Trust in the Lord...

For the last few weeks our 1st grader, Alivia, has had a very loose tooth. My husband's philosophy is to let it fall out on its own and mine is to yank it out at the first wiggle. As I pressured Alivia daily about letting me help her pull it out, she politely informed me that she doesn't pull her teeth until they are "extremely wiggly".

Obviously being more experienced in this area compared to a 6 year old that has only lost 2 bottom teeth, I politely informed her that the tooth was ready since she could move it around with her tongue. I was on call 24/7 just hoping she'd change her mind, but her answer remained "not yet".

Then one day, she said she was ready to have it pulled, BUT not by me or her. Only by her former kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Johnson. See, according to Alivia, Mrs. Johnson is the "best tooth puller in the world". I let her make the call & we went right over there. Mrs. Johnson was thrilled she had called & got right down to business. After a quick wiggle assessment, Mrs. J. took a napkin & within seconds Alivia had her long awaited top row gap in her mouth.

I loved the trust she had in her teacher. Last year as a student of Mrs. Johnson's, Alivia witnessed many friends arrive at 9am with a wiggly tooth & leave at 3:30pm knowing the tooth fairy would be leaving coins under their pillow in a few hours. While she left with all teeth intact , she watched classmate after classmate carry their loose tooth home in a plastic treasure chest box.

What she saw was trust. She saw her friends trust Mrs. Johnson. She had never seen me pull a tooth so I had no credibility, but she had seen enough classmates bravely stand open mouthed in front of Mrs. J. to earn her the title of the "world's best tooth puller". This woman not only taught them how to read & write the word tooth, but she could pull one too.


I can't help but think when I have a problem arise in my life how I handle it. Do I immediately try to fix it on my own--eat apples, tie a string around it & yank or do I go to the World's Best Tooth Puller with my problem & trust Him enough to handle it? Do those around me see me go right to Jesus with everything in my life simply because I trust Him?

I know there's many times I try to fix things on my own. It's a daily struggle to surrender any control I think I might have to God, but when I do He seems to pull my tooth out & make room for the next one. Like Alivia did with her tooth, I sometimes tend to wait until my problem becomes "extremely wiggly" before I go to Him. When I feel that first wiggle, encounter that 1st sign of a problem, I need to just run to Him. I need to trust in Him because of what I've seen Him do in others lives. I need to trust Him with all of my junk because of what I've read about Him in the Bible. I need to trust more.

Thank You Lord for taking a wiggly tooth to show me how I need to increase the trust I have in You.

Luke 18:27

Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Many Blessings,
Lelia