Where you're always safe

Lots of kids are reading horror stories. Maybe you know the kind. Something weird, maybe even evil, is happening. The kids in the story are scared. The way the author tells the story, you might get scared reading it.

It's fun to be a little scared, especially when you remember the story isn't real. But sometimes you can be truly afraid, wondering, "Are there witches?" "Is there a devil?" "Am I going to get hurt?"

We all get scared sometimes. I know I've been alone at night and heard a noise and felt really afraid. Then I think about God, and I'm not afraid anymore. Because then I know I'm with God and so I'm safe.

Have you ever read the 91st Psalm in the Bible? Reading it and thinking about it always helps me feel safe. In the psalm it says that God is our "refuge" and "fortress" (those are really safe kinds of places). That we're covered by God's "feathers" and are under His "wings." That's like the way a bird cares for its young. God doesn't exactly have feathers or wings, because He is not like that. But the psalm paints a kind of picture that shows what it can be like to be with God. Later it says that no evil can come to us because God's "angels" (messages) are in charge of us. You can totally trust God to take care of things.

If you don't know that 91st Psalm, you can find a Bible and read it. It will make you feel a little like being covered with a big warm blanket. You will feel really protected and cared for.

Something else I think about when I'm afraid is a sentence in a book about the Bible: "God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power" (Mary Baker Eddy, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," pg. 473). Think about God being everywhere. Then there's no place for anything else. God is good and loves all of us. So love and goodness are everywhere. There's not even a tiny crack that's not filled by God's love. Think about that! If God is everywhere, then you could never truly be alone. Then you could never be separated from God. Where you are, God would be. Always.

The second part of that sentence - "nothing apart from Him is present or has power" - is important. It reminds me that there isn't any way for a witch or devil or anything evil to do anything, or even be real. There's just God, everywhere, and nothing else.

One of the things God's messages (angels) do is tell us what is true. When good thoughts come to us, it's like a light. You know what happens when you turn on a light - the darkness and the scariness (maybe with all those funny shapes people sometimes see) just disappear. That is what the angels do in our thoughts. They wipe out all the fear. They show that God is right in the very place where you thought something was scary. And so you're safe.

No matter where you are or what's going on, nothing can stop you from thinking about God. So you can ask God to help you see Him. Ask Him to show you how and why you're safe. Then you'll feel so close to God that you won't be afraid.