This morning during my time with the Lord I was reading Psalms 1. The last verse really stuck with me; “for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous” (V.6). Then the Lord brought me to the thought of childlike faith.
I just became a new aunt to a beautiful baby boy, his name is Ezra James. I couldn’t be more blessed to be his Auntie Dee! I am learning so much from him and my love grows more and more for him every day. Good thing God is a big God, because I don’t know how I am going to leave him for 11 months!! Anyway.. as I was thinking about childlike faith, I started to think as Ezra might think right now.
First of all, when you hold him, he is completely trusting of where you are taking him and how you are going to get him there. Imagine being like that with our Father, clinging on to Him with all the trust in the world of where He is going and how He is going to get us there. I don’t know about you, but I think I’m not alone in having a little resistance in some areas of going where God wants me to go. Yes we may eventually end up clinging to Him and going, but what if we didn’t have that first initial doubt, or hesitance? Again I don’t know about you, but as for me I can definitely grow in this area!
Secondly, a child is not the same when they are away from their parents. Yes, if they are left with someone they love, like a grandma (or an aunt), it’s not too unfamiliar so it doesn’t take as long to adjust, but they still miss their parents. Have you ever seen a baby’s or child’s reaction when their parent comes home or comes to pick them up from school? They start kicking their little legs with excitement, or start running as fast as they can to the arms of their mom or dad. Sometimes we drift away from our Father, or sometimes we completely run in the opposite direction; like the story of the lost son, he went his own direction (failed miserably), came back and what did the father do? Accepted him with the finest robe and a party. It’s not a question of whether He will welcome you back, it’s a question of are you willing to come back? But instead of coming back with shame and regret, He gives us the ability (grace) to come back like a child; running with pure joy, with no other thought than “Dad!”, “Abba!”
Which brings me to my next thought, wanting to be held. Ezra is in this phase of always wanting to be held, which I mean who could blame him? Some days all you want to do is to be held! Or is that just me? Sometimes I get the precious gift of feeling like I’m being held by my amazing Father, other days He lets me be on my own. But I’m never fully on my own, like a baby, a parent never leaves them where they can’t see them. Now the baby might not be able to see the parent so they cry out to them, but again the Father never leaves. I’ve noticed for me and Ezra that if I start talking to him while he is crying, he recognizes my voice and calms down a little. I have yet to hear an audible voice from God, if you have that is awesome! But He still gives me thoughts and words as I read his word, in prayer, or if I just sit with Him. Once I ‘hear’ His voice it brings peace and a sense of comfort, letting me know that He hasn’t actually left me.
The last thing I thought of was the dreadful tummy time! EJ hates tummy time! For those who don’t know what tummy time is (which I didn’t until he came along) it is exactly what it sounds like, time on your tummy. This time is to build the muscles in his neck and also get him to roll over (proud aunt moment, HE IS ROLLING OVER!!) When you first set him on his tummy he’s fine, but after a little bit he gets REALLY frustrated or just flat out angry. Sometime he gets so frustrated that gets the strength to roll over and then everything is okay with life. I can relate to tummy time with the seasons in life that are extremely hard. You feel like it’s never going to end and that no one is around to save you. But now having done tummy time with EJ, I picture all of us around him as we are encouraging him and cheering him on as he slowly starts the roll, and once he finally does we all start to cheer and celebrate with him. Even as simple as rolling over, it takes a lot of strength and God is cheering us on the whole way. He is the One that gives us the strength to endure the hard seasons, to have Him with us the whole time, encouraging us and talking us through it, and then when the hard season is over and we finally roll over He is right there celebrating with us. But I don’t think it’s all about ‘rolling over’ or getting through the hard times, I think the important thing is to know that He is there with you during those hard times. That it’s okay to be out of your comfort zone because you are growing stronger in areas that the Lord needs you to be stronger in.
I would encourage you to know that if you are going through a hard season and you feel like you can’t see Him or hear Him, that He is right there rooting you on, encouraging you, and giving you the means to get through it. Know that as long as you are turning to Him and learning on Him that you are growing and becoming stronger!! Tummy time is a good thing, may be extremely hard and frustrating, but it is making you ready to stand up and eventually walk!
