It’s hard to teach concrete-thinking children how to pray to God. They are so trusting and their hearts are ripe to receive anything parents want to plant – a responsibility not to be taken lightly.
When my girl was about eight, she was having trouble getting rid of scary thoughts about her birth father. Some thoughts were memories of his disregard for her well-being, some thoughts were just thoughts about how terrible he had been to us during a very traumatic divorce.
I did not know how haunted she was until one day when she just happened to remark that she “had bad thoughts” about her father and didn’t know what to do about them. Immediately we began a careful discussion. That’s when I learned the depths of her anguish. She needed her mother’s comfort, but she also needed to know how to talk to God on her own as things would continue to pop up.
“How do I talk to God about this, Mommie?”
I told her that God would hear our prayers and take away sad thoughts and ideas. All she had to do was ask Him.
“How will it work?” She innocently wondered.
Right then a mental picture of a washing machine appeared to me, an answer to a silent prayer I had uttered. I asked her if she could picture a washing machine, and picture all the suds going round and round.
She nodded.
Then I asked her to picture putting each crummy thought or memory in all those suds. She nodded again.
“That’s how God will help you wash away those thoughts. He has the power to make them clean again. Once they’re washed away, you don’t have to let them in your mind again. They’re gone for good.”
My little girl took a deep breath and her eyes shown with relief. She thanked me for helping her. I thanked God for helping me realize her need for a picture.
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