The Faith Of A Child

Becky’s Flower Garden

     Here in the coastal region of Ecuador, the rainy season usually starts in December and lasts until June.  The last two years that we have been living here, the seasons have come and gone on schedule for the most part, but this year has been completely different.  To start with, the rains came a lot later than usual; and instead of raining every day like normal, the rains have been quite sparse.  Now drought looms over the whole coastal area, because since the beginning of March the rains have stopped completely.  As custom is, all the farmers plant their crops of rice, corn and peanuts in December and depend on the rains for a good harvest.  This year they planted late and now are losing their crops because of the drought.  We are richly blessed to have an abundant water supply on our property, and up until now we have been able to water our rice, corn and gardens sparingly and still have enough for our daily use, but not so with many farmers in our area.  Most of them have lost their crops and have to travel by mule or donkey many kilometers to haul water home.  Our prayers have been continually for rain, but we truly feel like we are living in a time like Elijah and Ahab.  There have been days that the clouds get dark and hang over us, but then the hot wind comes up and blows them away without dropping any moisture, and again we fall on our knees and try to “wait on the Lord and be of good courage.”

     As a mother, the words of Jesus that “that unless ye become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven,” daily take on a clearer, personal meaning.  My daughter Becky (seven years old) is a little prayer warrior, she insists on having faith the size of a mountain, and in our family it has become commonplace when we need something or are in predicament to say, “ Becky, go pray for it.”  She has been praying for rain with us this whole last month, and the other day she came in hot, tired and frustrated because her flower garden was wilting and some of the plants had already died.  With a tremble in her voice she said, “Mommy, my prayers aren’t getting through.”  My heart broke as I gathered her in my arms and searched my soul for an answer to give her, but then she looked up at me and with a sigh said that she still was not ready to give up praying for rain, and off she went.  I turned to the Lord and asked why, but obviously His answer for now was, “Trust Me!”

     Yesterday, as I write this, the day began as a “scorcher,” the hottest day so far without a cloud in the brassy sky.  We went about our various jobs, and late in the afternoon, I dragged out all my garden hoses and hooked them together in order to get some water to our soybean patch that was starting to wilt.  Becky was sitting on her swing watching me struggle with the hoses, so I motioned for her to come and help.  She came but told me that I was going to a lot of trouble for nothing.  I asked her why, and she told me that it was going to rain a little later.  My smile must have shown my disbelief, because she looked me straight in the eye and said, “You’ll see, Mom.”  Half an hour later, I noticed one dark cloud above us that seemed to have come from nowhere.  And as I stared up at it, a large drop of water landed right on my nose.  The drops turned into torrents, and it has not stopped raining 24 hours later as I write this.  The miraculous part is that it is raining only in our area.  My husband.  Barac, drove to a town about five miles west of us to help a neighbor with a job and said that everything up there is dry; also a family of believers that live to the south a couple of miles saw the clouds but never got any rain.  I asked Becky this morning why she was sure that it would rain; she said it was because God had been testing her and she had persevered, so God was sending her a reward.  How much we can all learn from the simple faith of a child!

     “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.  Hebrews 11:6

 

 

Laurie Orellana

 

 

 

 

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