Turning Fear into Faith

Crew has had a hard time lately. Everytime it is time for bed, he complains that he is scared. It has kind of seemed like one of those excuses to get out of bed and stay up a little later, until tonight. He said that he was scared and he was crying. I had him come and sit on the couch and talk to me about why he is scared and what he is scared of. He told me of some pretty horrific things that he is scared of. And I ask him what would even make him think of these things (knowing that we don't watch TV and we are very careful about the movies we let him watch). He told me that he had dreams that those bad things happened. It is so real to him. Seriously, I think he has a nightmare almost every night, where he will wake up in the middle of the night and says he is scared. I really don't know how he gets these things in his head?

I sat holding Crew tonight as he was telling me about the things that are frightening him. And I as I held him I started to cry because I want so badly to be able to protect him. It was one of those moments that I felt what great responsibility it is to be a parent. I want to take away everything bad and scary thing in the world so he could always be safe. And so I could tell him that bad things are NOT real. It is easy to tell him monsters aren't real... but what can I say when he tells me he is scared of PEOPLE doing bad things? I want more than anything to keep my sweet babes safe from all of the bad things and bad people in the world. I hate that he is feeling so scared and I hate that the things he told me he was scared of are actually things that have really happened. How can I tell him those things aren't real?... because they are. We talked a lot about things. And ways that can help us not feel scared. Broc ended up coming home to give him a blessing. It was after 11pm before he finally could calm down enough to go to sleep. I laid by him until he fell asleep.

I can't handle watching the news lately, because between Dominica or SLC there are awful thing happening everywhere. How can I tell him that there is nothing to be afraid of, when there are things that scare me? How can I tell him that nobody will come and break our door down when it has happened to one of our friends? How can I make him feel protected? Why are there so many crazy people out there doing horrible things? All I want is for my baby to feel safe and loved. I found this talk, and I loved this advice.

In the instant that you recognize fear, turn from it by turning to the Lord in prayer. This doesn’t mean that you’re ignoring the fear; it means that you’re treating it exactly as fear should be treated—by turning it over to the Lord, who has the power to change our feelings and to give us his Holy Spirit.

Despite all of the awful things around us, this sitiation has been a great opportunity to teach Crew about what faith is. Faith is the opposite of fear! I don't like to see my babes scared, but I love that we are given opportunities like this to help us learn to rely more on the Lord. What an amazing blessing prayer is in our lives in helping us turn our fears into faith!