Braving Bedtime

One night I went to bed and I woke up and called dad.  I asked him if he could pray for me, because I was scared and so he did.  After he went back upstairs I could not go back to sleep. I was still scared. So I had to call dad again. I asked him to pray again or to lay downstairs with me.  When I fell back to sleep I woke up AGAIN!!! And called dad AGAIN!!! He read me a story from the book “I AM” about when the disciples were in the boat with Jesus asleep and a big storm came.  Then he prayed for me again before he went up. This kept happening most of the night. The last time I called him he asked me what he could do. He didn’t like my ideas and asked me to just go to sleep.  I was finally able to go to sleep and sleep til morning.

I felt bad for keeping my parents up half the night. I felt so bad I even wanted to pay them money!  All the nights after that I still struggled with being scared so my parents and I finally decided I could move up to their room to sleep.

I stayed upstairs for about 4 months! That’s a long time!  First in their room on an air mattress, then I moved to the guest room upstairs.  But then my grandma came to visit. And my mom said I had to sleep in my room all while she visited.  She was here for 11 days!

The first night I did great! Mom gave me a little prize of donuts the next morning.  And all the other nights I slept good. I did struggle with some bad thoughts some of the nights but I learned how to take them captive (prisoner). I chose to pick thoughts I loved to think about and it got me through the night.

If you ever feel scared, you don’t have to call your parents right away, you can take your thought captive (prisoner) and pick a new thought.  God might even give you one that’s better than your own ideas. If that doesn’t help, then you can call your parents.

If you have a night like mine, just pray to God for a great night.  It’s ok if it doesn’t happen right away. Have good thoughts, great dreams, and fun with God.

“God is our refuge and strength an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1