Dreams

I had the weirdest dream last night; it consisted of several parts, very busy, but I couldn’t remember most of it. The part I did remember was that I was standing on the beach in this flowing dress, holding a blue veil blowing in the wind. It was very long and kept bouncing off the sand, but as I held it, blowing in the wind behind me, I brought it over my head and it waved behind me, again touching the sand.

I told it to William and he immediately had an interpretation for it: “you standing on the beach represents you in the world putting your face toward God. The veil is the Spirit of God who protects and gives vision and sanctifies you. As you draw close to God, the veil is brought over you – the Holy Spirit. The wind is the cleansing of the Spirit, to perform the deeds of God. As you allow the Spirit to remove all of your past, you become empowered and used more and more by God. The veil blowing in length, is the past being put farther and farther behind you. When it touches the sand, it is the Spirit of God flowing out of you touching the people God will use you for reaching. The sand represents the souls of men and women who will be changed by that. Keep yourself in His presence!”

Which reminded me of another dream I had a few weeks ago; I can’t remember exactly when, but I don’t think it was past the middle of March. It was very vivid; I was lying in a bed, covered in blankets. I looked down on myself and saw a baby rattler slithering up toward me. In the next scene, I was standing outside and I saw this same baby rattler trying to get on me; it came up on me and ended up on my back right shoulder about ready to bite me on my upper arm. At that same time while it was crawling up on me, I noticed William aways off and I was trying to get to him before it crawled up on me to get it off. I got to him just as it got to my shoulder about to bite. I had him swat it off. I kept hearing the words: “be vigilant, be vigilant” over and over throughout the dream. Then I woke up, not really afraid, no fear really, just irritated more than anything. That morning, I told William the dream and he immediately had an interpretation. “A baby rattler is more poisonous than a full grown one. It represents the enemy, trying to get to us, on us, and stop us. It is persistent, but we are to be on guard, be vigilant, so he doesn’t inflict his poison into us and stop us from doing what God wants us to do.”

Pear and Cherry blossoms in the orchard!

I continue to read I and II Samuel. I find that David’s heart is so pure, how can we even attain to such? In looking at the life of Christ, I see His whole life as so pure, how can we even attain to such? The answer, of course, is that we can’t on our own. Jesus has and always will be the answer. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, can we be made into the new creation that God promised.

So, in reading through the beautiful poetry of “the Song of the Bow” as it is called (II Sam. 1:18-27), shows us the true heart of David – that he had no animosity toward Saul for all the years (14 years running from Saul/22 years to wait according to the commentators – first anointed at age 16 and he was 38 when he became king) of suffering at his hands. What also struck me in that through his writings (the psalms), David worked through his anger, dismay, hurt, fear, etc. by writing. He got it out in the open, dealt with it, then was done. That is how it’s been in my life – I have always kept journals, and through all the years of abuse I suffered, I used the pen to purge out all the anger, dismay, hurt, fear, etc. in my own life, so as to not let bitterness take root and destroy me. I used that tool of writing to work through all the negative in my world, re-focus on God and all the positives in my life, thus then, to grow in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, to overcome and to emerge in power, joy, and in victory.

My character changed and grew through the years of misery. Sure, I called the years of the 90’s “my anger decade” where my endurance was tested through the injustice and misery I experienced of my situation, but I didn’t remain a victim, I emerged with a better character, which is why I love that verse in II Peter 1:3-11 (ESV):

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In seeing how David waited patiently over those 7 ½ years of ruling only Judah (rather than the promised entire kingdom), I see how in all circumstances, I have to wait on God’s timing and not try to take it in my own power, and thus, get out of God’s will. God has a timing for all He does. William and I have been in waiting now for 4 years, waiting until God said to “Go” and take the Rogue Valley in Jesus’ name. William’s time (2003-13) and mine (2008-13) there was a time of preparation, learning, and laying the groundwork, thus, not wasted. God has confirmed His call on us to get back to preaching by not only sustaining us all these years, then providing ALL that we need (though on paper, we’ve lived in extreme poverty), we’ve been more richly blessed in all aspects (rich doesn’t always mean money!!), we have all that we need and count it all joy to live the way we do. But God is showing us that money is increasing through my work online – for the first time in years, I am booked with classes through August and pay through September! That hasn’t happened since 2010.

In regard to worship, the work we do for God, our worship of Him must be according to His plan. Ignorance isn’t acceptable (Matt. 22:29, regarding ignorance of the OT or God’s power) in 1 Samuel 6, we learn that David was ignorant of how to handle the Ark of the Covenant which represented God’s Divine Presence to the people at that time. Today, are we any different when we come to God’s table? When we take communion, we must come with a pure heart – one empty of self – we cannot take this lightly or with carelessness. We come to communion after doing a search of our hearts, to come to God asking for forgiveness of all unclean things in our life, then we can partake (I Cor. 11:18-32). Then we can enter into this time of joyful worship to God in true thankfulness. Overall, what I learn from David is that we are continually engaged in spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-18) and in order to overcome, we must have our spiritual armor on (Rom. 8:35-39).