Here is a true story of how a little girl's simple faith in a big God taught her parents a big lesson.
Does God care about a doll coat? Yes, He does. God cares about doll coats, and He cares about the faith of little girls. Driving down the highway coming home from summer vacation, a little girl was playing with her doll and doll clothes in the back seat. She hung up her doll coat on the wing window of the station wagon and noticed a few minutes later that it was gone. “My doll coat! It’s gone!” she exclaimed. After looking around the back seat and realizing that the coat had probably gone out the window, she asked her daddy to turn around and go back for the coat. Her daddy patiently tried to explain that he was driving 65 miles an hour down a divided highway, it would be some distance before he could cross the highway, and dusk was approaching. But the little girl was insistent. “But it’s my favorite doll coat,” she sobbed.
But there was no way that the doll coat could be found. They had traveled many miles since the coat was noticed to be missing, and there was no way of knowing where the coat had gone out the window. Finally her parents convinced her that it was useless to go back for the doll coat. After a few moments of silence, the little girl said quietly, “Would it help to pray?” Skeptical that her prayer would be answered as she desired, yet not desiring to squash his daughter’s zeal for prayer and dependency on God, Dad answered, “It always helps to pray.” The little girl prayed simply and sincerely that God would bring back her doll coat.
A few minutes later, Dad slammed on the brakes. “Kristi, God just answered your prayer!” he exclaimed. He jumped out of the car and ran to the back. There caught on the very end of the trailer they were pulling was...the doll coat! Dad gleefully and gratefully restored the doll coat to his daughter, and the family drove on, awed by a great and glorious God who notices little things like doll coats and loves to encourage the faith of His children.
(Lord, Teach Us to Pray: Family Devotional Guide by Sally Michael, copyright©2006, pages 141-142)
