How a Toy Chicken Changed My Life

     As I was praying for the children here in Peru earlier today, the Holy Spirit reminded me of how God moved through a situation earlier in my life to significantly change my perspective and approach to prayer. And I wanted to share that story with you here today!

     It was the summer of 2016 and I was a junior in college working as an overnight camp counselor at SAMBICA Bible Camp in Seattle, Washington.  It was my first time living and working in a different state and a summer I will always treasure! In my role, I would have a new cabin of 8-10 girls each week and had the incredible honor of walking with them through the week, participating in all the games, chapels, meals, lessons, songs, Bible Studies, and activities. Each week I got to disciple these young women and guide them as they started reading their Bibles and pursuing a relationship with God.
    One week I purchased cheap rubber chicken toys with a pull tab that you can launch through the air. The girls in my cabin had so much fun playing with them and one student in particular became very attached and we named the toy Mr. McNugget. Mr. McNugget traveled with us throughout the day to every meal and activity and became well known throughout the whole camp. One day Mr. McNugget flew too high and got stuck about 15 feet up a tree. I came across the girls throwing sticks and rocks in the tree and had to stop the rescue attempts.
     Distraught, the girls asked our maintenance team is they could help rescue Mr. McNugget – all attempts were futile. That evening as we were getting ready for bed I had the girls share their prayer requests and we prayed together as we did every night. That evening everyone wanted to pray that God would rescue Mr. McNugget and my heart was torn. We prayed together for Mr. McNugget and the whole time I was trying to figure out how to protect these girls from potential hurt and disappointment in not having their prayers for a toy answered. I had been teaching them about prayer this week and didn’t want them to become discouraged by an unanswered prayer. I went to bed praying that God would protect their faith and that they would still know Him as the good God He is even when their toy was not saved.
   The next morning, the girls all jumped out of bed first thing and rushed out of our cabin. There at the base of the tree was a small yellow and orange ball, with great joy from the girls and dumbstruck disbelief from myself we picked up and dusted off Mr. McNugget and the girls thanked God as they rushed off to play and start the day. I couldn’t believe it! God really saved a 50 cent toy from a tree. In the same moment God convicted my little faith and reminded me of the passage in Matthew 19:13-15 where the disciples, well-intentioned, tried to prevent the children from coming to Jesus because they didn’t want to bother him. “¹4But Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”
    I wanted to protect my girls from disappointment and in my doubt I didn’t want to bother God with saving a 50 cent toy. In my logical adult mind, it didn’t make sense and it wasn’t something big enough to ask God about. I was wrong, I was so wrong. Not only did God decide it was a big enough deal to save this toy to bring joy to his daughters, he also saw and knew how it would strengthen and fortify their faith in how God hears them and their understanding of His goodness. He also knew that later that evening His response to their prayer would be the deciding factor in a young girl’s decision to give her life to God and become a Christian.
   God brings this day back to my mind often and reminds me that He wants me to come to Him with a childlike faith, not limited and reserved with my own hesitations,  doubts and assumptions. Scripture promises us that God hears our prayers and He asks us to cast our cares unto Him and to pray about everything (Philippians 4:6). 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.”
   Our God cares about us and the things we care about. He wants us to trust Him and go to Him, giving Him all our cares and worries. He wants us to come to Him with a child-like faith which isn’t tainted or limited by our own perspectives or hesitancies. He wants us to come to Him boldly and confidently just as my campers did many years ago. I encourage you to share with God today the things that you care about, don’t worry about whether or not you think they are big enough to matter to God – if you care about it, He wants you to bring it to Him, because He cares about you!