Not only was the transformation to be lasting, one is struck by the extent to which the saint attributes her act of self-mastery entirely to God. Giving God the credit for everything, along with total reliance on His power, goodness, and mercy, will be the heart of her doctrine of spiritual childhood. It assumes as its starting point real effort and cooperation. It is because our Lord wants us to take His words deeply to heart, the saint used to explain to her novices, that He often leaves us with a defect for a long time in spite of our genuine efforts and entreaties to overcome it. He may even leave it with us till death, if necessary, to help us realize our complete dependence on Him, and keep us from relying on ourselves.
Spiritual childhood is spiritual adulthood.
The unflinching trust in God and joyous acceptance of His will that it requires is the reverse of spiritual childishness or babyishness, which in our relationship with God is the state of so many of the rest of us. There may be smiles when we have sweets to suck. Take it away. In that moment a future doctor of the Church was born. Samson's riddle was reversed.