IN GOD'S HANDS

I always complain that my 12-year-old is afraid of everything but just yesterday,  I got to thinking, poor kid, who can blame her!  This generation has such horrible things to actually worry about. I mean, really? My daughter came up to me yesterday and hugged me with tears streaming down her face and said, "Mommy, I am really scared."  When I asked her about what, she said, "Ebola."  She took out her cell phone and showed me a picture on Instagram that someone had posted.  I couldn't even say, it's a rumor, because it was a screen shot and a summary of an actual news report.
Sure, I can keep her away from social media and technology, but that does not take away reality. 

Now, I know she can be a bit of a "hypochondriac" but really, how do you comfort a child who knows what's going on in the real world?  How do you comfort your child and tell them that this virus will not spread?  I know there have been epidemics throughout all generations, but it is this generation that I have to protect and comfort - my own children - and so therefore, it hits home!

Oh, and it's not only this "virus thing" that's making her paranoid, this past Monday at her school there was a widespread rumor about a bomb threat that would occur at 12:30p.m!  There wasn't an actual threat, but just the stress and worry of thinking of the possibilities, made her physically ill.  I can't begin to sympathize with her or children who worry like this because I fortunately, never had to live those kind of fears.  I was not a "child of war."

You and I both know that if God forbid there was actually going to be a bomb, "they" would not talk about it or give a specific time when it would happen, but for a 12-year-old mind this is a lot to grasp. Thanks to the horrors of 911, our children must live in a whole new world of fear.

Terrorists, biological warfare, the threat of viruses! What kind of world are we living in, that this is what the teens and "tweens"  of this generation have to worry about? God only knows what my seven-year-old will have to live and worry about when he is a teenager!

I know every generation has had their problems but honestly, it is so difficult as a parent to try to comfort your child when you are just as worried.

I do what is right, I do what is safe, and I do my best to protect my children and then I must leave it in God hands. Only He knows where this world is headed!