Nightmares and Prayers

A few days ago, around Midnight, Sarah came into our room and said "Molly is screaming". I got up out of bed groggily and Mary was shortly behind me. Molly was indeed screaming/crying hysterically in her crib. After trying to talk to her and calm her down, she started yelling "I want out" or something to the effect that made it clear that she did not want to be in her crib anymore. So, I scooped her up and carried her out into our front room and sat in the Lazy-boy recliner and she sat on my lap while she calmed down. She seemed pretty worked up and upset about something. Mary and I talked to her for a little bit and she seemed to have a low-grade fever, or at least be very warm. She started to talk about a "Bad Cat" so we figured that she had some kind of a nightmare. Poor girl! She seemed to be trying to tell us more about the Bad Cat or her nightmare but it was hard to discern. She was calmed down by this point and seemed content to be cuddling with me. However, any mention of going back to bed was filled with instant resistance and an emphatic "Nooooo!" I tried to offer to sing to her but she just kept wanting to talk and cuddle. Things seemed stable and calmed down enough that Mary went back to bed at this point, having not felt well that day. After her jabbering and me trying to respond to or discern what she was saying, offers of singing a song being turned down and mentions of going back to bed being strongly opposed, we just sat there quietly and rocked for a little bit. I had the thought that we could say a prayer, since she has been doing that a lot more recently (prayers for meals, family prayers and sometimes her own bedtime prayer). I asked if she would like to do this and she agreed. We said a prayer, with her repeating 1-2 words at a time. This is what I remember us saying in the prayer:

"Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for Jesus, He loves me. Thank You for my family. Thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Sarah and Nathan and Jane and Me and Maxy (our dog). Thank you for my crib. Thank you for my blankets and my pillow and my animals. Thank you for my room to sleep in. Father, please help me to sleep good, to not be scared of the Bad Cat. Help me to feel safe and happy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Upon finishing the above prayer, Molly's response was "Again Daddy". We repeated the above prayer again. She said "Again Daddy". It was repeated. I asked if she felt better, she said "Yes, Again Daddy." So we said the prayer a fourth time. After this prayer I asked again if she was feeling better and she said yes. I asked if I could sing her a song and she said "yes". So I started singing all three verses of "I Am a Child of God". She knew some of the words in the chorus and sang some of those words along with me, albeit a little delayed :) We finished this and she said "Again Daddy". After we sang this song a second time I asked if we could go say good night to Mommy and she said "Yes". So we went to say goodnight to Mary and she wanted to say her prayer again, so we knelt next to Mommy who was in bed and said the prayer again. She then gave her Mom a hug and kiss, said goodnight and went to sleep. She didn't wake up at all again that night and went to sleep seemingly peacefully.

I was grateful for this experience. It was a special one for me with my little Molly who is so attached to her Daddy. She was so sweet and I loved being able to be her father during this experience and was grateful that I could help her turn toward our Father for comfort as well. She found comfort in a combined effort of my physical arms and heart and his less-tangible but no less real presence. I am grateful for the reminder of the power and influence of prayer, in particular but also hymns that can bring peace and comfort in times of distress. I am grateful for the reminder of the need to turn to this limitless and always-available resource in my life and for the lives of those around me every day.

Interestingly, as I was typing up this experience this morning, Nathan came out of his bedroom and volunteered that he had a nightmare last night and said a prayer to Heavenly Father to help him with the nightmare and went back to bed. He reported that he had a "good dream" after that and when he woke up this morning he said that he said aloud "Thank You, Heavenly Father" as he got up out of bed.

I'm grateful that I shared the experience that I had with Molly with my kids. I'm grateful that they (sometimes) listen and follow.