Scared of Ghosts

This time of year many people celebrate scary things such as ghosts, monsters, witches, and vampires. But Jesus promises to give us His peace in place of fear! We hope you’ll remember that as you read this story of an 11-year-old Diné (Navajo) girl named Sarah.

Sarah was scared of ghosts. But she didn’t tell Teacher Nancy that she was scared when she began to study at the Seventh-day Adventist church in Page, Arizona. She didn’t talk about her fears to anyone except Tatum. Tatum was her 9-year-old sister, and she understood. She was also scared of ghosts.

Then one day Sarah confided to her teacher that strange things were happening in her bedroom at night. She didn’t say much about what was happening, but Nancy could see that she was very scared.

“When those kinds of scary things happen at your house, you need to pray to Jesus,” Nancy said. “Jesus will save you from those things.”

Then she invited Sarah to go to the library for a talk. The library was in a small room on the second floor of the church.

The girl settled down on the floor, and Nancy sat in a chair near shelves of books.

“Ghosts are nothing more than evil spirits who want to frighten people,” Nancy said. “But Jesus is stronger than evil spirits and will protect you.”

Sarah listened carefully.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” Nancy said. “You can pray to Jesus, and you don’t have to be afraid of ghosts coming into your room.”

Then she taught Sarah how to pray to Jesus for help. “Ask Jesus for what you need,” she said. “You can just say, ‘Help me, Jesus.’ Then the evil spirit will go out of your house.”

Sarah didn’t say anything.

But when she got home, she told her little sister Tatum about what her teacher had said.

“She told me that we don’t need to be afraid,” Sarah said. “If we see something, we just need to pray to Jesus.”

Tatum slept in another bedroom in the house, and strange things also happened in her bedroom at night.

Sarah taught Tatum how to pray.

A few nights later something strange happened again in Sarah’s bedroom. Sarah was scared, and she pulled the blanket over her head and began to cry. Tatum heard her crying and came to her room. She crawled under the blanket with Sarah.

At that moment Sarah remembered what her teacher had said about praying to Jesus. She decided to pray.

“Jesus, help me,” Sarah said.

Immediately she felt a whole lot better. Peace returned to the bedroom, and she was able to fall asleep.

Tatum stayed cuddled up beside her for the rest of the night. It was nice having her sister nearby. But it was even more wonderful knowing that Jesus was there.

From that night, Sarah knew that she no longer needed to be scared of ghosts. She could pray, and Jesus would protect her. He had protected her that night, and He would do it again. All she had to do was ask.

This story was prepared by Adventist Mission in order to feature the North American Division in the third quarter 2024 Children’s Mission Quarterly. It has been used with permission.