"I'm healed!"

As adults, it seems more difficult to accept things on faith. Sometimes prayer can be our last resort. I have been thinking about the youth in my life a lot lately and their faith seems so unwavering, so sure, so pure.

I picked my grandson up one day and I took him out for a treat.  We sat down at the table and he exclaimed in his four-year-old voice, “Gramma! You need to be prayin’ for me!” He had my attention and I asked him what was going on. “I’m not feeling good. I have been sick and you need to pray that God heals me!” I assured him I would.  

I was amazed that at four years old he would see the importance of asking someone to pray for him in his sickness. It encouraged me knowing that if he had that concept down NOW what a powerful prayer warrior he will be when he is older. 

Sometimes when I pray, I feel it is more out of hope than expectancy, but kids just seem to have such a strong faith that when something is prayed for, they expect it to happen. I love it! What an example to me!

I remember when one of my sons had blood work done when he was four and his platelets were very low.  The physician’s assistant nonchalantly said that could be found many times in kids with leukemia and wanted to recheck it in two weeks. What?! I didn’t understand how he could use my son’s name in the same sentence as the word leukemia and then tell me we had to wait two weeks before discussing things further! 

Every night for two weeks my husband and I prayed over our son HOPING God was hearing our cries. We took him back in and the blood work was the same and so was the PA’s response, “Come back in two weeks.”  This time my husband was on the phone with the clinic demanding something more solid than that. He wanted to know the possibilities, the probabilities, anything that would help our minds wrap around what we might be dealing with.   A physician called us and explained that we would do one more set of labs and go from there.  So we prayed and prayed.

The night before my son’s next appointment, my husband and I knelt next to his bed instructing him that we were going to pray.  Laying his head on his pillow, he folded his little hands and closed his eyes. When we said amen, we opened our eyes expecting to hear him mimic our response as he always did, but he didn’t this time. We looked at him and he opened his eyes and smiled so big. He formed his fingers on both hands into the shape of guns. He made a clicking sound with his tongue and said, “I’m healed!” My husband and I looked at each other and giggled and kissed him on the forehead.

We took him in the next day for his labs. A couple of days later, the doctor called and said, “Everything looks great, his platelets are back up to normal.” For a  little guy of four years old to hear his mommy and daddy praying over him over something I’m sure he didn’t understand, I don’t think he knew enough to HOPE for the best. He expected our prayer to be heard. He expected to be healed. For four weeks we poured our hearts out, but he seemed to know the minute those cells were touched by his God.

A child’s faith is so amazing! We need to not get bogged down by the clutter of the world and remember how big our God is!  Expect great things from a great God!