4. Have Faith As Simple As A Child

           Once we held a meeting in a village on a mountain.  Sister Yue-Lan brought her eight-year-old daughter, Xiao-Xia, to the meeting.  This child was very lively, bold, and unrestrained.  She always told her mother, ”When I grow up, I want to be a factory director or a  manager.  I will never be a laborer.”  Sometimes she would act very willfully toward her mother, crying or even stamping her feet.  One night she attended a meeting with us when she was very drowsy. However, all of a sudden she burst out laughing when she overheard a sentence of my testimony.

Afterwards I took a chance to talk to her.  “Xiao-Xia”, I asked, “Do you read the Bible and pray every day?”  She answered, “Grandma, the last thing I will do is to read the Bible and pray.  I then asked her to kneel down with me.  I said,  “Can you repeat after me this prayer?”  She replied, “OK!”  I began to pray: ”O Lord, forgive my sin that I do not like to read the Bible or pray.  O Lord, give me a heart that loves to pray and read the Bible, and throw away my bad heart!”  She obediently repeated this after me.  It was very amazing.  Since that time she truly has changed a lot.  When we would have a meeting, she would quietly play with her own doll, and when we prayed, she would close her eyes in awe.  Her tantrum was gone.  She had become as lovely as an angel.  I was very joyful and thankful for her.  Then all of a sudden she told me, “Grandma, I am going home with my mother tomorrow.”  I said, “That is terrible.  Why can you not stay longer?  You have just begun to change.  I worry that...”  “What?”  She asked me curiously,  “Grandma, did you not pray to the Lord for me to change my heart?  Now I love to pray and read the Bible!  How can I be bad?”

How simple is the faith of a child!  Indeed, if you believe, you will have faith.  I was so worried, suspicious, and of little faith.  Now this child has grown up, and she is in her twenties.  Every time I return to China, she comes to see me.  She loves to pray and read the Bible.  Recently she has started working and offers the tithe.  She has always interceded for the souls of the whole world.  Let’s all pray to have faith as simple as that of a child.