3,467 Times

Princess, walking into my office after being tucked into bed: "Mommy?"

Queen: "Yes?"

P: "I need a different nightlight. I'm scared and the nightlight I have gives off a cold feeling. I like to sleep with my lamp on ... it has such a warm glow."

Q: "You can't sleep with your lamp on, Honey. It's too much light and your body will not go into the deep sleep cycles it needs with that much light in the room."

P: "Yeah, but I'm scared."

Q: "Oh, Sweetie. I'm sorry. You know ... If you are scared, you are not trusting Jesus."

P: "I do trust Him. I just want some warm light in the room so I will feel safe."

Q: "Honey, that's not trust. Trust is choosing not to fear when you are in the dark. Feeling safe in the light is not trust. In the light, you are trusting what you can see. In the dark, you are trusting the One you cannot see."

P: "Yeah, but what if something happens that He doesn't know about."

Q: "Impossible. He knows everything. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He made you, Princess, and He knows everything about you. Everything that happens to you, He has allowed."

P: .... (silence) In a small voice, "But what if ..."

Q: "Girlie, you can trust Him in the dark or you can trust yourself by what you see in the light. If you want to wear His name, you must trust Jesus. We cannot see into the future, can we?"

P: "No"

Q: "The future is dark to us. We have to make decisions about what we are going to do. There is no way to turn on the light. We must trust Him for the things of tomorrow. Same is true at bedtime. We turn out the lights and trust Him for what we cannot see."

(Silence ... thinking.)

Q: "How old are you, Princess?"

P: (grin) "Nine"

Q: turns to the computer and does the math on the calculator, "So 365 X 9.5 years = 3,467 nights that God has kept you safe. And yet you still have trouble trusting Him. (Smiling and winking at Princess) Three THOUSAND, four hundred and sixty-seven nights He has kept you safe. Think He will do it again tonight?"

P: (reluctantly nodding)

Q: "I know what I am asking you is hard. I hate to be afraid. I know how big the darkness can feel. He's bigger. Why don't you quote some scriptures that you have hidden in your heart as you lay there in the dark?"

P: "What if I don't know any about fear?"

Q: (begins reading from Ps 23 when Princess jumps in and begins quoting...)

P: (grinning as she says) , "I will fear no evil for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me."

Q: "Come on, I'll walk you back to bed..."