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Little messages
Claire and Alan race into the kitchen. They have a surprise for Dad. They've eaten soft-boiled eggs. And now they've put an empty egg shell upside down on an egg cup, to make believe it's full of egg! It's not the first time they've played a joke like this on Dad.
But tonight Dad doesn't laugh. He looks sad.
"Go to bed, children," he tells them. "The apartment is too small for all this noise. It's late!" Claire and Alan go to their room. Mom comes to tuck them in. "Dad is mad at us," says Claire. "Because we're making too much noise," adds Alan.
Mom reassures them: "Dad loves you a lot. But he has some big worries at work. He's losing his job." "Can we help him?" Alan asks.
"Of course," Mom answers. "What have you learned in Sunday School that could help him?"
"That God is Love," says Alan.
"He always guards and protects us," says Claire. "So we can not be afraid."
With Mom's help, Claire and Alan find some messages from the Bible to help Dad. They think about these messages before they fall asleep.
The next day, Claire has an idea. "How about a surprise for Daddy?" she says. "We could write some words on little pieces of paper with the ideas from God that we found. And we could hide them in places where Daddy would find them!" "Yes, yes!" Alan exclaims.
And this is what Alan and Claire do.
The next morning, as Dad is shaving, what does he find on the bathroom mirror? This little message from the
Bible:
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. Psalm 23
He thinks about it and thinks about it some more, and knows he can trust God to care for his family.
Before leaving for work, Dad puts his hand in his pants pocket and finds a little paper with another message.
It says:
He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Psalm 91
He listens to the message — quietly — and feels God loving and protecting them.
And that night, when Dad unfolds his napkin at supper, a piece of paper falls into his plate. It says these words from the Bible:
God is Love I John 4:8
Dad has a big smile on his face. He hugs Alan and Claire very tight. "Your messages and prayers are helping me a lot. Mom and I are praying, too. And all together we know that God always takes care of us," he says.
A few weeks later, Dad has a surprise for them all. He has found a new job, and it's an exciting one. And the family is moving to a bigger apartment, where Alan and Claire can each have their own room.
Alan and Claire know now that nobody is too small to pray. Everybody can hear messages from God. And these messages heal everything.
January 1, 2001 issue
View Issue-
How much does God love me?
By Sara Hoagland Hunter,
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Vroom, vroom
By Jillie Periton,
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To the little children
Mary Baker Eddy
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When David hid under the table
By Toni Albert,
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"Feed my sheep"
by Mary Baker Eddy
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One tiny snail
By Lyn Littlefield Hoopes,
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Safe in God
By Annette Kreutziger-Herr,
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Rainy day
By Mari Grasso de Milone, Uruguay Carolina Milone, Uruguay
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HOW GOD HELPED US!
with contributions from Arthur Sardjono, Raymore Arn Duran, Anna-Zoë Herr, Brady Millington, Name removed by request, Gracey Palmer
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Noah and his wife rescue the animals
By Maike Byrd,
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Saved!
By Ana Paula Carruba,
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Kevin and the 91st psalm
By David Goldsmith
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Little messages
By Josette Flamand,
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How to make a bully a friend
By Beverly Goldsmith, Australia, Illustrations by Jeremy Johnson, USA