Life Lessons for Anxious Kids | Tree Street Kids DevotionalSample

Being scared when the world seems dark

It stormed again the next night. A flash of lightning lit up Jack’s bedroom just long enough for him to see his little sister run into his room and take a flying leap onto his bed. Jack pulled the covers over both of them. 

Midge switched on the headlamp she wore during storms. The covers became a tent of light.

They were used to the power going out in the old farmhouse. When you live in the middle of hundreds of acres of cornfields, there wasn’t anything to block the path of the storms. The wind would find the farmhouse like a wild dog hunting a rabbit. Fast. Furious. Hungry. At least bad storms always sounded hungry to Jack. Or angry. This one sounded mad. Even worse than the one the other day when he’d had to take cover at Ellison’s house. 

The wind rattled the windows like it was trying to get in. Then the rain started to spatter against the glass, and the water pounded on the ceiling of the attic bedroom.

Midge turned her head toward Jack, blinding him with the beam of the headlamp. “One cumulus cloud can weigh more than one million pounds,” Midge said.

Jack squinted. “That’s a hundred elephants,” he said. Math was hard, so maybe adding in his head would keep his mind off the storm.

“Or thirty-three apatosauruses,” Midge said.

A high-pitched wail jabbed through the beating wind and rain--tornado siren. In the country, if the electricity stayed on, the TV station would drone, “The national weather service has issued a tornado warning…” In town, the sirens meant the same thing. 

“Tornado!” Midge cried.

No matter how many times he’d heard the alarm, it seemed to stop his heart. He said one of the only Bible verses he’d memorized: “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.” 

“Me too?” Midge whispered.

“All of us,” Jack said. He felt calmer, but he knew they needed to get to the basement. 

“Jack! Midge!” Dad’s voice boomed up the staircase.

They scrambled out of bed and down the hall toward the top of the stairs. Their parents stood at the bottom in the warm glow of a camping lantern. 

Jack and Midge stumbled down the stairs toward the light. 

What scares you? Thunderstorms? The dark? Some storms in life don’t come with thunder and lightning. A painful family situation may feel like a hurricane. An argument with a friend may make you feel as if a light has gone out, and you don’t know how to find your way out of a mess. 

God may not always snatch you out of a storm, but He is always with you in the storms. 

Word to hold on to when you're scared: “The LORD is with me.”