There is really not a time when I am more impressed by the faith of a child than when one of my own shows me how easy it is to have faith.  I mean, I am the mom, the parent, the one that has been around for so much longer living this Christ-like faith for my children.  I was born-again in the “Word of Faith” movement.  I have the measure of faith, the faith of a mustard seed, enough to move mountains, to cast down imaginations, and break down walls.  I am faith personified.  That’s what I would like to say but the reality is much different, as I recently discovered.  That is why it is both extremely humbling and exciting for me to write about how much my children have actually gleaned and how far I have to go to see how they see. To believe without seeing the way they do.

This is how it came to pass this time around. It was our fourth day at the lake in Michigan. My kids were excited about “vacation” at the cottage, but also a little sad because we had arrived to rain and the water was … (Well, let’s just say that polar bears and penguins came to mind!)  When the wind would stop and the clouds would roll away, the water temperature was not as noticeable.  I reminded the kids that it would only take a couple of consecutive days of sun for the water to warm up to what they were used to every summer.  So, an unseasonably cool summer in Michigan was resulting in shorter days on the beach and much more intense prayer at night.

As is our custom, at night we would all pile into one room with trundle beds, blankets, pillows, and open windows to hear the waves crashing.  Everyone has a turn to pray and thank God for a fun day, or extra gooey s’mores, waves for boogie boarding, or for a safe trip for visiting family.  Nothing is off limits when anyone prays in our little world.  On this specific night though, the weather and water temperature were the focus of all three of our kids’ prayers; If only the sun could come out instead of the clouds, if only the water could be warm like at the “Sea World Hotel”, if only God could make it so there would be no more rain and so on.  And then the final words from the littlest voice in the room—our 4 year old, whom we call “pastor” because of his tendency to always pray.  He simply said, “God, if you could just take all of these prayers and put them all together everything will be just right tomorrow.  Amen and Amen”.  That was it- that was all he had to say.  Everyone turned over and soon enough there was nothing to hear but the waves on the shore just 50 feet away.

Except for me.  I couldn’t sleep.  I just kept repeating his prayer over and over in my mind so that I would never forget it.  “God, if You could just take all of these prayers and put them all together, everything will be just right”.  I knew that it sounded crazy, but I wanted so much to believe that what my youngest had prayed with such conviction could happen.  But how?  Well, I reasoned there could be a storm at night that would cause the tide to turn and bring the warmer water to the shore (I obviously know nothing about meteorology or living by one of the Great Lakes).  Or better yet, it would be so warm at night and in the morning that by the time the kids hit the water the next day it would be warm.  Or how about, all over the news, an unexplained force of “Mother Nature” had struck the thumb of Michigan and the water had suddenly warmed to never-before recorded warm temperatures (I know, dramatic)!  And then it hit me- my youngest had faith.  Faith enough to believe that all he had to do was sum it up for the Lord and it could be.  Just that simple.

That is after all, the basis of faith, what my husband and I have been working to instill in all of our kids since they could barely speak. That was the cry of our heart- that they would believe that God can do anything and if they’d ask according to His will, it could be done.  I was just surprised by my own doubt and that my youngest had actually believed what we said to be true. That night it hit me- he was faith personified.

I had almost become a statistic!  The one who says, “Well that’s really great when you first believe, but then just live a little while and see what happens.  Life gets harder and it’s not so easy … to believe”.  I spent the next few hours that night reasoning out how God could make the water warm for my little ones, almost begging God to show them how it could happen because they prayed and HE had time to hear them.  But really I was the one that needed a refresher course in faith.  I was really asking God to do His thing so that my faith could be restored.  In my mind I was thinking, when was the last time He actually parted the Red Sea?  Or physically moved a mountain?  In our ten years of marriage and training of our three kids, I could recall that there had definitely been some opportunities for mountain moving!

But then I realized, I guess that’s how I got here anyway … isn’t it?  In a time when divorce rate is at its highest and the definition of marriage is being challenged, I am more committed and in love with my husband than ever.  In a world where children are being bought and sold as slaves, mine are oblivious to anything but a life of goodness and mercy.  In a season in my life when I thought God had removed me forever from having a voice that mattered, He has opened up doors for me to speak of His love and goodness in my life.  He has been parting seas and moving mountains, just not the kind my literal mind had envisioned.

Our 2-week vacation at the cottage in Michigan came to an end all too soon.  There was rain and there was sun; there was cold water and then there was warm water.  For one day. But there was a still little voice that said, “God, just do what You do- Amen and Amen.” and my faith was restored and renewed.

I now find myself praying at the end of my sometimes long and tedious days:
“God, just take all of the prayers that I have prayed today, put them all together and do what You do- just make it ALL right.  Amen and Amen.”

Marsia Van Wormer

View More Articles By This Author