I've talked about our goldfish once before (see "A Cloudy, stinky mess). I find it funny.... maybe ironic that God uses something I consider of little value to teach me valuable lessons.
So, a quick recap on this goldfish: we've had him/her/it/whatever for 3(?) years. It was purchased for a whopping 27 cents as a pet for our kids. It has grown from an inch to about 5 inches and has survived when all other fish (purchased at intervals over the past 3 years) have died. When we first got him/her/it/whatever our daughter, Emma, was only about three years old. She named it - and the other 2 goldfish we got at the time - Pony. Now that she's a little older she's changed it's name to Aleah - or Lena. She seems to change her mind weekly. :)
Well, a couple of months ago I thought it'd be a good idea to get a couple more goldfish. So, the kids and I went to the pet store and picked out three really fancy 27 cent fish. All was happy in goldfish land until the new fish started dying off one by one. Within three weeks the tank belonged solely to Aleah again.
Then, tragedy struck. Aleah became sick. I thought several times she was dead. She would sit at the bottom of the tank and not move - not even her gills. I couldn't see anything visably wrong with her. This went on for several days. I kept waiting for her to die. Honestly, I'm the only one who takes care of the fish and I'd gladly give up the responsibility. But then Emma said something that made me cringe.
"Momma," she said, "We should pray for God to make Aleah better."
My first thought was, "How am I going to explain to her why God didn't answer her prayer?"
So we prayed. Emma prayed a little, Jaedon prayed a little, then I added something like this, "God, please help Aleah get well. And, Lord, if you chose to take her to heaven please help us be okay with that."
Logical prayer. I expected a logical outcome - one dead fish.
What did I get? A lesson from God on how he wants me to have faith like a child. The next morning I went in to get the kids up and around fully expecting there to be a dead fish in their fish tank. What did I see? Aleah swimming around like nothing had ever been wrong. God healed our 27 cent fish!!! Why? Because my kids asked him to.
The point was driven home even more so because at the time I was dealing with some things that I thought weren't big enough to bring to God. My problems weren't important enough to bother the creator of the universe... or so I thought. But, wait a minute, if he answers the prayer of a 5 year old girl to heal her silly little fish, won't he answer my prayers too? Of course he will!
I wish I could say that I learned my lesson. But this was the second time I received a lesson from God on being able to come to him with anything. (The first lesson came about 3-4 years ago in the form of an egret). And here I am a month later, still struggling with feeling my problems aren't important enough to bring to God. When will I ever learn?
God, help me to trust you always. When I see my kids and how there is no hesitation to pray to you, I'm filled with a longing for their faith. How is it I can teach them to trust you when I have trouble trusting you myself? Help me to trust you Lord. Please. I can't do it on my own.
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