Believing Like a Child

 

Let me tell you something about my boy Elliott. He is amazing. He is a believer, through and through. When Christ told us to have faith like a child, he was talking about Elliott, I just know it. Whether it's Leprechaun gold or prayers for a friend to be home for a playdate, Elliott believes unconditionally. These are some great pictures of him when he was younger, he happens to be super-cute too!

It is not an uncommon thing to look over and see Elliott with his arms folded, eyes squinted shut tight, and his mouth mumbling a silent prayer. In the car during carpool, with his buddies right next to him, at the table, on the couch, wherever he is, he stops to pray if he feels a need.  If he gets scared, worried or concerned, his first instinct is to pray. His prayers are so sweet too. He doesn't just recite, he thinks about what he's saying, so you can always know what's on his mind. 

The other night, on family home evening night, we had a big storm rolling into town. If you know anything about Elliott, you will know that weather really makes him nervous. During dinner, the lights flickered. I could see the familiar series of events telling me Elliott was ready for an emergency prayer. I took the opportunity to have a family home evening lesson on prayer. We turned off the lights, grabbed some flashlights and huddled on the floor to talk about the things we knew about prayer. I told them why I knew prayer worked, and they told me. Then Elliott prayed. He prayed that the power wouldn't go out, and the storm would go over quickly. We finished with a movie and some popcorn and thought nothing else of it.

 Later that night, Dad got home from work, not knowing what we had talked about that night, and said he was surprised our power was on because every other neighborhood he drove by was without power. You should have seen Elliott's face; it was better than Christmas morning and Easter Day combined. He looked at me, walked over and just buried his face in my shoulder. We talked about how Heavenly Father loved him and wanted him to know He listens. It was a little FHE miracle. Elliott said a prayer of thanks with tears in his eyes. Before he prayed, he said, "you know Mom, if Satan ruled this world,  the power would have gone off and we would be in the dark." Yep, he's got it right. Such a sweet kid. Such a good example to me of just believing; not worrying about what other people think, not worrying about what makes sense or what should or should not be, just believing.