Putting God to the Test

If ever I needed a favor from God, this was it.

I was putting my toddler to sleep. When we got to the prayer, she rushed through her memorized lines, "Dear Heavenly Father, I'm thankful for Mommy, Daddy and Cher. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
"You know, Pixie," I told her, "you can also ask Heavenly Father for things that you need when you pray. He loves to help us. Can you think of anything you need right now?"
"Maggie," she replied, referring to her toy kitten that had been AWOL for a week.
"Okay. Why don't you say another prayer asking Heavenly Father to help you find Maggie."
She was skeptical. "But isn't Heavenly Father in Heaven? How can he hear me?"
"He's really special." I said, knowing it was a lame answer. "Why don't you try asking?"
Pixie folded her arms and said, "Please help me find Maggie, I love Jesus, Amen." She opened her eyes and looked at me. "Did he hear me?"
"He sure did!" I said. "Now He's going to help us find her. Let's go!" It was the moment of truth.

We hopped out of her bed, turned the lights back on and started searching for the missing kitty. I kept reassuring Pixie that Heavenly Father would help us find her cat. All the while I was sending frantic prayers up to heaven that my teaching example wouldn't go awry and I wouldn't have to tell Pixie about why bad things happen to good kittens. Failure was not an option.

We searched in all the toy boxes. Nothing. We searched under the furniture. Nothing. I was getting tense. I found another toy cat and said, "oh look! I found Maggie!" thinking she may accept the substitute.
"That's not Maggie." Why can't kids be dumb?

I had put God on the spot but I don't deserve any favors these days. Would my hubris lead to the death of Pixie's budding faith? The more I began to doubt, the thicker my assurances became. "Don't you worry, Pixie! Heavenly Father always listens to prayers. He knows exactly where you cat is!"

Almost five minutes had passed. We'd searched every room of our apartment and I was running out of options. It was time to start thinking of ways to break the news that God wasn't a cat-person.

"I found her!" Pixie shouted from inside the broom closet, pulling Maggie from one of my many diaper bags.
"Of course you did!" I said cheerfully. I had Pixie say a thank you prayer on the spot. But no one was more thankful than me that God decided to play along at bedtime tonight to help in a mother's lame object lesson.

Pixie just may turn out Christian after all!