I Learned it From a 7 Year Old

Children sometimes surprise you with their perceptions. We've all read the Bible story of Namaan, who is told to go wash in the Jordan river seven times so that he can be cured from his leprosy. I've always thought of this story as a reminder for us to trust God even when what we're asked to do is not what we expected or even what we think is the 'right thing to do.' Apparently all these years I haven't dug deep enough and this was brought to my attention by my 7 year old son. We were reading together a children's version of this story in his Grade 2 reader today. When we were just about done the story, he interrupted and said "Mommy, I think God gave the leprosy to Namaan, so that he would be able to trust in God when God healed him." Wow! I somehow had never got that from that story, but it's so true. God puts hard things in our lives to grow us closer to Him. We may see these things as anything from small annoyances to downright devastating; and God's purpose for them? To draw us to Him. Now that's exciting, and I learned it from a 7 year old.