One of the stories that has stuck with me the most was one I heard during our second month while we were in Serbia.
It was a Sunday morning. Kiana, Lacey, and I were visiting a home church in a small village outside of Pozarevac.
While giving the message, the pastor shared with us the story of a little girl. This little girl was young, not older than five years old. She and her family lived next door to the pastor.
Every day, the little girl would come visit the pastor, asking for more and more stories about this man named Jesus. It wasn’t long before she eagerly gave her heart to Jesus.
She was the only one in her whole family who was a Christian, and she tirelessly shared with them all of the wonderful things she was learning about Jesus. Even though her family showed no signs of ever caring about or accepting her Jesus, she had faith that one day they would accept him as their Savior. So she did not give up.
One day, when her older brother was climbing a tree, he fell out and broke his arm. The little girl immediately ran next door to bring the pastor to pray for her brother.
The pastor quickly came, and as they knelt beside her brother, the pastor asked the little girl to pray for him. She prayed a simple prayer, asking God to heal her brother’s arm.
And guess what?
God did.
How did the simple prayer and faith of a five year old girl have the power to heal her brother?
As the pastor explained,
It was because she simply did not know what God could not do.
It was all pretty simple in her mind. Based on the stories the pastor had told her about Jesus, she knew that her God was a very powerful God, she knew that nothing was impossible for him, she was very sure that he loved her, and that he hears her every single prayer.
All she had to do was ask, and just trust him to take care of the rest.
She believed in a God of impossibilities, and because of her faith, her brother was healed.
And the best part?
Not only did God heal her brother’s arm, but when her family saw that this Jesus was not only real enough and powerful enough to heal him, but that he also cared enough about them to listen to her prayers, her entire family became Christians.
The reason why the pastor shared this story with us was to challenge us, like Jesus did, to
Have faith like that of a child.
After all, childlike faith is faith that changes the world.
You see, it was with childlike faith that Noah built a boat in the middle of dry land, trusting that God could and would provide the water. It was with childlike faith that Abraham obeyed God, even to the point of sacrificing his own son, trusting that God could provide another way. It was with childlike faith that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that God could save them from the fire, but even if he chose not to, they would still follow him. It was with childlike faith that Mary chose to believe what the angel told her, and so brought the very son of God into the world.
And it was because of a young girl’s faith that her brother’s broken arm was healed and their entire family was saved.
I want a faith like that. I want a faith that Jesus talks about that moves mountains, that changes the world. I will choose to believe in a God of impossibilities.
Let us, like that young girl, refuse to know what God cannot do.
And let us see what he does. And you can be very sure that he will do something. One thing I have learned not just on the race but from my entire life is that when we expect God to show up, he will. When we need him, when we give him space to move, he will. He always does.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
