Meeting Plans

This afternoon we have been to a party. We arrived slightly late and the other guests had already been given white belts and were seated, watching two white-clad men who were leading the activities. My daughter burst into tears and told me that she didn’t feel well and wanted to go home…. She was scared because something unexpected had happened: she didn’t know what was going to happen next! (The party, in case you are wondering, was a karate party.)

To children of this age so many things are being experienced for the first time and they don’t know what to expect – school, dentist, opticians, and visits to friends – sometimes without mum! School meals, new clubs and societies… Some children take this in their stride but others panic and are afraid of the unknown. Then there are the age old fears – the dark, spiders, balloons – which still haven’t lost their power! In fact, these fears can grow stronger with children of this age because they are beginning to be introduced to the world of fantasy and they can’t always keep the real and the fantastic separate. It is a scary age, an age when cuddles become really important again, when reassurance is necessary… And then, of course, some of the children in your group will have even more fear coming into their lives because of parents breaking up, new boyfriends or girlfriends entering the family circle – these changes are never really understood by children and rock them to the core!

Isn’t it good to know that whenever we are afraid, and whatever we are afraid of, God is there with us? Sometimes he rescues us from that fear and takes the situation away – as he did when the disciples were so afraid in the storm. Sometimes we still have to go through the situation but he gives us the strength and confidence to go through it: he goes with us, as he did with Esther, Daniel, Jeremiah and a whole host of Biblical characters. After all, God wants us to grow: and to grow we have to face up to our fears and get victory over them! He promises to be with us and that should give us confidence to go into scary situations, even though our knees are still shaking!

There is so much to say about fear – that, for instance, fear can be good: it keeps us safe and stops us from doing stupid things like picking up rattlesnakes. That some fears are irrational but can be paralysing in their effect and that God wants to release us from those fears. But this session keeps it simple. We will look at some of the things that the children are scared of and recognise that when God is with us we can trust him, even though we might still have to do that scary thing! God gives us the strength to face up to our fears and the confidence to confront them. 

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