At four years old, Amanda, or Mandi as she liked to be called, was the social butterfly of the family. One of Mandi’s favorite things has always been going to Church. The fellowship we attended in St. Louis, at the time, wasn’t big and it wasn’t small. There were enough people to have a nice size choir but the attendance was small enough that you could get to know everyone. And that Mandi did, even at four years of age. One morning my young girl came to me all upset because she had a fever and was told that she couldn’t go to Church.
To really understand what it meant to Mandi not to go to Church, you have to understand what a typical service was like for the young girl. The first thing Mandi would do is find Sherman Downs, a very tall man of God that would carrier her around to say “HI!” to all of her friends. Her friends were not just the other kids; most of them were my age or older. It didn’t matter what the conversation was, Mandi had something to say and something to learn. Mandi would sing hymns (or her own version of the hymn) at the top of her voice, shout “Amen!” with the rest of us, and then sit and listen to the speaker. She was a magnet for the word of God, even at four years of age.
On the morning in question, Mandi sat by me on the couch and cried. In the middle of one or her large tears she said, “Pray for me. Can’t God heal me?” I took her up in my arms, put my hand on her forehead and we prayed. The prayer was about God’s love and the faith of a little girl that believed in His power. As we prayed her forehead began to sweat and her fever left. The illness that was trying to come on my little girl was gone. When the family walked into the Church that morning, Mandi was right were she wanted to be. In her Father’s house.
How wonderful is the faith of a little child and how important it is to our LORD. The disciples came to Jesus asking who then is greatest in the kingdom? Jesus answered and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Therefore whoever shall humble himself like this little child, this one is the greater in the kingdom of Heaven. And whoever shall receive one such little child in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:3-5 MKJV). Then little children were brought to Him, that He should put His hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Allow the little children to come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:13-15 MKJV).
More than twenty years have gone by and my daughter stills calls when she needs prayer. She has gone through a lot in her life. Amanda, as she now likes to be called, has three children of her own. Her husband is in Germany, on his way to Iraq. She told me once that she had to learn to love God more than she did her husband. God is a Father and I know He understands. See, I am a father that had to learn that my little girl loves her husband that much – wouldn’t want it any other way. I know that she loves God – wouldn’t want it any other way. My little girl knows that prayer works and that God is true. She wants us praying for her husband and all the husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters in Iraq. She wants us to pray for those on both sides, because she knows that we all need Jesus Christ and we all need to return home to our families.
Copyright © 2005, Tim D. Coulter Sr. All rights reserved.