Once upon a time there was a little girl. She was absolutely terrified of bad weather—thunder, lightening, and especially tornados. One spring night, tornado warnings flooded the television as a storm raged outside the windows of her home. In the midst of the storm, the little girl fell asleep. When she woke up, she was in the hallway snuggled up between her parents, surrounded by pillows and blankets.

It takes a certain level of faith from a child in his or her parents to be able to sleep in the middle of a storm, especially if there is a fear of storms! It’s not that the faith of this little girl meant that she didn’t have fears, but she was able to rest peacefully, in faith, in spite of them.

Have you ever noticed how children are the ones that are truly free? I’m reminded of that song “Jesus Take the Wheel”. Remember when you were a child, and you were too young to drive? Your parents did all the driving, and even though you had no idea how you would end up where you ended up, you had faith you would somehow get there. How many times did you sit in the backseat worrying about whether or not you would make it or get lost along the way? If you had solid parents, probably not too often. You could enjoy being a child. You could sit back and enjoy the ride!

We don’t always know where God is leading us. Maybe sometimes we do know where, but we have no idea how we will arrive there. It’s in trusting God when we don’t have all the answers, we can experience the freedom of a child all over again.

Childlike faith is not the be confused with blind faith. A victim of abuse who decides to give the abuser another chance is stepping out in blind faith. Blind faith requires faith without reason nor evidence; childlike faith requires faith without knowing.

Children are not idle nor lazy. They ask questions. I was a very inquisitive child! Children observe; they approach the world around them with wonder, curiosity, and excitement. God wants us to approach Him like this. Ask questions! The wonderful thing about God is He answers back. It isn’t always immediate, and it isn’t always the way you might expect, but He always, always answers those who truly seek answers.

He wants us to seek Him, talk to Him about everything. The thing about children—most of them love to talk! They are very expressive. They will tell you every detail about their day. God loves hearing every intimate detail of our lives. In approaching God this way, we are building a relationship.

Children are not ashamed to ask for help. They ask for help in all things as they rely completely and wholeheartedly in faith on their parents to sustain them. When we humble ourselves in this way and rely on God to sustain us, we are able to take the burden of life off of ourselves.

There’s something about the faith of a child— it moves us to protect them. God, too, when He sees His children living in pure faith, draws near to them.

I want to encourage you, the next time you find yourself in the midst of one of life’s storms, try tapping into your inner child. Let it go, give it to God, let the storm continue to rage, and just go to sleep. Just like the love of that little girl’s parents carried her into the hallway, God’s love will carry you into shelter as well.

Faith sets us free. It frees us from the bondage of worry and anxiety. It’s not that our faith will automatically eliminate our fears, but when our faith is bigger than our fears, we can be free from worry and rest peacefully in the shelter of our Lord.

The little girl grew out of her fear of storms pretty quickly after that. The little girl grew up to be a woman of faith. She grew up to be me.