“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”  (2 Corinthians 2:14)

I was very young when I heard the mango tree story. I’ve never forgotten it. I don’t ever want to.

My grandfather, Jiddu Karram as he was known, owned a retail store that could be described as a Third World Target where they sold dry goods – various items for the home. Our family had emigrated from Lebanon years before and now lived in Kingston, Jamaica.

One Sunday morning my grandfather locked away the cash from the weekend sales in the wooden wardrobe in his bedroom. The family left for a picnic for the day and, to their great dismay, returned to find all the money missing.

Naturally, they were devastated. That was the payroll funds, money to survive on, cash to purchase goods from the wholesalers that week.

The police arrived, investigated, made inquiries. Nothing.

My Aunt Odette was five months pregnant at the time. She went outside, walked around the property, and prayed ardently for God to help them find the missing money. “Lord, you know exactly where it’s been hidden, but we don’t,” she prayed. “Show us where it is.”

Compelled to bend low and look beneath their wooden frame home, my aunt spotted mangos resting in the dirt. Realizing this was an unusual sight, she called for her younger brother, my dad, who squeezed himself under the home, crawled over to where the mangos where sitting, and dug beneath the dirt. 

Sure enough, the money was all there.

Earlier that morning, the gardener had climbed the mango tree to pick fruit from the upper branches. From that vantage point he had a bird’s eye view of my grandfather’s bedroom and the wardrobe where the money was placed. His plan to escape with the cash was thwarted when the family returned earlier than he expected. When he scurried beneath the house to hide it, the mangos in his pockets had dropped out. God had marked his hiding spot perfectly and had graciously shown my aunt the exact location.

On every side the trend is to tear down the faith of our children, to hijack their view of the goodness of God. What if we chose instead to tell them our stories in order to build their faith that God can be trusted, no matter what. Let’s remind them that although he doesn’t spare us pain, he somehow uses it for great good in our lives and the lives of those he brings our way.

Sharing our stories, especially with our children and grandchildren, will always prove valuable. Listen to how God showed up when we were in a difficult place. Let me tell you about a time when we didn’t know what to do, and we trusted God to show us. Remember these stories and discover for yourself ways he just might show up in your life, too.

Go ahead little ones, listen carefully to our stories, and find Jesus faithful in your story, too.

Elizabeth A Mitchell

Photo Credit: Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels