By the Grace… The Darkness Lost Its Power

Fear doesn’t always look dramatic. Sometimes, it’s quiet and lingering—so familiar, you carry it into adulthood without realizing how tightly it’s gripped you. For Prater Paws, fear of the dark followed her from childhood well into married life.

She had always been terrified of the night. As a child, she slept with her grandmother. As an adult, she moved from one shared bed to another—first her grandmother’s, then her husband’s. After he left for work in the early hours, she’d start the day but refused to return to the bedroom until the sun came up. The darkness felt overwhelming. Unsafe. Unshakable.

But God had been stirring something in her heart.

One Sunday morning during service, a woman stood to sing a song called Fear Not, My Child. Something about the moment struck deep. Then the pastor delivered a message that met her right where she was:
Sometimes you have to put feet on your prayers.

And that Monday morning, she did just that.

After her husband left for work, she began to pray. Still afraid, she ran to her bed, jumped in, pulled the covers over her head, and started repeating one simple phrase over and over: “Fear not.” She said it again and again like it was the only thing keeping her grounded.

Then something powerful happened.

In that moment of prayer and vulnerability, her bed no longer felt like a bed. She said it felt like a Bible, one she was laying in the middle of. Then it closed around her—not in fear, but in peace. A calm settled over her, and she fell asleep.

From that day forward, the fear was gone.

She hasn’t been afraid of the dark since. In fact, she now loves the stillness of nighttime, no longer haunted by what once paralyzed her.

Because when God delivers peace—it stays.

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