Have you ever found yourself in a moment of pure, unadulterated panic? Your heart races, your mind scrambles, and a wave of stress washes over you. It’s a feeling we as adults know all too well. In these moments, our first instinct is often to take control, to fix it, to figure it out on our own. But what if we’re missing a simpler, more profound first step?

I’m reminded of the time Jesus gathered his disciples and brought a little child into their midst. He told them, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). It’s a passage many of us have heard, but I believe it holds a deep, practical truth for our daily walk with God, especially when things go wrong.

Just the other week, I learned this lesson firsthand from my own son. We were about to leave the house when I realized the car key was missing. I mentally retraced my steps, my frustration mounting with each passing second. I checked my pockets, the counter, the sofa cushions—nothing. My calm was quickly dissolving into irritation, my mind already calculating how this would make us late.

As my stress levels peaked, a small voice beside me said, “Mommy, let’s pray to find it.”

I stopped. All my frantic searching came to a halt. I looked down at my son, whose face showed no trace of worry, only a calm certainty. His first reaction wasn’t panic or frustration; it was to turn directly to God. In his simple, beautiful faith, the answer was obvious: when you have a problem, you ask for help from the One who can solve anything. We paused, held hands, and he led a short, simple prayer. The peace that followed was more valuable than the key itself (which we found a few minutes later, of course). I was amazed and humbled. His faith had cut right through my adult anxiety and reminded me where my trust should have been all along.

Why Is It So Hard for Adults to Trust?

Why is our instinct so different from a child’s? As we grow up, we are taught to be self-sufficient, capable, and strong. We build careers, manage finances, and raise families based on our own strength and intellect. While these are good things, they can inadvertently build a wall around our hearts.

Perhaps we hesitate to bring our “small” problems to God because we don’t want to bother Him with something we feel we should be able to handle. Or maybe it’s a matter of pride—we want the satisfaction of solving it ourselves. We lean on our own understanding, forgetting that God is intimately concerned with every detail of our lives, from the monumental to the mundane. We forget that He invites us to cast all our anxieties on Him, because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

This is where our children become our greatest teachers. If we pay attention, they can show us the way back to a faith that is pure, immediate, and powerful.

Here are a few beautiful lessons in faith we can learn from watching our kids:

1. They Remember The Lord Immediately

Just like my son in his simple request to pray, a child’s first instinct is often to turn to God. They haven’t yet learned the world’s habit of exhausting every other option before turning to prayer as a last resort. For them, God isn’t a backup plan; He’s the first responder. They see a need and immediately connect it to the ultimate Source of help.

2. They Trust In The Lord’s Answers

When a child prays, they genuinely believe God is listening and will answer. They don’t over-analyze the situation or doubt God’s ability. They simply hand their request over and trust that it’s in good hands. Whether the answer is an immediate “yes,” a “not yet,” or even a “no” that leads to something better, they possess a beautiful acceptance that we adults often struggle with. They trust the heart of the Father, not just His hand.

3. They Have Pure Optimism After They Pray

Have you ever noticed how a child can pray about something and then immediately run off to play, completely at peace? Once they’ve given their worry to God, they don’t snatch it back. They don’t continue to fret and agonize. They operate with a pure optimism, a joyful expectation that God has heard them and is working on it. This is the “peace that surpasses all understanding” in its purest form. They truly let it go and let God take over.

4. They Remember the Lord When They See the Blessings

A child’s world is filled with wonder. When a prayer is answered—a lost toy is found, a scraped knee feels better, a sunny day arrives for the park—their response is often a simple and joyful, “Thank you, God!” They are quick to give credit where it is due. They haven’t learned the adult tendency to call answered prayers “coincidence” or “good luck.” They see God’s hand in the good things, big and small, and their gratitude flows freely and naturally.

Let’s allow the children in our lives to be our guides. Let’s watch them, learn from them, and allow their simple, profound faith to challenge and reshape our own. The next time you feel that familiar wave of panic rising, pause for a moment. Take a deep breath. And before you do anything else, try seeing the problem through the eyes of a child, and let your first words be, “Let’s pray about it.”