demonstrated through the faith of a child.
A couple of weeks later, he was overwhelmed at the number of new faces all around him at Vacation Bible School, and he was reticent to go into his classroom. After 20 minutes of resisting and crying the day before, I decided to try something different this second day. I took him back out into the hallway and we found a relatively quiet area to talk. I told him that God was with him, and I reminded him about how brave God made him when he went to the dentist. We again prayed together. I walked him into his classroom, stayed about 5 minutes with him as he grew in confidence by the minute, and as I left, I was amazed at the transformation in my child. . .and the difference in him was God.
We know that our job as parents is to “train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6), and “bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4), but how often are we aware of how much they can teach us? I learned a very important lesson from my son on those two days. I felt the power of the Holy Spirit move as we prayed, and this child, that was teaching me one of the greatest lessons of life, moved ahead in faith. I was humbled with gratitude for how God spoke to my child, and I am reminded that God loves to see us have the faith of a child, trusting Him as our Father and being transformed by His love.
I pray that I am continually aware of the lessons that God wants to teach me through my son, and that I will have ears to hear and eyes to see. ”Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).
