If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

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Sitting in church one morning some years ago, I saw something so ordinary and simple and yet so beautiful that I was overwhelmed by it.  I hope I can convey the power of what hit me.

A young couple sat in front of us with a baby in an infant seat between them turned so that the baby—who my wife discovered was named Anna Grace—faced us.  Throughout the service—praise and worship, announcements and sermon—the mother sat with her hand lightly touching Anna Grace’s cheek.

Anna Grace rested one of her little hands on the back of her mother’s hand and the other on her arm and just smiled contentedly.  A little later she fell asleep with her hands remaining on her mother’s hand and arm.

The picture was one of unbounded love from the mother to the daughter and of unquestioning trust from the daughter toward the mother.  Resting securely in her mother’s touch, Anna Grace was totally at peace.

The church service and the crowd of people around me ceased to exist as I gazed at this picture.  God reminded me that He loved me infinitely more than this human mother loved her daughter and that I needed Him infinitely more than Anna Grace needed her mother.

There was much going on around Anna Grace that she could not understand.  Our sanctuary holds a couple of thousand people.  Our music is pretty loud and lively.  Strange people (us) were staring at her.  Was Anna Grace daunted in any way by all of this?  No!  She was at peace, resting in her mother’s touch, totally confident that her mother would bring about what was best for her despite anything going on around her.

This was the most powerful picture of God’s rest I’ve ever seen.  He promised us that He would take ANYTHING that happened in our lives and use it for our good—not some things, not most things, but ALL THINGS!  He didn’t promise there would never be pain or that all would always go the way WE wanted it to, but He did promise our ultimate good.

This infant, Anna Grace, was reminding me to rest in God and be anxious for NOTHING!  Not to worry about circumstances around me, not to worry about what I was going to eat or how I would pay for it.  Not to be bothered or troubled—period!

God has already let us see the end of the book.  We know how it comes out.  We win!  But more than just winning in the end, He has promised that He is in control in the meantime if we’ll just surrender ourselves to Him and rest in Him.

The contentment on Anna Grace’s face spoke volumes more than I can hope to write here.  I just hope I have given you a glimpse of what God showed me in this infant and her mother.

David N. Walker is a Christian father and grandfather, a grounded pilot and a near-scratch golfer who had to give up the game because of shoulder problems. A graduate of Duke University, he spent 42 years as a health insurance agent. Most of that career was spent in Texas, but for a few years he traveled many other states. He started writing about 20 years ago, and has six unpublished novels to use as primers on how NOT to write fiction. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his non-fiction Web Wisdom: Godly Inspiration from the Inbox and starting his new fiction work—a series of novellas set during the period from 1860 to 1880—using methods he and @KristenLambTX developed when they cofounded Warrior Writers Boot Camp.

Contact me at davwalktx@yahoo.com or tweet me at @davidnwalkertx