More dreams…

I love dreams, and this is a season that God is giving me lots of them!  They come and go, but for now it’s “come.”  A few weeks ago, I spent a few nights at our family’s cabin.  I dreamed that a group of “water people” came out of the lake and invaded our cabin.  They took me by force into their water kingdom.  I was amazed that I could breath water, and wondered how there was a whole world down there I had never known.  We came to a road lined with villagers.  I gathered from scattered conversations that the King was coming past.  As he approached I, along with the others, was scared of the King.  I was afraid he would notice me and find fault with me.  But when he passed, I followed until the crowd was far behind.  He walked into an arcade, his arcade, and absently wandered from one game to the next.  I realized the King was lonely.  All of his subjects were afraid of him.  Although I had come as a captive into his kingdom, I began to talk to him.  Time moved quickly and we became friends fast.  He desired to be with me. Then my mom came.  She came to bring me back to the world above water, to my family, friends, and the whole life I had left behind.  Instinctively, I followed her.  When I looked back, I saw the King, my friend.  He was alone and sad once again.  I hesitated, not sure who to follow.  With all my heart I wanted to stay with the King, but I was afraid.  Afraid that he would leave me and find a better friend.  Afraid that he would get tired of being with me.

Healing Dreams

I am fascinated by dreams.  I love it when God speaks through them!  Earlier in the week, I had two dreams in one night.  I hardly remember the first one, but I know that I was laughing hysterically and completely full of joy.  The second one was about a very serious issue happening with one of my family’s close friends.  I was crying and felt the deepest grief over this issue.  It was grief like I’ve rarely experienced.  My dad came over and held me, and I felt completely comforted.  When I woke up, the emotions were completely gone.

I wonder if the Lord uses the hours we sleep to heal us inside.  It was like He was healing me in the second dream.  I completely mourned, and then I was comforted.  There are issues deep in my heart that I’m not aware of, and I have been praying that He will uncover them and heal me where I’m wounded.  I love it when He uses my sleep to do that!

Frostbite

I recently had a dream where I was sleeping next to something cold. In the dream, I woke up from a deep sleep without feeling in my feet and discovered they had frostbite. I was scared and wanted to go to the hospital, but my parents said I was fine. They found some ointment that was for frostbite and told me to wash in soap and water then use the ointment. I was persuaded that the stuff would work and began to scrape off the gray, dead skin.

In church the next morning, I started considering the dream. I think it represented the opposite of “sleeping with a heart awake” (Song of Songs 5:2). Not only was I asleep, but my heart had grown cold. There are deadly results to a cold heart. When a heart grows cold, rotting flesh begins to cover the body. As I thought about the ointment, my pastor said the phrase, “You can’t just put a band-aid on it.” I have no idea what the context to that was, but in my mind it fit right in with what I was thinking. The issue of sin clinging to my life cannot be handled with a band-aid and a little cream. I need to go to the Great Doctor, only God can awaken my heart and cause the dead flesh to be removed. I need Holy Spirit’s constant power to overcome compromise in my life.

Many church leaders would give the same advice as my parents in the dream. “Just wash it off and cover it up.” The washing is a part of it. We must constantly be washed with the Water of God’s Word by spending time reading and studying it. But the disease will only be removed by coming before the Doctor for healing. As we spend time in God’s presence through prayer and worship, He will give us victory over the rotting sin in our lives.

I keep seeing these areas of compromise in my life. I want them to all be removed, not so that I can brag about anything, but so that I can love Jesus more fully. I know that He loves me the same in my immaturity as He would if I was perfect. But my desire is that there would be nothing that gets in the way of me loving Him. I want to be whole hearted in love for my Bridegroom. This is the reason I fight against sin, so that I can love Him completely.