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“Who wears the crown, Mom?” My daughter asked me. It was a rhetorical question, sort of. We were pulling out of the drive-through at Burger King last August and discussing the fact that the dollars were not there to pay for her fall semester at Tabor College. Financial aid had not come through in a sufficient amount and yet she was determined to depart for school. I was worried sick, fearful of her getting back to Kansas and having to turn around and come home. But Rachel was operating in faith, trusting that God would bring about the financing she needed. It was her conviction that this was what God wanted her to do. I was lagging far behind in conviction. In fact I was sort of doing a belly crawl, knowing that God “could” but with plenty of fear and doubt thrown in.
“Who wears the crown?” She said again more gently, pointing to the little gold-colored paper crown from Burger King that lay beside me on the seat. She knew. She trusted God. Why was I struggling so much? I stared at the cheap paper crown, my eyes tearing up. There it was, that stalwart faith of hers defying all my argument and fear. Why couldn’t I live it like she does?
Now, three months later, she is in the home stretch of the first semester of her senior year, and about to embark on yet another adventure of faith. Barely scraping together the dollars she needed to pay for fall semester, Rachel had immediately signed up for a school-sponsored trip to Thailand in January. She was certain, again, that it was God’s plan for her and so she was not deterred by the $3,000 estimated cost. She had asked God for direction to fulfill what she knew was His plan for her. It was no surprise to her, but certainly to her delight when she was hired last September to work at a new little restaurant in Hillsboro as a waitress. She has so enjoyed the job, and has made many dear friends of her “regular” customers. She has also squirreled away every tip she could manage to save, and with a couple of generous benefactors, has succeeded in saving the dollars needed to pay for her Thailand trip! Now she is looking forward to January 5th, and the adventures that await her on the other side of the globe.
As for me, I am amazed at the faith of my daughter. Why? I know it sounds silly to have raised her to love the Lord and then be surprised at her trust in Her heavenly Father. I did not understand the Lord when I was her age. So for me, to see her living out her trust in God is to understand things I never knew as a young woman. It blesses me and surprises me over and over. When I pray for her, I thank God for such a precious young woman in my life. And I keep that little cardboard crown. It means nothing in itself, of course, there is no magic in it. But I smile when I see it in my car and I am reminded that the King of Kings is there with me, guiding me and providing for me as I learn how to walk in faith: the faith like a child.
