A letter to my daughter

I really hemmed and hawed over the title of this blog post...there were so many things running through my mind....how God uses my children to teach ME...how God truly does care about the littlest parts of our lives...how he TRULY cares about the LITTLEST lives....how he reveals himself to the smallest among us...how prayer REALLY is the solution...or simply a letter to my daughter.

My Dearest Legare,

An amazing thing happened last night.  Since you are only 4, I'm afraid in such a short time you won't even remember what transpired, but I want you to always carry this FAITH/life lesson with you, so I'm writing to you that you may have this with you.

See, you have been having such a hard time sleeping alone in your room.  This has been going on for weeks and no matter how much your daddy and I encourage you, comfort you, and talk to you about it, you just won't stay in your bed.  At first you were coming to our room, you'd get to stay for a minute or two, then one of us would hug and take you back to your room, only for the process to repeat itself at least one more time during the night.  You would cry and talk about being scared, and we'd assure you all is well.  After a few weeks, you realized that if you go to Collin's room, he'd let you stay.  Well, "let" is a strong word, he wouldn't know you were there 'til morning, but you could be close to someone and that was enough.

This concerned daddy and me.  We couldn't understand why you wouldn't stay in your room, and, frankly, Collin was getting bothered by sharing his bed all of the time.  So, we began to encourage to stay in your room.  As you talked to us about your fears we learned that you have bad dreams every night and that's why you don't want to be alone.  Daddy suggested we pray, and, if I'm being honest, I laughed.  It seemed such a small, insignificant thing to pray about.  And despite of my unwavering faith, and a strong prayer life, I really thought it was such a silly thing to pray over and that, well, what if you had a bad dream anyway and felt like you couldn't trust God.  SHAME, SHAME on your mom.  When it felt like there was nothing else we could do (bad timing) we prayed.  As part of your night-time prayers you asked God to give you only good dreams.  I laid with you in your bed, held your hands and prayed out loud that God would be with you that night...that he would enter you thoughts and fill your mind with wonderful dreams...that he would make your room feel safe...and that he would reveal himself to you as your protector and your comforter that you would KNOW and BELIEVE HE is always with you, and always listening.

Then I asked others to pray too...petitioning God on your behalf...

And sweetheart, this morning, you were sleeping soundly in YOUR BED.  You had not stirred all night long.  When you woke you were excited to tell me that you only had good dreams.  God was with you.  God answered your prayer.  He honored, what to your mom was such a mundane, little thing, but to you was so huge and because it was important to you it was important to him.  While my intention was for this lesson to be for you, I find, once again, God using you to teach ME.

Hugs and Kisses, and all of the love in the world!
-Mom