So apparently there are these things called night terrors that young children start having.

I had no clue what it really was until one day, Jayden woke up from his sleep all kinds of upset.

You Good, Bro?

We were taking our infamous cat naps, when all of a sudden, Jayden woke up crying. No, not just crying… wailing. Uncontrollably. He usually wakes up staring at me with his gummy smile, so this was way out of character for him.

I hurried to wake up and see what was wrong with him. He just kept screaming, and it continuously got louder.

For those of you who keep up with me, you know my son’s a momma’s boy, so he usually calms down at the sight of me. I hadn’t seen him so disturbed since the horror story that happened when we first took him home from the hospital. (We call him “Snickers baby” now because he’s just not himself when he’s hungry… or tired.  )

Anyways, so I’m holding him, and he doesn’t seem to be calming down.

All of the noise caused my husband Brandon to rush into the room to see what happened. After passing my son back and forth between ourselves to no avail, we noticed something.

The Diagnosis

Jayden wasn’t totally “there”. When he looked at you, you could tell he couldn’t see you. Sort of like a glazed look. That’s when we figured that he was just having a nightmare that he didn’t completely wake up from.

With the help of the all-knowing Dr. Googs (Google), Brandon looked up what was going on and came back saying that Jayden was having a night terror.

Huh? I saw that mess on Dr. Phil before, but weren’t you supposed to wake up swinging at people and slapping yourself in your sleep?

Well apparently, as Brandon explained, the common forms of night terrors are super dramatic nightmares. Basically, the kid wakes up in a terrified state screaming from intense fear.

If that mess didn’t sound as demonic as it comes, I didn’t know what did. So, I did the only thing I could think to do—pray.

Fix It, Jesus

Whoa. Simmer down now, Hope. You’re praying over a night terror?

Ya darn tootin’! Last time I checked, my Bible says that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). So, if this night terror is giving my baby “intense fear,” that’s not holy and I don’t want any parts in that juju.

As I held my still-screaming baby, I went inside the bedroom, and said, “The devil? In my own house… ha! He has some nerve.” And then I started praying, quoting scripture, and casting out all evil in the name of Jesus.

To be honest, I sounded just like my mom. LOL! And to think, I used to think she was always doing the most.

Well, “the most” is what got us through because by the end of my prayer, I could tell Jayden was awake and aware. He looked up at me like, “What’s going on and where’s the food, mommy?”

When I came out of the room, my husband asked if everything was okay.

“Yeah. It’s fine. I prayed over him, and it looks like he’s better now.”

He responded, “I read night terrors start around this age. Some people say it happens multiple times a week for their child, and sometimes it lasts through adulthood.”

“Not for Jayden it doesn’t. All the mess is over with and he’s fine,” I answered.

He hasn’t had a night terror since.

The Lesson

This isn’t to tell you that I’m basically St. Hope , and God listens to my every desire. I’m just an ordinary imperfect person who knew that there was a mightier Perfection who could intervene in my situation.

Oddly enough, my sister called me the very next week this happened saying that a coworker of hers said he had the same issues with night terrors… since he was 19! (He’s in his late 20s now. )

My sister told him that her nephew (my son) just had the same issue, but it stopped when I prayed over it. I don’t know if he took that advice to heart or not, but I hope he did because life has too many troubles of its own to carry around other problems that could be solved by serious prayer. (Serious prayer… not that “God is great, God is good” prayer template. )

Speaking of problems, I have a son who hates brushing his teeth. Holla at me if you have solutions. And yes, his first toothbrush adventures will probably be in an upcoming blog post.