Going into this season I feel like the concept of a childlike faith keeps coming up and I wanted to share with you guys how God is working on my heart!
At the daycare I work at at home we put on music for the kids while they play. One day I was working in the 5 year old room and the song “You Forgive Me” came on. All the kids stood up and were dancing and singing. Some of them even had their eyes closed. The song goes:
“No one knows me God like You
You see who I am not what I do
and You forgive me
You take all the pieces of my heart
put them back together make it all alright
oh. You forgive me”
It was just one of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen. Thinking about all these little people singing about something so important with their whole hearts while only being 5 made me tear up a little. It’s so special that they are singing about God’s forgiveness, even though they probably don’t fully understand what that means. So sweet! So pure!
I keep thinking about that moment and comparing it to how I want to live. I think having a childlike faith is so important. It means not knowing whats best for you, but finding satisfaction in trusting in the Lord. It means being eager to know the truth. Not caring what other people think and not comparing your faith to others. And it means finding satisfaction where you’re at.
I’ve been reading a book by Bob Goff called “Everybody Always.” Bob writes, “When some of Jesus’ friends were arguing about who would get to sit closer to Him when they got to heaven, Jesus told them unless they changed and became like children, they’d never enter the kingdom of God. I think what He was saying is we need a childlike faith to understand Him. That makes a lot of sense to me. It’s not acting childish that will get us to heaven. Plenty of people do that. It won’t be our big prayers and fancy language that will help us get there either. Big faith doesn’t need big words. We also don’t need to make faith easier, because it’s not; we need to make it simpler, because it is. Children have mastered what most of us are just beginners at.” Shoutout to Bob because those are some really good words.
Lately, its been so easy to forget all of this stuff and over-complicate my faith. I’ve been so overwhelmed by who I’m supposed to be as a christian and what exactly I’m supposed to do. I’ve been stressed that I haven’t fully grasped this concept or that concept. It’s hard to understand that it’s okay not to understand everything about faith. My goal is to stop letting fear call the shots and live simply in God’s love.
One verse that helps me learn to live simply is Micah 6:8-
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
What does God require of me?
- To take action to set things right. This could mean befriending someone lonely, comforting sad people, etc. Justice is about God, not us- He’s the only one who can make things truly right.
- To have a loyal love and love that is kind. This is the foundation to God’s character. Showing love to man and being loyal in your love towards Him is so important.
- To know walking humbly is about our heart attitude towards Him. We have to depend on God, not our own ability. We have to humbly recognize no sacrifice can replace a heart committed to justice and love.
And when you look at it like that it’s pretty simple!
Here in Costa Rica my ministry in working in two different daycares. We go to our first daycare from 9:30am-12:00pm. We play with the kids, organize activities and lessons for them, and feed them. We go to our second daycare from 12:00pm-5:00pm. There we do a wide variety of things: from playing with the kids to cleaning to painting. Playing with the kids gives me so much joy. I’m excited to keep learning how to live simply from them.
P.S. My friend, Destiny, posted a really great blog about what all the teams on our squad are up to. If you want to check it out click here
