The story  of Jesus calming the storm is a very popular children’s Bible story. This is a wonderful story to teach children about God’s amazing power, even over nature. It has also recently helped me think of a better way to help my own children when they are afraid.

My husband and I are working through some fear issues with our oldest child.

He occasionally has night terrors. I had never experienced anything like them until he started screaming hysterically one night in his sleep. It was awful. When he has these terrors, he shakes uncontrollably, cries out loudly while soaked in sweat and it can last several very long minutes. All I can do is put him on my lap, hold him tight and rock him back and forth until he comes out of it. It’s quite nerve racking to say the least.

He also has the random nightmare and will come wake me up to tell me he’s scared. He’s afraid to go to bed if it’s storming outside. As a cautious, first born (with so many of his momma’s genes), the child is afraid of a lot of things.

At first, my initial response to him was to brush off the thing that is causing his fear. “It’s just a thunderstorm, buddy. It’ll pass over in a few minutes” or “It’s just a dream. It’s not real. You’re fine.”

The problem is, “it’s just” very real to him and in that moment, he’s very afraid.

Instead of brushing off his fear by dismissing the cause, I’ve realized there’s is a better way to help him.

The disciples had been with Jesus for a little while at the time they experienced this storm on the sea. They had listened to his teaching and witnessed his miracles. They knew he was the Christ, the Son of God. But did they really understand who he was? They were in the midst of a furious storm and their boat was sinking. Jesus however, was sleeping. Sleeping! The men didn’t know what else to do, but they knew they had to go wake Jesus up. They knew he could help because they questioned him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” (Mark 4:38) However, when Jesus calmed the raging seas, they were amazed. Some translations say they were terrified and they asked, “what kind of man is this?” Interesting.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

We can teach our children to turn to Jesus when they are afraid, even if they don’t yet fully understand who He is.

Instead of dismissing my child’s fear, giving him a quick kiss and tucking him back in for the night… what if I point him to Jesus in those moments? Yes, even at 2am. Even though this is the third time I’ve been up that night. Even when I’m exhausted. It only takes a minute to say, “Let’s pray and ask God to help you not be afraid so you can go back to sleep.” I literally sit and pray aloud over my child and ask the Lord to help calm his fears, ease his mind and allow him to sleep. “Peace. Be Still.” My five year old does not fully understand who Jesus is. He can not fully grasp the omnipotence of his Creator. But he is learning that when he’s afraid, he can call out to his Abba Father for help. We, just like the disciples, may not always “get it.” However, we need the reminder for ourselves sometimes and we can teach our children to “go get Jesus” because he can help us. We can turn to Jesus in our storms because as Jen Wilkin said, “He is a God who can bring order from chaos.” There is power in praying over your children but I’m trying to teach my children that they can pray to God themselves. Mommy and Daddy don’t always have to pray for them. They can call on Jesus when they are afraid because he loves them and He will help them. When we do something often enough, it will eventually become a habit. It should be our automatic response to turn to Jesus when we are afraid or are facing a storm in our life and we feel like our boat is flooding. We can teach our children to respond the same way.

I like how Matthew Henry said it; “Their confidence lay in this, that they had their Master with them; and the ship that has Christ in it, though it may be tossed, cannot sink.”