“Oh MY!” cried a little green frog when he returned home from his day chasing flies. “I was only gone a few minutes and there’s a huge hole in my lily pad,” he said to himself. ‘Oh well, I’ll see what I can do about it in the morning,’ he thought, as he gathered up some leaves to lay on top of the water to use for a bed. ‘it’s not like I’m not used to these problems,’ he thought.

But the next morning, he woke up tired. “Oh well, it must have been because of those leaves, they're just not as comfortable as my lily pad……guess I won’t be hunting for flies today after spending the night sinking into the water,” he declared; looking around and wondering where he might find himself a new lily pad. The little green frog pulled his leg out of the mud and hopped onto the dry forest floor and stared ahead. “In what lake or pond should I look? Oh where oh where can those lily pads be?” He wondered.

He hopped over to a big oak tree and sat down underneath its lush, bushy branches to rest a moment. Just as he was starting to fall asleep, he heard a startling sound of fluttering around over his head. He looked up and there was a poor little Blue Jay with a broken wing; struggling to free himself from the tangley, bushy branches.

“Would you like some help?” he shouted upward, toward the little Blue Jay.

“What can you do? You are way down there!” he shouted back.

“Well what’s the problem?” the little green frog inquired, even though he could tell this little bird was not happy to talk with him.

“I have a broken wing and I got tangled up in these bushy branches, but go on your way. I’ll manage getting out myself!” he replied, angrily.

“Okay, have it your way,” replied the little green frog, as he hopped away; humming;

“Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm,” he hummed, until he happened upon a little brown fox; staring at him with a worried look on his face.

“Ummmm……can I be of any help to you little brown fox; you look lost,” the little green frog inquired; thinking that being extra nice may help keep him alive.

“Oh, I just lost the cover over my home! When I came home last night, it was gone! I guess the wind must have blown away all the branches and leaves I had laid down over my hole in the ground!” the little brown fox cried. “And now I have no place to hide from the bears and other large animals of the forest,” he explained.

The little green frog was relieved to hear this fox did not want to have him for breakfast, but kept that feeling to himself and said,

“Wow, I’m so sorry to hear that. Can I do anything to help?"

“You? What can you do? Help me carry branches and leaves? I can certainly carry them myself!”

“Okay, have it your way,” the little green frog replied. He resumed his humming, "Hmmmm. Hmmmm," until he came upon a lush portion of forest, with a small pond. ‘I think I may be able to find a new lily pad here,’ he thought. But there were no lily pads in that water. The little green frog went home to his bed of leaves and tried to get some sleep. In the morning, he rose up early to continue his search, unafraid.

As he hopped around the forest in search of another pond or any body of water that may have growing lilies, he spied the little brown fox in the corner of his eye.

 “Hello little brown fox. How is your search for branches and leaves going?”

“I can’t find large enough branches or sturdy enough leaves!” he whaled.

“I think I can help you,” the little green frog replied. “I have been on a search too; I am looking for a new lily pad to make into my home,” he informed the troubled little fox. Then, he hopped ahead of him, and they searched the forest together.

“Here we are, some nice big branches and lots of sturdy, dry leaves! Help me and we’ll gather as much as we can and bring them back to your den and cover it,” the little green frog informed him.

As they continued the big job of going back and forth for his den coverings, the little green frog spied a pond just full of lily pads. “Finally! I found a new home too and right next to yours! You should have seen me trying to sleep without my pad, I kept sinking into the water!” The little frog said with a big, funny smile.

“Hahahaha! I think I’ll call you Sink!” replied the little brown fox.

“Hahahaha! I like it!” Sink screeched. And I think I’ll call you Hider!”

Hider just smiled, like he did when he was feeling bashful and followed Sink, as he hopped over to gather more brush to take to his den.

On their way, they heard a bit of commotion way up over their heads. They looked up and spied the little Blue Jay that Sink had helped out of the tangley tree branches.

“Hey, why are you in that tree? Don’t you know, you should have waited for your broken wing to heal first?” Sink called up to the little bird. “Now it appears you are stuck again!”

“Woe is me. I am stuck again!” the little Blue Jay hollered back in dismay.

“I’ll come up and help you,” Sink told him.

As soon as Sink freed the little bird, he took a look at his broken wing. “You have to rest and give it time to heal,” he informed him. “Hey, I have the perfect nickname for you little one. I think I’ll call you, Bloozy,” Sink declared.

‘Hider and Bloozy looked confused.

‘Ummmm…..Hider relies too much on his cover and Bloozy relies too much on flying. Ummmmm…..I remember when I used to let my lily pad problems get me all upset and worried.’

The next morning, he rose up early and went to find his new friends. 'I have so much to teach them,’ he thought; shaking his head.

He showed up at Hider’s home first and called down to him. “Hey, it’s me, Sink. Come on up and play a game with me!”

“Sure,” he replied; sticking his head out from his den. “What kind of game?”

“Oh it’s a brand new game I just made up. I call it, 'Who is it that feeds you and keeps you?' But, let’s go over to Bloozy’s nest and wake him up first,” Sink suggested.

Hider wondered what Sink was talking about, as he stepped onto the forest floor and followed Sink, as he hopped over to the tree where Bloozy was living and shouted upward: “Hey it’s Sink and Hider. Come on up and play with us!”

Bloozy rubbed his eyes with his wing that wasn’t broken. But then he realized something. ‘Wait a minute,’ he thought. ‘This isn’t my good wing; it’s my broken wing! Hey, my wing is healed!” he shouted from his nest.

“Great!” Sink shouted back, with a big smile. “Come down here so we can play this new game I thought up this morning!”

Bloozy carefreely made his way down to the forest floor, excited to play the new game.

“Okay, the first part of this game is that I ask you both an important question. The second part is knowing the answer. Hider, who is it that feeds you and keeps you?”

“Me,” Hider replied, with a strange look on his face.

“Okay, and what about you Bloozy? Who is it that feeds you and keeps you?”

“Me of course, but……Ummmmm…..my wing did heal fast and not from anything I did,” he replied, with a look of wonder on his face.

“See you know what I mean! You know it wasn’t you who healed your wing!”

“And Hider, you were so uneasy about not having your cover, but is it really your cover that feeds you and keeps you?”

Hider and Bloozy stared at Sink and suddenly knew what he was talking about.

It was at that exact moment that 7 year old Gracie’s mom closed the great big picture book and stared into her eyes that were wide with wonder.

“What do you think Sink was talking about?” Gracie asked.

“That it’s God who takes care of us and heals us. He’s our provider and our protector, or cover as the story called it. And if we trust in Him, we don’t have to worry or be afraid, just patient. Do you see what I mean?” Her mother asked.

“Yes. I think so,” she replied.

“See it’s like this: even though we all do things to provide and protect ourselves and we should; it’s really God who is taking care of us. He’s doing things that we can’t see, like making sure there’s food and other things we need in the places we can go to get those things. He’s the one that is really making it all work out, so we are provided for and protected, healed and anything else we need,” her mother explained. In fact the Bible even provides a verse to teach us all about it in Psalm 104:21; she said, as she opened to the Book of Psalms.

“The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God. When the sun rises, they gather together and lie down in their dens” (NKJV)

“Wow, that’s cool! We rely on God and animals do too!” Gracie shouted with joy.

“That’s right! Okay get all snuggly now, it’s time to go to sleep,” her mother said.

Gracie took her book back from her mom, wrapped her arms around it and rolled onto her side. She went right to sleep and started dreaming that she was lost in the forest, until God showed up and led her back home.