My sweet 10 year old daughter's furrowed brow and innocent blue eyes swam with tears as she earnestly pressed her appeal.

"Why, what do you mean, Baby," I asked, dumfounded by her question.

With such an unusual request I knew there was something complex going on inside that precious little blonde head.

Tacy Osborne

"Well, when everything's good, I trust God. When it's not, I get scared and then I goof everything up!"

Ahhh...now I understand! Choking back both giggles and tears, I replied, "Honey, you just described every Christian's struggle with believing God when things get tough."

My assurances that these feelings were normal did little to alleviate her anxiety and soon big warm tears rolled down her pink cheeks. "I just want to make God happy with me," she sobbed. She was frightened by Hebrews 11:6, "without faith it is impossible to please Him". As precious as these sincere tears were to me, I'm convinced they are even more so to our Heavenly Father. I'd like to think that He glimpsed into the heart of His child and was touched by her struggle.

In Mark 9 we are all familiar with the record of a broken-hearted father who brought his tormented, convulsing son to Jesus and plead for pity and help. Jesus tells him in verse 23 that, "Everything is possible for him who believes."

In the next verse the son's father exclaims, "I do believe!" Then, almost as if he realizes how weak his trust was he adds, "Help me overcome my unbelief!"

Sometimes we are journeying down the road of our Christian life when it's peaceful, believing God is who He says He is, and then - BOOM! - fear explodes onto this scene, disrupting our tranquility, just when we were enjoying the scenery. Suddenly the simple answers seem trite and we slam head-long into the reality of our dependence on God as the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2). It seems like my little girl realized she needed help to have her trust in God beat back fear. Instead of sharing some of mine, I pointed her to the fountain of unlimited supply. Her tears dried, her little shoulders relaxed, and before long she was sleeping peacefully.

Happy ending? The very next morning there was a few rumblings of thunder as she was getting ready for school and she shrieked, "Mommy, pray God will stop the storm!" Here we go again! We did pray. The storm did eventually subside. My daughter thanked the Lord for building her faith. Somehow, I think that even though she didn't get it exactly right, God was still "happy" with her.

We will all face future challenges and may at times struggle to face them with unwavering faith. Sometimes maybe simple answers will not satisfy our questions. We have a choice: do we try to wrestle alone and "goof everything up" or do we acknowledge our lack and ask him to help us overcome our unbelief. Like this mom, I believe He is pleased when we ask, "Can you help me have more faith?"

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