Today, right after the communion section of our worship started, my 7 year old leaned over and said, "How do we know all this is REAL?" and I knew what I wanted to say, but it was very hard to do mid-service, so I talked to her after the service. She stated her question again, "I know you and Daddy have told me for a long time that God made me and I just wanted to know how do I know that this is all real?"
It wasn't until a few years ago that I could honestly answer that question. I've known the Lord my whole life, never really questioned Him too much (other than the typical experimenting freshman year of college, testing my boundaries), but her question is one that grown-ups have all the time. There is no simple answer, or Bible verse that can help her.
I told her that it's totally normal to have doubts about anything in life. We are human and we want physical answers to a God who is outside of our boundaries and not something we can fully grasp until we are in our spiritual bodies. I told her that once our pastor prayed "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief" and that was a totally acceptable thing to pray to God. She knows He is real, she's seen Him work in her life already in her 7.5 short years on this earth.
On the way home, Daddy chimed in on her question after I explained what I had told her. He said it was always a good idea to ask for God's help. He also said, "Lord, I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on you" is a great thing to pray when we aren't sure about things.
We also talked about chance or "luck" in the world's eyes and how we believe that is God working in our lives. How there are things that just work together for our good (Romans 8:28) and it's God's doing in our lives. He is orchestrating things for our good. It can seem like "bad" people have good things, like someone who steals may have lots of money or toys or a big house, but that they don't get their eternal reward of heaven. That when they die all of those things die with them.
It was such a good chat, after such a wonderful service of having the gospel preached to our family. I'm glad that she questions this faith that we've passed on to her, that she doesn't just superficially accept Christ because it's what we've wanted for her. I know she's going to have a long lasting and real relationship with him, that may not always be perfect, but it will be good.
