“The Loose-Tooth Test,” Friend, October 2016, 8–9
The Loose-Tooth Test
Could cookies and prayer be the answer?
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8).
Tessa sat on her bed and wiggled her tooth as hard as she could. It just wouldn’t come out! She pushed. She pulled. But the tooth was still there, and it hurt!
She slid onto the floor with a thump! She tried to think of what else she could do. In Primary she learned how you could ask Heavenly Father for help when you have a problem. Tessa got an idea. Maybe she could pray and ask Heavenly Father to help her tooth fall out!
She knelt by her bed and started to pray.
“Heavenly Father, I need help. My tooth hurts, and I want it to come out. I will wiggle it right after this prayer. I know that You can make it fall out.” She finished her prayer and began wiggling her tooth. Nothing happened. Her tooth stayed in.
OK, she thought. Maybe I just need to try something different.
She remembered that her friend Amy lost a tooth once by biting an apple.
Tessa went to the kitchen. She smelled the chocolate-chip cookies Mom was baking. She could hardly wait to try one. But first she reached for a bright green apple.
Tessa sat down at the table and said another prayer. This time she asked, “Heavenly Father, please make my tooth come out when I bite the apple.”
One bite later, the tooth still hadn’t budged! Tessa sighed and put the apple down. Didn’t Heavenly Father hear her prayer? Didn’t He want to help her?
Beep! The timer for the cookies went off. Mom opened the oven and checked the cookies.
“It looks like they need to stay in for a little longer,” Mom said.
“Why can’t we take them out now?” Tessa asked.
“We could,” Mom said, “but they wouldn’t be crispy the way you like them.”
Tessa thought for a moment. Maybe just like she needed to be patient for the cookies, she needed to be patient for her tooth to come out on its own!
She felt peaceful. She knew Heavenly Father loved her and had heard her prayer.
Tessa ran upstairs to her room and knelt down. “Heavenly Father,” she said, “thank you for hearing my prayers. I understand. Sometimes the answer is to wait.”
Prayer Match-Up
Draw a line to match the name with the scripture story. Then draw a line to the answer Heavenly Father gave.
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Hannah
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Alma and Amulek
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Joseph Smith
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“After Moroni told me about the golden plates, I wanted to get them right away. But I was told to wait for four years before I was ready.” (See Joseph Smith History 1:30, 34, 53–54.)
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“I pled with Heavenly Father for the chance to be a mother. I had a son named Samuel who went on to be a prophet. (See 1 Samuel 1:9–11, 20, 27.)
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“We asked Heavenly Father if we could stop the bad things that were happening, and Heavenly Father heard our prayers. But He told us to let the things happen. (See Alma 14:9–13.)
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No
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Wait
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Yes