Jesus Loves The Little Children

All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world
lyrics by C. Hebert Woolston

In the Spring of 2007, our family went to Florida and we brought a kite to fly on the beach with the girls. When we got on the beach, there was no wind at all to take our kite up. I told the girls to pray and ask God to send the wind so that we could fly the kite. I also prayed that God would answer their prayer so they would see what a personal and powerful God He is. After we prayed, Chris, my husband, decided to try to get it up in the air but it only stayed up when HE WAS RUNNING. After several attempts of running down the beach with a Strawberry Shortcake Kite and the girls no where in sight, Chris decided to go and join them playing in the sand. Then I decided, I was going to get the kite up in the air so I ran as hard as I could and let the string out at the same time. I thought if I got it a little higher in the air, it would finally fly. Well, after several attempts of running in the sand and having to rewind 1000 feet of string , I was exhausted. I kept praying silently that God would send the wind but NOTHING happened…no wind, no little breeze, absolutely NOTHING. Then I decided to give it to another grownup, my Mom, because, of course, only a grownup is going to be able to get this kite into the air with no wind. After several attempts and my Mom nearly passing out, we laughed and I said, “This is what you call doing it in your own strength".

Finally, Sami came over and wanted to try. I said, “Sure”, even though I thought she would never get the kite off the ground since three adults could not. I told Sami I would hold the kite and gave her the string. I let the kite go, fully expecting the kite to fall to the ground, and Sami went two steps and GOD SENT THE WIND. She literally stood in place and let the string totally out and the kite flew and flew. The verse that came to my mind was "Be STILL and KNOW that I AM GOD" (Psalm 46:10). I was AMAZED. God knew that if He sent the wind when we, the adults, were trying to fly the kite, the kids and ourselves might have forgotten our prayer and how God answered it. Basically, we would have just taken the credit because of all our "hard work".

As I stood there watching Sami fly the kite effortlessly, I was reminded how easy it is when something is done through His strength and how God used a child to show His Great Glory. Later, the girls thanked God for sending the wind and I thanked Him for showing my girls what a powerful and personal God He really is.