February 9, 2017

SUMites, Lynn here. I’m deeply moved with compassion for every child who is experiencing night terrors.

The LORD has been talking to me about this situation and He is greatly troubled that so many small children are terrorized in the nighttime hours. It is God’s intention to bring awareness to this issue and alleviate the fears that are troubling our children’s sleep. God wants to communicate with love and tenderness, adventure and more to our children in the nighttime hours but the demonic realm is in a very real battle for their little hearts and minds. With that said, I hope you will allow me to share some research, truths and some practices that as a believing parent you can employ to put a stop to the night terrors and release your children into the Kingdom of God without fear when they sleep.

Let’s chat about the brain. Adults operate in their waking life in Beta brain waves. This is our conscious thought processes that observe and conduct our life and situations. Beta is a fast-paced, analytical processing of our daily world and all that we experience. Adults transition out of Beta and into an Alpha state of mind just before the enter into sleep and as you become awake. That Alpha state of mind is defined by Phycology Today: Alpha waves (8 to 12 Hz) are present when your brain is in an idling default-state typically created when you're daydreaming or consciously practicing mindfulness or meditation.

Alpha brain waves lend to creativity, reduce depressive feelings, and are a meditative and reflective state of mind. As adults we are not really sure if we are asleep or awake when we are in Alpha when we are going to sleep or waking in the morning.

What is fascinating to me is that children, up until the age of seven, live in a constant state of Alpha. Their inner world is just as real as their outer world. They haven’t developed the analytical and fast brain wave state. So, everything that they are exposed to, goes right into their hearts, mind and memory. A child perceives everything as “real.” They aren’t equipped to differentiate what is fiction to the real life surrounding them. Wow. How many of you knew this? I didn’t.

Because of this fact, we must take great care about what our children are exposed to. What the see, hear, all things of the senses and the imagination.

For example, children are unable to determine if the ghost on the television is real or not real. Yikes!

Everything impacts our children and this is just one of the reasons so many kids are frightened at night and experience terror in their sleeping hours. So often as parents, we can dismiss their very real fears, “Johnny, that’s just TV. Grow up.” But little Johnny is absolutely terrified of that ghost. And now on top of his fears, mom or dad have just dismissed his fear and haven’t honored the little guy’s need for reassurance. Then on top of that mom and dad left him alone to navigate the reality of his fear. AND to add more to this equation, we send little Johnny off to bed without honoring him, without help and with the ghost in his mind and reality!

Ya, pretty much how I was raised.

However, every mama and daddy reading this, God is sending your help. First, let’s discuss what and how we need to help our children to process fear. Let’s choose right now to honor our children’s fear and not dismiss it. Let’s choose to bring help and love to their little hearts. Can you imagine what kind of functional and powerful adult they will become if we train them to process fear with the help of God?

Wow just Wow!

Let’s start with the first and logical parenting tip to curtail night terrors.

Take full control over what is allow into their little eyes, ears and life. Make a commitment today that you will ferociously guard their hearts and take an active roll in what is allowed to interface with your child. This means your inner mama bear must arise. I know that currently there are occult centered cartoons that seem harmless but are blaring on the television and YouTube, etc., before our unsuspecting children. They communicate ideas and enticement into the demonic realm of the occult. Television programs and movies should be monitored as well as video games. Can you think of a few more?

There other day my granddaughter was watching something on my son’s iPhone. It was some kind of video with a grown woman playing with dolls and mimicking a child’s voice. It seems harmless and is great fun for my five-year-old granddaughter. I asked my son about it. He said that he checks out what she watches but he continued, “Mom, there are some really bad things that go on that people do with dolls on YouTube and it’s deceptive because you think they are videos made for small kids but they are really, really bad.”

Sheesh!

You MUST be on alert because one wrong click, your child could be view pornography, violence, horror and more.

I realize that this many not be a popular message for many of you who are overwhelmed by the sheer work and exhaustion of raising a family. But, I implore you as a mother, it’s imperative for their future, their success in life and for their spirit that we honor our children and guard their hearts, eyes, ears, mind, etc.

I will explain what this looked like when my daughter, Caitie, was small. She saw things at night in her room. Do you know what most parents do? They turn on the lights and say, “See, nothing here. Go back to sleep.”

Not this mama. We had an entirely different conversation. I will share more with you next week. Today, I want you to come into agreement with me. We are going to pray this prayer together and stand for our children’s hearts and emotional health. I want you to pray this and then in the comments, share your child’s name and say AMEN. I want you to also share in the comments some of your experiences. Have you witnessed a direct correlation of fears at night to stuff that happened in the day? How did you handle it?

Pray:

Lord, today I declare my fierce protection for my child(ren). Today, I cross the line and will always honor their fears and work with all that I have to train them to seek God to process their fears and to live in faith not fear. I will not discount their fear. Nor will I ignore it. I promise today to learn what I need to know and practice it myself so that I can deal with my fears as well as theirs. I commit today to raise emotionally healthy and strong children who walk in faith in You. In Jesus name. AMEN