Faith of a Child

I am not very good about writing in my kids' journals, so sometimes I write their stories down on notebook paper, napkins, or whatever is handy, then stuff it in my nightstand until I find the time to copy it into their journals. I was just copying this story from Christmas (I am just a little behind :) into McKinley's journal, and I just thought is was so cute I had to share.
It was Christmas Eve and we were headed to Aunt Lisa's house as a family for Christmas dinner. The weather had been pretty bad all day, and as evening drew near it worsened. We have an SUV, so were weren't too worried about the snow, but I never look forward to driving in a snowstorm. We were running late as usual, so we had rushed out the door with kids, food, and presents. The drive was slow, but we were moving. Once we hit the freeway it wasn't too bad, a little slippery, but not terrible. That was, until the windshield wipers went out. No big deal, right? Well, that depends. In this case we were in a snowstorm at night with pretty bad visability anyway, but the window covered with thick snow wasn't really a safe way to drive. Matt reached his hand out the window and wiped the snow enough to see to get off of the exit (with the storm so bad we didn't want to pull onto the side of the freeway, no one would see us and we could get hit). We got off the exit and pulled into an empty parking lot. We tried and tried to get the wipers to work, but to no avail. They had just completely quit on us. Of course, we knew what to do in this situation. We all folded our arms and said a prayer as a family. I had no doubt that this would work, after all, you hear about miracles like this all the time, right? What a wonderful opportunity to teach my daughter about the power of prayer, right there on Chrismas Eve. We all had full faith that the wipers would work. We tried a few more things, but after about 30 minutes it was clear that the wipers just were NOT going to cooperate. Finally, we gave up and drove the rest of the way to Lisa's house with no wipers (NOT a good idea, by the way). Matt drove with his head out of the driver's side window in blinding snow, but we arrived safely. We enjoyed our family activities, but I couldn't help being a little bit bothered by the incident. Here I had taught my daughter to pray when she needed help, and this had been the perfect opportunity to physically show her just how that works. Sure, we made it safely to Lisa's, so essentially the important part of our prayer had been answered, and I was grateful for that. But still, it nagged at me. I didn't mention it again. A few days later it was raining as I rushed the kids into the car to run errands (we were late for something, AGAIN). I buckled the kids in, put the car in reverse, and without thinking flipped on the wipers. From the backseat, McKinley shouted "Mommy! Mommy! We said a prayer and the wipers work!" I still can't tell this story without tears in my eyes because I realize that my children don't need me, I need them. They are so innocent and free of the cynicism that comes with adulthood, they see things as they really are. How can I be so blind sometimes? Even a 3-year-old could see and understand that the Lord does answer prayers, but it is in his own time and in his way. It was such a small and simple lesson, yet that is something that I have struggled with my entire life. I can pray with all the faith in the world, but then I expect instant miracles. Sometimes there is something we need to learn before our prayers can be answered. I hope that I can always remember what my daughter taught me that day, and I hope that someday through my children I can learn to have the faith of a little child.
P.S. - This is NOT a very good picture of me, but it was the only picture that I had of our family at Christmas :)