I just have a little bit of God’s goodness to share this morning.
My oldest two kids are going to a technology school, and today is an eagerly awaited field trip to a robotics competition for my son. He’s been talking about it for days, but at 6:15 this morning, he came upstairs, presented himself to me still in his pajamas, and said, “I can’t go today.”
“What?”
“I can’t find that permission slip you have to sign.”
“Well,” I said, “Ask God to show you where it is, and work on getting ready for school anyway.”
“But I did do that already, and I still can’t find it!”
I looked at him, glanced at the clock, saw that I had only 15 minutes to finish my husband’s lunch, saw that my son had only 30 minutes to find it, get dressed, eat breakfast, and be ready for the bus, and I found myself saying words that I hadn’t really contemplated.
“Take a deep breath, quit looking for it, assume that God is going to show you where it is, and get ready for school like He’s going to.”
He hesitated, then nodded and disappeared downstairs to get dressed.
Over the next 15 minutes, I prayed as I usually do while I was getting my husband’s lunch pulled together, but I also had contingencies going through my head. They were supposed to leave the moment they all got to school, so there wouldn’t be time for the teacher to email me a copy that I could print, sign, scan, and email back. I could drive him up to school and get a second one, but that would be an hour out of my morning… an hour I couldn’t really stand to lose. Nevertheless, I knew I was willing to do that for him, even though it was his own fault for losing the permission slip… just because I love him, and I didn’t want him to miss out on this.
But still… I just asked God to prove Himself to my son, and I finished up my own duties.
My son came back up all ready, and I told him to eat breakfast.
“But….” he said, “Isn’t finding my permission slip more important than eating breakfast?”
“Just eat,” I told him. “I don’t want you to skip breakfast, and we’re going to assume that God will grant your request and show us where the paper is.”
6:30 came, and my husband left. I went downstairs with my son to search through his backpack, and to mentally retrace anything having to do with that slip and his backpack.
Nothing.
I checked the school website to see if they had a generic form that we could print out… nope.
“The only thing I can figure,” my son said, “Would be if you take me to school. Then I can get another one from my class and you can fill it out.” I know he was hoping I’d be willing to do it, but at the same time feeling bad for asking… only daring to even mention it because he wanted to go so badly.
6:42 – Two minutes left before it was time to go out for the bus. I knew I wouldn’t send him out to the bus without it, but I hadn’t given up yet.
I decided to search through my phone to see if I still had his teacher’s cell phone number, just in case I could hand-write out a version of it that would work.
But just as I found it, my son glanced toward his dresser and said, “There it is!” Sitting on the top of the dresser. Perhaps it had been there all along and we hadn’t seen it, though we’d been standing right next to it. Or perhaps God put it there. I don’t know.
I looked at the clock. 6:43 – One minute to spare.
We went upstairs, and I called my daughter… she grabbed her school stuff and asked, “Did you find Ryan’s slip?” and I knew she’d been worried that he’d miss out as well. I joyfully said, “Yep! With one minute to spare!”
I prayed over my kids and thanked Him with them as they went out to the bus, but as they drove away, God reminded me of a scripture verse.
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! – Matt 11:7
I feel like God gave me a demonstration and comparison this morning of His love for my son and for me, and my love for my son. I was willing to give up an hour of my morning to drive my son to school so he wouldn’t miss out on his field trip. How much more was God willing and able to prove His sufficiency in place of my son’s failure!
I pray that this has also been a powerful demonstration to my kids as well… that they will come to know that relying on God does not mean asking Him to do something and then expending every bit of effort available to do it in your own power. It means trusting that God is there, that His faithfulness is real, and that He does not disappoint those who truly wait on Him.
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,For His compassions never fail.