Contributed article by Parishioner, Dalia Nino

Dalia Nino with her daughter.

“When I was younger, I used to think it rains when God is stepping on the clouds!” my eight years old tells me the other day. It made me smile, not just because my daughter says the cutest things, but also because it reminded me of what I thought at her age too. I had also asked my mother if when it rains, is it because Mary is washing the floors in heaven?
Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”. Mathew 18:3.
So if we were children once, then we grew smarter and more mature, how did we come away from the kingdom of heaven? What exactly happened to our faith when we grew? I really wanted to find out. While doing our nightly routine of prayers: one Our Father, one Hail Mary, we thank God for our blessings for the day, ask him to forgive us and help be better children to Him etc… I added: Please God, send us Rain… I repeated that prayer for a whole week. My daughter then asked me: “Why do you keep praying for Rain? The weather on your phone says it is sunny this week, and it doesn’t look like it will rain”. I answered:” It is because we need rain, and so does nature and all the animals. And all we need to do is ask God for it. Even if the forecast says it is sunny this week, God can make it rain anytime”. She said: “Oh, ok”. And she prayed for it to rain with me.  At the end of that week, we sure had rain! She was so excited and said:” That’s because we asked God for it!”
That reaction answered my question about being children again: My girl had complete faith and confidence in God. She did not hesitate to ask Him. And when he did send us rain, she did not hesitate to admit it was from God.
How many times we boldly ask God for much smaller things that rain? And how many times we acknowledge He sent us that grace? How many times we take it upon ourselves to pursue what we want or need and forget to ask Him first? If our God can make it rain, He can help you find that job, and can surely help you with your sickness, depression or any obstacle in our life.
“Elijah appeared before King Ahab to announce God’s curse: “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” (1 Kings 17:1, NIV)  Elijah was so confident in the power of God, that when he challenged the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the false god Asherah to a showdown on Mount Carmel. The idolaters sacrificed a bull and cried out to Baal from morning until nightfall, even slashing their skin until blood flowed, but nothing happened. Elijah then put the burnt offering on the Lord’s altar along with wood. He had a servant douse the sacrifice and wood with four jars of water, three times, until all was thoroughly soaked. Elijah called on the Lord, and God’s fire fell from heaven, consuming the offering, the wood, the altar, the water, and even the dust around it. The people fell on their faces, shouting, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” (1 Kings 18:39, NIV) Elijah prayed, and rain fell on Israel. “

God can make it rain and water our land, and he can make fire fall down from heaven and burn stones and water! Like Elijah, my daughter asked God for rain and believed it will happen before it really did. Like my daughter, Elijah asks God for things Boldly!
No wonder he went straight to heaven! Literally! “…a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them(Elijah and Elisha), and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. “2 Kings 2:11. And no wonder this is my daughter’s favorite bible story, she can understand and relate to him like any child. But can we?

Teach your children about God today, and you will be surprised how much you will be learning from them.