Our daily walk around the neighborhood is always one of the high points of our day. The girls really look forward to it and are disappointed when it rains and we cannot go. The excitement has been heightened even more by the fact that I brought out Abbi's umbrella stroller yesterday to use on our walk. This is really the first time the child has taken a walk in the stroller (other than our sweaty trip to the zoo last May) because when she was little I liked to keep her close in the sling and throughout the winter, we kept each other warm as she snuggled against me in the Ergo! But now it is beautiful springtime weather and I wanted her to be able to get more glorious sunlight on her skin so I decided to pull out the stroller. The big girls are even more excited about the stroller than Abbi, and they take great joy in pushing Abbi up and down the street.
Today I brought the stroller outside and tried to open it but it just wouldn't budge. Now this is a very simple umbrella stroller, no bells or whistles, and there was just no reason for it to not open unless it was broken. I figured that I must have closed it incorrectly yesterday and bent it or the dog stepped on it or something and it was done for. Nevertheless, the girls were begging me to make it work so I tried diligently for a good 5 minutes. No luck.
The girls were chatting with each other about how badly they wanted to push Abbi in her stroller and suddenly Karis looked at me and said, "God can fix the stroller." Oh, what beautiful child-like faith," I thought to myself and wondered how to get out of this situation without disappointing her. Of course I believed that God could do a miracle if He wanted to, but why would He care about a stupid stroller? I nodded at her and smiled, continuing to struggle with the stupid contraption. "Mama, all you have to do is ask!" she pressed further. How could I refuse her? This was the "teachable moment" I had read all about, but the problem was I didn't really think it would work. So we bent down together and I told God how badly we wanted to go on this walk and asked him to fix the stroller if He wanted us to go on it (thinking that we would next delve into a discussion on how God knows what is best for us) or that he would make another way for us togo (I could just put Abbi in the Ergo and sweat a bit more.) So we finished praying and I stood up and Karis said, "try it Mama!" And do you know what? That crazy thing opened right up on the first try like there had never been a problem! I didn't do a thing differently! I wish you could have seen the big smile on Karis' face when I told her that she had been exactly right -- God did indeed fix our stroller. Oh, my eyes tear up just thinking about it!
So I learned my lesson. From my 4.5 year old. And from a God who cares about something as insignificant as a broken stroller. Because He loves my little girl.
1 comment:
Now you put tears in my eyes! What a great story.
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