My daughter Megan has always had issues with bad dreams. She hates them; she's deathly afraid of them. Every night as we say our prayers, she prays that God would give her good dreams. Last night, we were praying, and she asked that He give her good dreams, not like the bad dreams He gave her last night.
I said, "Megan, God doesn't give you bad dreams." And Shea asked, "Who does then?"
What a good question! My first thought was satan, but I didn't really want to go there as I was tucking my kids in bed. I didn't want them thinking that the devil could get into their thoughts and give them bad dreams. And as I thought about it, I thought, satan does not have the power to control my thoughts or even hear my thougths. But he does seem to be part of the mix.
Megan said, "We give them to ourselves."
I think she is mostly right. Bad things do come from sin, our sinful nature, our sinful bodies ... I'm not sure how to put it. Because of sin, there are bad things in the world, and because of bad things in the world, we have fears and anxieties.
We ended our prayers with reminders and praises for God's constant protection and our ability to call on Him any time. But the discussion, although brief, got me to thinking and reminded me that my children are growing up and are going to have bigger and bigger questions. Why does God allow bad things to happen? Will something bad happen to me?
I think I will talk to Megan tonight about how God allows bad things to happen so that we turn to Him and rest in his strength. I'll guage how much we can get into the subject by what she says ...
Anyone with good books to recommend, please share. And I'd like to hear your comments and insights. And, if you would, say a little prayer that Megan has good dreams tonight. :-)
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