Do you ever have a dream that goes on and on, with your heart beating so fast it almost seems like it is going to pop out of your chest? When you wake up, you feel like you have never slept for one moment and you feel completely disoriented. It doesn't happen to me often. As I was growing up I always thought that dreams had absolutely no meaning.
I think back to an Old Testament character Joseph. He was always having dreams and he always shared them with his brothers. Unfortunately, some of them came to pass and some of them he shouldn't have shared with them because his interpretations led to them sticking him in a big whole only to report to their father that he was dead because he was the favored son.
As I grow older and I think back on my dreams, some of them that reoccurred throughout my childhood were born out of actual events that had taken place in my life that I never spoke of. For instance, when I was six I used to walk quite a few blocks to school by myself. Kidnapping and Amber alerts were almost none existent. One day after school, a white van drove up and two men tried to get me to ride with them. I ran as fast as I could between houses all the way home. I never told my parents what happened that day. For years, even into my college days I would dream that men were chasing after me trying to kill me.
This past week was a crazy week, each day filled with new drama. Usually I take life in stride but I think the cares of life and the busyness that our lives bring culminated in one long drama that took place in my nightmare last night. While I have prayed each day for God's provisions and His hand in working each situation out, at times I grow weary and anxious. It took several hours for me to shake my nightmare when I woke up. My whole family was a part of my nightmare and everyone was in isolation. I felt extremely helpless in trying to help anyone and there was nothing I could do to solve all the problems even though I was running as fast I could do to bring everyone back together again.
In fact, it was only in the fact that I spent several hours playing praise music to My King of Kings at church that brought me from a very disoriented place into a place of peace. While I don't think that every dream deserves merit or a second thought, I believe that turning to Jesus can bring us to a place of peace and rest. One of the biggest reasons that we are careful about the movies that we watch and allow our kids to watch is also found in Phillipians 4:8; Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, think on these things. What we put into our minds, we play over and over like the movie itself. There is enough real drama that will happen to each one of us that we will think about in our sleep or that keeps us awake at night. But whatever is our struggle, it says to present it to God. When we do this, we will find rest. Sweet dreams!
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