Tag: childlike faith

Posted in Family, food, Grace, gratitude, life, love, Scripture, Southern born, thankful, Trials

Gentle Father

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

He protects His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in the fold of His garment.” Isaiah 40:11

I’m sure it happened more than once…probably on an “as needed” basis.  Perhaps this is a memory you can share…maybe not.  I was probably eight years old, and it was somewhere in the middle of the night…and I had the stomach flu.  As always, it came out of nowhere and I was sick…real sick. The only thing I can say good about the stomach flu is that it usually doesn’t stick around too long.  But I can also say that one minute or one hour is too long.

So, there I was feeling like I was dying (from my eight-year-old perspective), lonely and miserable.  It was just about that time that Momma heard me being miserable, got up from bed and started doing her Momma thing.  She may have found me in the bathroom and that may have been what awakened her.  Somehow, I remember her wiping my mouth and gently rubbing my head.  Then we went to the living room, and she settled into a rocker we had there and then she invited me, lifted me, into her lap. Her holding me somehow had the effect of healing.  I just felt better…not normal…but better.

I treasure that memory and ones like it.  I treasure the thought of the one who gave me life making my life better…especially when I needed it the most.  I treasure it too because it reminds me of my Dearest Daddy as He does what she did.  He invites me into His lap where He holds me and assures me that it is going to be alright. The One who gave me life cares enough to make my life better.

One of the most famous Christians of the 19th century was named Hudson Taylor. He was a missionary to China, and he was a spiritual giant. In his old age, he lost his health and became very weak. He wrote a letter to a friend that said this: “I am so weak I can no longer work. I am so weak I can no longer study. I am so weak I can no longer read my Bible. I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in the arms of God like a little child in trust.” I like that a lot.

You know, sometimes in your life, you will be so weak you can’t even pray, read the Bible, or go to a Bible study. You can’t work. You can’t do anything. Have you been there?  I have. So, what do you do in those moments? You rest in the strength of the Lord, in His gentle yet strong arms like a little child, and you trust. As you rest there, you can be assured that, “He’s got this.”          Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, gratitude, life, prayer, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful

Mr. Toad

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.” Psalm 37:4

It seems impossible but it is true. It has been several years ago, but I remember it quite well.  I was talking with one of our church members and she began to tell me a tale.  It was either a tall tale or a tale of faith and I believe it was the latter.  It was summertime and it was hot—the perfect time to take a swim in the swimming pool—if you are blessed or cursed to own one. They did.  One of her grandsons, we’ll call him Billy, was over and they were swimming together.  If my memory serves me correctly, he was messing around the edge of the pool and decided to look in the skimmer.  When he looked inside, he saw it.

It was a toad.  To be more specific it was a very dead, swollen toad.  It had apparently found its way into the skimmer and was unable to escape.  After a while, you might say it gave up the ghost.  Billy reached into the skimmer and picked up the now deceased toad.  Since he had a pretty sensitive heart, it kinda upset him that the toad had met such an untimely death.  Now his grandmother, Ellen, is a woman of great faith and she had been working diligently to instill that same faith in her grandchildren.  Well, in just a moment, Billy decided to put their faith to the test.

He asked his grandmother, “Can we pray for the frog?”  Well, Ellen explained that the toad was beyond help.  Billy then suggested they could pray for the toad to be, uh, resurrected, you know, like Lazarus.  Now I have to admit if it had been me, I probably would have come up with some kind of excuse of why that wouldn’t work.  But not Ellen.  She told Billy that they could indeed pray for the toad and I’m sure she explained that it was up to God to do the rest.

So, Billy prayed and asked God to bring the frog back to life.  As a step of faith, they didn’t bury the frog but left it there beside the pool…in the hot sun.  So, Ellen and Billy went inside the house, perhaps for lunch or perhaps just for a break.  After a good while they decided to go back outside for another swim.  As they neared the pool, what do you think they saw?  Well, there was Mr. Toad… very much alive.  They were so excited.  They saw only one possibility—God had answered their prayer.  I supposed you could come up with some scientific answer like the toad was in a comma, but I believe God just heard a little boy’s prayer and decided to teach him a lesson about faith and prayer.

It is common, I know, for us to try and explain away the impossible.  I know when Jesus came back to life people tried to explain that away too. Some said he was in a comma or simply had passed out.  But when the guys doing the crucifying are professionals…well, that just isn’t an option.  You might say they were very good at their job.  No, the simplest explanation is the one that says He said He could do it, and He did.  So, I think the simplest explanation for Mr. Toad is that God decided to bring glory to His name by answering this simple prayer of faith.

I wonder how different the world might be if we had the faith to pray prayers like that.  I’ve never believed that prayer is a cosmic wish list. I also know that just because I pray and ask for something God is not obligated to fulfill my wish.  The Bible clearly teaches that prayer is more about our faith in God than getting something out of God. Powerful prayers come when God’s people align their hearts with God’s will.  The Old Testament psalmist said, “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.

Does that undermine prayer? Not at all. In fact, I believe it validates prayer.  God is working every day and in every way.  We simply need to discover what He is doing and join Him—perhaps in person or perhaps on our knees.  There is a world out there that needs to know God and the best way for that to happen is for us, His kids, to demonstrate our faith and trust in Him.  We need to pray, and live, in such a way that shouts, “I believe—and I believe He’s got this.”  And…He does. Just ask Mr. Toad!

  Bro. Dewayne