Fear

I know that developmentally Lily is at the age when being scared and afraid of things is normal and up until recently her fears have been par for the course.

For example, she is afraid a bear or spider is going to come into her room while she is sleeping. We have been reading and singing Going on a Bear Hunt so I am guessing that is where the bear fear came from and anytime she is going into a dark room she always says there is a spider. I have no idea about that one. Now, I can guarantee her that a bear will not be coming into her room during the night, but not so much the spider. Dark was her first fear and that one seems to be sticking around.

The last few days though she has been saying things like, "I don't want someone we don't know to come in here and wake me up." "I am scared Daddy won't come home." These things break my heart to hear and I am so glad The Lord gave me this passage a few weeks ago when I was struggling with fears, and still am, that I can now share with my daughter.

"When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.

In God, whose word I praise-

In God I trust and am not afraid.

What can mortal man do to me?"

Psalm 56:3-4

God gave me that scripture at a time when it was needed most for myself, but He knew there was another reason I was going to need to memorize this. I don't have words to comfort Lily when she expresses fear about someone coming into our house or Jason not coming home, because if I am honest with myself (which at times like this I don't like to be), either, both or neither of those things could happen. What I can tell her though is that we have a God who Loves us and if we trust in Him we have no need to fear. I don't know where these fears have come from, but I am so grateful she is able to express them so we can talk about it and she doesn't have to hold them in and try to figure them out on her own.

I don't suspect her fears will cease overnight, as we all know fear can be gripping, but I know I now have words that can offer her comfort in her time of struggling. Praise the Lord!