mom, faith and a dream

Momma S called my cell phone at 8:15 a.m. Sunday morning. This is not normal. I have a dreadful, awful, pain staking fear that one day I'm going to get a call from her and the news will be that there is something wrong with my dad. So, because of this I answered the phone "What's wrong?!" Nothing. 

She'd had a dream. About me.

Clearly I've been going through a few things. Losing my job in October, fighting my arse off to get my license and family stuff, just to name a couple. All along, I keep in contact with my parents, telling them all the gory details.

As you've been reading things have been more intense the last few weeks and even though T-boy isn't in our home any longer, its after effects are quite lasting and hopefully life changing. With all that said, I think God knew I needed a little encouragement that He's in full control working His mighty hand behind the scenes... this is the dream my mom had.

A DREAM OF CHOICES

Last night I had the most vivid dream of my entire life. I can recall every detail, even the colors in the dream.

Anna and I were taking a trip by car. Anna was driving the whole time, but we decided to take a shortcut to the main road: choice number one. We drove out of town for several miles until we came to a fork in the road. The branch to the left was a paved road with a sign to Dowling Park, but I said I knew that wasn’t the way to the shortcut because I had been that way before. We continued to drive straight ahead: choice number two. Now the road was a red clay road instead of the paved road we had been on. We drove for quite a while until we came to a small “snack shack” on the left side of the road, that was a blue cement block structure with a white roof and trim around the windows. We stopped to get something to drink and noticed that the two girls who worked there were getting ready to close the shop. We asked if they were closing up early and one replied, “The last time this happened the water came right into the store.” That is when we noticed that the shop was right on the ocean and the water was only a couple of feet from the door. The other girl said, “You better leave before you get stuck here,” so we started to drive out of the parking area. We saw that the road to the left was already under water and there were several cars stalled there that had tried to drive through the water, so we turned to the right, which was back the way we had just come: choice number three. We drove up a slight hill and when we got to the top there was nowhere to go because the ocean covered everything in front of us. We looked back behind us and now everything was underwater there too. We were on a small patch of dry ground on top of a hill with nowhere to go! The ocean was a deep blue and completely surrounded us. By this time there were seven people in the car, 2 nines, 2 eights, and 3 threes. (?) I had a feeling that the numbers somehow related to our spirituality. (I was one of the eights.) 

Just then I looked off to the right, into the ocean, and there was a huge wave like a tsunami coming toward us. However, a big wave from the left washed over the car and rocked it back and forth. It got very cold inside the car from the cold ocean water, even though the windows were closed and none of the water came inside. We thought we were going to be pushed off the hill into the ocean and drowned. Everyone suddenly started to pray. It started out quite flowery, but it turned into everyone just shouting, “God help us!” When I opened my eyes, the water was as still as glass with not one ripple in sight, but I saw ominous black clouds over the ocean. Then there were eight tornadoes formed in the clouds headed straight for us! Again we started praying. Some were saying, “God help us” and some were praying, “God save us.” When I opened my eyes the clouds and tornadoes had all turned white, the tornadoes were going off in all directions and dissipating, and the one tornado that was headed toward us became a wispy cloud and disappeared. The man from our car was standing outside on the patch of ground, looking out over the ocean. I’m not sure who he was, but I had the impression that it was Anna’s Dan or Jim Currie. 

We began to sing a song of praise “God is so amazing”, “God can make the sea still”, and “We can feel God’s love now”. We all started to pray that He would make a way for us to get out of the ocean, and He parted the water like the Red Sea, with a wall of water on each side of the car. The sand on the “beach” wasn’t dry though and I remember thinking that if it was dry we could get stuck, but while it was still wet we could drive on it. God thinks of everything!

Anna drove between the walls of water and I told the children in the car not to touch the water because that could break the surface tension and the water would come crashing down on us, so of course one of the kids put his hand out the window and stuck it in the wall of water: choice number four. We drove along with him trailing his hand through the water and I thought, “God loves us so much that He can do anything”. We traveled for a long time and then saw a small island ahead of us. When we got to the island there were a few more people there who had survived the storm. There was a lighthouse on the island, so we all decided to turn the light on so someone would know we were there and come to rescue us: choice number five. After turning on the light, we all thought “Why are we waiting for men to rescue us when God has done everything for us up until now?” So we all prayed that He would open the bridge that went from the island to the mainland: choice number six. He again formed two walls of water, this time on either side of the bridge. We had a caravan of cars driving across this perfectly dry bridge with a wall of water on each side. The caravan drove until we reached the mainland, but that was flooded as well, so we kept going between the walls until they began to get smaller and smaller as the water became shallower. Finally, we drove onto a dry highway that passed through a beautiful meadow full of yellow flowers, under a bright, blue, cloudless sky.

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This dreams has a lot of meanings for me... First and foremost, I personally dream a lot and very vividly and I believe God speaks into my life through dreams all the time. Secondly, for momma S specifically to have had this dream about me means a lot to me; it says to me that she's deeply invested in my life. Lastly, I love numbers. Always have. At first I didn't see the relevance in the numbers and then I looked up what they meant. Here's what I found: 

  

3:

Three stands for that which is solid, real, substantial, complete, and entire.

All things that are specially complete are stamped with this number three.

God's attributes are three: omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.

There are three great divisions completing time--past, present, and future.

Three persons, in grammar, express and include all the relationships of mankind.

Thought, word, and deed, complete the sum of human capability.

Three degrees of comparison complete our knowledge of qualities.

8: 

As seven was so called because the seventh day was the day of completion and rest, so eight, as the eighth day, was over and above this perfect completion, and was indeed the first of a new series, as well as being the eighth. It is 7 plus 1. Hence it is the number specially associated with Resurrection and Regeneration, and the beginning of a new era or order.

9:
It is the last of the digits, and thus marks the end; and is significant of the conclusion of a matter. 

This whole post may make no sense to you... {and if you got to the end, you deserve a prize!} but this dream told me that God sees me. He hears me. He knows me. He has not left me. He is working behind the scenes and that, my friends, is enough for me to keep on living in faith that He will work all things together for good.