For the last 10 weeks, I have spent my summer with 40 children between the ages of 5 and 9. And in those 10 weeks, I have begun to see life through those 40 little ones’ eyes. And looking back now, it has truly been a blessing. I have learned so much about the way God uses His children. The fact that sometimes He uses the smallest, more innocent-minded ones to be His biggest disciple. And that these children that God created truly do see everything as possible through Him.
In Philippians 4:13, it says, “Everything is possible through Christ who gives me strength.”
A lot of times as Christians, I think it’s a lot easier said than done when we think of this verse. Sure, we say that anything is possible with God. But when times get rough, we can often find ourselves doubting God’s ability to pull through and not leave us hanging. It’s when life is easy that it’s the easiest to say that if God is for us, than who can be against us? Because everything in that moment seems to be “for” us. But with children, I wholeheartedly believe they have a different kind of faith and trust in God.
This summer has opened my eyes to what God is doing in the lives of all His little ones. As much chaos and trials that are going on in the world right now, there are also so many amazing things happening right in front of us.
I think with children, they believe most everything they hear. When you tell them, “You can be anything you want to be,” they really do believe you and believe in themselves. And from that moment on, you can find most children often setting goals for themselves to be astronauts or firefighters, saving lives. To see the amount of faith they have in themselves can be inspiring.
But it’s even more inspiring to see the amount of faith they have in God. They are sponges soaking up so much of God’s Word and then going out a sharing it, talking about God and what all He has done.
If you ask a child to tell you the story of baby Jesus being born or of Jonah and the whale, they could probably tell you every single detail of the story; that Jesus was born in what cows feed in, and that Jonah was probably afraid of the dark. And although that is kind of beside the point my point is that a child is so engrossed in everything God has done for us, including every detail about every daily miracle that He performs. They are engrossed in it because they know that God is capable of anything.
They believe that God works miracles every single day and will always answer every prayer. And I think this is something that, as we get older, we tend to not be so good at. At some point our “child-like faith” begins to weaken as we grow old. We often find ourselves wondering if God can hear the prayers we cry out.
The neatest thing I have witnessed this summer was when a little boy led us in prayer at the end of our daily devotion. It was the most honest, and authentic prayer I have ever heard. He truly spoke from his heart, asking God to heal and thanking God for today. But it wasn’t like any other prayer. It was a prayer that was spoken from a young one’s soul crying out for God to be with us. And from the point on, it made me realize that a child of God really does completely and fully trust in God, having faith that He can do All things.
And think that these children’s faith can be a great eye opener and reminder for us. That no matter how old or young we are, we can do so much when Christ is within us. When you let God in your heart, you will begin to live your life a little differently. And it’s because of these children this summer that I have a whole new idea of what it means to have faith in God, trusting Him wholeheartedly.
When you are surrounded by 40 children for 10 weeks, you see more than just little ones playing Legos and letting their imagination take off. You also see their hearts chasing after The One and Only Lord, our God.
“He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you’” (Luke 17:6).
