"The Truth Will Set You Free"

It was 2 am. I was sound asleep, having wonderful dreams of shopping peacefully, by myself, at a fabric store. It was quiet and warm and all the fabrics made me want to fly. It even smelled like peace. I'm not sure what peace smells like exactly, but it was such a beautiful, calm dream. I could have stayed in that fabric store of my mind forever...

Suddenly bright lights invade my peace.

My husband throws the covers.

In one leap he is out of the room.

Someone screams.

My heart is pounding in my ears.

My pulse is elevated.

My breathing rapid.

The with all adrenaline flowing through my body, I fly out of bed, totally disoriented.

As I try to figure out what is going on, Hubby walks back in the room with Bug, our 3 (and a half) year old boy.

He is visibly shaking.

"Dat stowm scawe me!" He said through his tears. Slowly, the pieces start to fit together. The weather report said there was a chance of thunderstorms- Bug must have been woken up by the thunder.

As he crawled into the comfort and safety of our bed he told us that it was loud "out der" and wanted God stop the clouds. After a few minutes of discussing the fact that clouds are loud, but God doesn't want Bug to be scared, we prayed and then he started being goofey and "acting out" what the clouds were doing... (Did I mention this was 2 am?!)

A while back we explained that the loud scary thunder was God bowling up in Heaven. Bug didn't like that idea and was still scared. So we the next storm we had to change the story to God having a pool party. Still not good enough... We gave all sorts of Disney-type stories about thunder and lightening.

The fear was still there.

I was at my wit's end. How were we supposed to explain that thunder happens when clouds slam together?

That's when John 8:32 slapped me in the face "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

"The truth will set you free"

We were supposed to explain exactly that. Thunder happens when clouds slam together. I used my hands to show Bug what the clouds do. Pounding my fists together in a very animated explanation. He LOVED the answer!!

Really? That's it?!

Yup. The truth.

...After the initial scare of loud noises in the middle of the night, Bug is fine. He remembers the truth of what clouds do and the truth that God doesn't want him scared.

He was fine. It was then just after 2 and he could have gone back to his room, worry free... But Hubby and I were much to tired to tuck him back into bed, so he fell asleep between us, whispering to his imaginary cloud fists.