20 Mar Facing the Monsters in the Closet

He came into our room in the middle of the night, shaking with fear. “Momma, the bad guys in my dream were going to get me.” My tired voice ushered him in gently. “Come to me, son. You are safe. It was just a bad dream.”

The reality of my warm arms around him and the silence of our home caused his body to relax. Eventually his deep breathing indicated to me he had fallen asleep again. The bad guys had been forgotten – at least for now.

Through the years, my husband and I have walked with our kids through all sorts of fears that weren’t grounded in reality but were the products of their very active imaginations. Monsters in the closet, “bad guys” in the basement, the possibility of some natural disaster destroying our home (it doesn’t help that my husband works in the emergency preparedness sector!) – these are just a few that have come up.

When each of these fears emerge from their imaginations, we always seem to go through the same basic process of walking them back to a place of peace:

Assure them of our presence and God’s presence – “We are here. We’re going to walk with you through this fear; God has promised to never leave or forsake us.”

Present the facts: Turn on the lights, open the closet door. Remove the coat that happened to be situated below a hat that looked in the darkness like some scary person – “See, its just a coat?”

Develop a plan (this is for their legitimate threats and fears) – i.e. what if a tornado comes?: “We have a plan of where to go in our home for safety, food and water stores.”

Sometimes after walking through all these steps, they are still afraid of all the “what ifs” that may happen. And if I’m honest, even when I walk myself through all these steps for my own over-active imagination, I can still be afraid or anxious, too.

But I’m Still Afraid

That is where trust and faith come in. As human beings, we face uncertainties every single day. And it is in the face of those situations that could play out in a hundred different ways that we must choose in whom or what we are going to place our trust.

In a “worst case scenario” situation that we never could have planned or prepared for, what can we do? Where do we turn? What do we stand on?

As believers in Christ, we have a living hope in the Risen Christ (1 Peter 1:3). Our eternal future is secure (1 Peter 1:4). Our past is permeated with the fingerprints of the one who works all things for our good and his glory (Romans 8:28). And our present – right here, right now – is being sustained not only with his almighty power and infinite knowledge but also with his perfect, loving care (Colossians 1:17, Matthew 6:30-34).

We can live at rest in the midst of uncertainty and fear not because we are always prepared emotionally to face it all, but because we are children under the care of a loving Father. And as Pastor John Kilpatrick once preached, “Everything is Father-Filtered.” Whatever comes our way was first sifted by His loving, perfect hands.

What are your child’s biggest fears in this season? What are yours? Have you spent time talking them through and praying about them? When we bring our fears, like the imaginary monsters in the closet, into the light of God’s presence, they aren’t as scary anymore. Because God is always bigger than anything we fear and his love for us is more powerful than fear itself.