Time to Believe

B.B. had his vaccinations today. 3 in all: pneumonia, chicken pox and DTaP. We are now officially done until someone starts school... Or there's another baby and we have to start all over again.

Baby Girl is praying for a new baby sister. We keep telling her a baby sister will do the same things baby brothers do, but she's having none of that. She wants a sister and as far as she's concerned, because she's praying for one, God will give her one. The faith of small children is amazing.

When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast her school raised money to help. When I put the money in her backpack I told her what it was for. A few days later she asked if "those kids got a new house yet." I was confused and asked,"What kids?" "The kids I sent money to." I explained that it would take a long time and a lot more money than what we sent to build someone a house, but her money would help them until then.

That's when she noticed the Wilma coverage I was watching on CNN. I told her those people couldn't start building new houses because another storm was coming. She looked at me, looked at the television and said, "You better pray for them, Mom. You better pray for that storm to stop." So I did. We prayed for the hurricane to turn, but if not that the people would be protected. When we were done she said, "It'll be OK now." I said, "What will?" "The bad storm. We prayed, and now it will all be OK." I laughed internally (I'd never laugh out loud at something that serious) and went on with whatever I was doing.

Later I was telling my Grandmother about it and she said, "Now isn't that amazing! The faith of a child. That's exactly why we're told to have the faith of a child." I hadn't thought about it that way. As far as Baby Girl was concerned we prayed. God would handle it. End of story. As far as I was concerned it wouldn't make any difference what so ever. That hurricane was going to hit whether I prayed or not.

That's when it hit me. What's the point in praying if I don't think God will really do anything about it? What's the point of a God you don't really believe is all powerful? Do I really believe God is going to answer my prayers? Or do I think it's only useful to pray about "small things"; will God really do anything about the "Big Things"? If I'm going to believe in Him and I'm going to ask for His help it needs to be in all things. He can change the course of a hurricane just the same as He can send us the baby sister we want.

He sent us Baby Girl after 2 and 1/2 years of praying. He took care of my grandmother when she had 2 strokes and we thought we were going to loose her. He took care of my Aunt when she was being treated for cancer. He helped us through 2 health scares in my pregnancies.

The problem is when things don't go our way, or something really bad happens, we decide He isn't answering our prayers. We know how we want our prayers answered and if they aren't answered when and how we like, we throw up our hands in frustration. "God doesn't listen! He doesn't care! (or worse yet) He doesn't even exist!"

In Constantine Keanu Reeves' character says, "God is a kid with an ant farm." Maybe that's more true than not. The ants can only see the few centimeters around them. The kid with the ant farm can see all the tunnels, all the twists and turns, and all the other ants. He knows when the ants are about to tunnel into the wall or a tunnel is too close to the surface and might collapse. All we see is the here and now. God sees it all. We want what we want regardless of the cost to us or others. God knows what we need; what's best for us.

I guess it's time for me to start having faith in the Lord and stop playing at having faith. Time to start living like I believe it is well with my soul. Time to believe God will turn the hurricane, just like Baby Girl does.