This spring, our family had a little encounter with a few kittens. It all started when Hope, nine-years-old at the time, prayed for a cat just before she went to sleep one night. And, this faith-filled child was very specific about the kind of cat she wanted. She prayed for a kitten that Daniel (another brother) would not be allergic to, because he normally has a reaction to animals. Amazingly, through a few abnormal circumstances, Hope woke up to find a kitten had indeed ended up in our living room that morning. We named the kitten Jacob, because later that day we found his sickly brother, who was unfortunately deemed Esau. Well, the story continues because within a few days we ended up finding another kitten and this third one was named Surprise. Eventually, we ended up with only keeping Jacob and it was discovered, to most of us quite shockingly, that Daniel is not allergic to Jacob.
Perhaps none of this should really be such a surprise, after all, Hope prayed very specifically and knew that her Heavenly Father could answer her prayers. I think this is what you call child-like-faith. It assumes a few things that I often forget. One of those things is that God wants to hear what we need. I've been listening to a sermon series by Malcolm Smith on prayer and one of the things he talks about is how, despite God knowing everything, He actually wants to hear it from us. Hope could have thought, "God knows I want a cat and He will give me one if He wants me to have one." But, she didn't. Instead, she told God she wanted one and asked if He would give her one. Its kind of like me wanting to hear a story, that I already know, told by Tim. I love him and I love the way he tells it and the way we connect over that story when he is sharing it, whatever it might be. I think this is like what God feels about us. Just because He already knows what has and will happen, doesn't mean He doesn't want to hear it from us and hear us ask for what we need and, most amazingly to me, He delights in hearing it.
Another part of faith that I learned from Hope was in the way she specified what she wanted. She knew Daniel was allergic to cats, but that didn't stop her from believing that God could give her a cat to which Daniel wasn't allergic. She saw the situation clearly, she needed a specific kind of cat and so that was the one she asked for from her Heavenly Father. Praise the Father! He wants to know the nitty-gritty details and He wants to answer our very specific requests.
Back to Timothy and his stories. You see, the best part of all of this for me, was hearing Tim tell this story to a friend. He went through and gave all the little details of who did what and how all the kittens ended up in our house and, when he got to the part about naming the third kitten, he explained it like this: "We wanted to name the third kitten 'Surprise' because it was so surprising when we found her. You see, the first kitten wasn't a surprise because Hope had asked for that one..." :)
May you know the Father today! Know Him. Know Him in all your ways. Know Him in the littlest detail. Know Him in the innermost part. He can handle you at your ugliest (Praise Him for that!). He can handle the nastiest lies that you are believing. He wants to hear your desires and needs. Be known by Him and know Him, listening and answering and delighting in you.
You can pray that David and I would know Him this week, for that is our deepest need.
Me and a few of my students on a field trip at the ice cream shop. :)
