My husband heard a great "kid story" from a lady at church on Sunday. This faithful woman raised 7 kids in the Bronx in the 1970s. Her kids were so close together, that two ended up in the same grade! At one point when everyone was very young, she was losing her mind. She had a son who was always losing something. He could never get out the door on time for the school bus.
She told Jon "I yelled at God! I really did! I told him "You gave me these children. Now YOU raise them!"
The next day, the son lost his shoe. He couldn't find it anywhere.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Mom stayed calm. She told the other six kids "Give me your shoe! Your brother can't find his shoe. He's got to go to school with only one shoe, and so do you!"
The other kids freaked out. "Mom we can't go to school with only one shoe!" The lady stayed calm. She said "What can I do? Your brother only has one shoe and he can't go alone like that". She started collecting one shoe from each child. The kids frantically started started looking around. Sure enough, they found the missing shoe, put it one the boy and everyone made it to the school bus on time.
The next day, the son could only find one textbook. The Mom said "Okay, everyone can only go to school with one textbook today."
The older kids started screaming "Mom, We have Sister Mary So and So. She's really strict. We can't go to class without our books today."
The Mom nodded her head. "I know she's tough. It's going to be really hard for you." She kept collecting textbooks from the siblings.
Same thing. The siblings mount a frantic search, the missing textbooks are found. All the kids make it to the bus with their books intact for the morning.
During parent/teacher conferences several weeks later, the Sister in charge of teaching the "lost boy" wanted to know the circumstances behind the dramatic change. The Mom was so embarrassed. She said "You'll never believe me Sister." The Sister heard the whole thing with a twinkle in her eye and said "that's how He works!"
