A significant Dream...

I had an amazing day at an amazing place, but I will need to save that for a later post, as I feel the need to write about a dream I had. You know how sometimes when you are in a car for hours on your own, you have a lot to think about? Well, this occured to me today, as I spent many hours in the car (going to the amazing place), and I felt I needed to share this.
Do you believe God is real? Does He speak to us in dreams? Well, if you are not sure, I challenge you to decide after reading this. Way back in the 80's, when I was 15 yrs. old I had this dream that I am about to describe. This dream was so vivid in my mind at the time, and I have always remembered every detail, and I have not added anything to it. I will tell it exactly as it occured. I have only shared this with a few close friends over the years, I don't always remember to tell people about it, but it is something I don't mind sharing. Keep in mind that I was not a saved christian at this time, I did not grow up in a christian home, but I did have a godly grandmother who prayed for me, and we were very close.

The dream began with me on a school bus with a bunch of classmates. We were heading to a field trip at the ocean beach. We were all laughing and enjoying ourselves as we began to file off of the bus onto the sand. Once we were all off of the bus, we began running around, playing in the sand and water. Suddenly, all the kids began running down the beach, so I started running with them. They all seemed to be running faster than me and I couldn't catch up. I started yelling things like, "Hey, wait up", "Wait for me", "Slow down, I'm coming", but they were too busy laughing and running to hear. They got further and further away. I couldn't catch up. Pretty soon, I couldn't even see them anymore. They were gone, out of sight. I wondered what to do. I decided I needed to go back to the bus and find the bus driver and get a hold of my parents so they could come and pick me up. I ran back to the bus to find that there was noone there. I looked around, and I was alone. I saw in the opposite direction what looked like a little town, and I decided to walk to the town and find a phone to call my parents. As I approached the town, I noticed that there was noone around, it resembled a ghost town. But, surely there has to be someone here with a phone so I could call my parents, I thought. I started looking in the windows of the little shops. Most of the doors were open, so I walked into the first shop and saw a phone on the wall. Yeah! I can call my parents now. I picked it up, and it was dead. So, I decided to try some of the other shops, there had to be one somewhere that was working. As I went into the next shop, I heard something, and was startled. It was a frightening sound. I realized that it sounded like witches laughter. I quickly picked up the phone here, and it was dead too. I ran out of the shop, and looked around. Off in the distance, to my horror, there was a witch with a little goblin friend by her side, and they were after me! I quickly ran from shop to shop as fast as I could picking up each phone, and finding them all dead, all the while trying to get away from the scary witch that was coming to get me!

I began running away from the ghost town as fast as I could. The witch was right behind. I began running for what seemed like hours. It had gotten dark, and I found that I was running down a two lane road in the middle of nothing but tall trees. It felt like I was now in the middle of a forest, and I was very scared, with the witch and goblin after me, and now the threat of bears and cougars that at any time could jump out of the forest and eat me. There was nothing I could do but continue running, in the pitch dark forested area, with a witch and goblin behind. I finally noticed that I was making some headway. The witches laughter became more and more faint. Finally it stopped. I was relieved that that threat was now gone, but I continued to run, as I needed to get out of this forest now! I ran all night. Finally, up ahead I began to see some light. Through the trees, I could see that it was dawn, and the morning sun was peeking through. I could also see that the forest was ending. As I took my last few steps out of the dark forest, what I saw before my eyes was one of the most magnificently beautiful sights I have ever seen. I can't really describe it in words, but it was mostly lush, green, grassy hills, and meadows. I stopped, to look around and take in the splendor of what I was seeing. I felt some peace. Off in the distance, I noticed something. It appeared to be a small white church way up on one of the green hills. I thought, "Finally, they must have a phone, I can call my parents!". So, I began to run toward this church, and it became more and more clear, and more beautiful the closer I got. As I approached, and came within about 30 feet of the front door of the church, I noticed a woman came walking out. She had her arms extended toward me, and in her hands, she held a telephone. I stood there in awe, as she said, "We knew you were coming". I reached out to take the phone, and I woke up!

When I woke up from this dream, it took me by surprise. I remember thinking about every single aspect of this story, this dream, and knowing exactly what it meant! At the young age of 15 years old, and not even a christian, I knew this dream was from God. I knew who God was as a young child, but I had never really given my heart over to Jesus. I did have knowledge of God, and who He was, but that was about it. What I got from this dream was very simple, but lifechanging messages. I learned that friends, even family, can not always be there for you, and you can't always count on them. It is God who I should put my entire trust in. I learned that we do have an adversary (satan), who was signified in my dream as a witch, and his evil forces, the goblin, will be after me. This is true, as bible believing christians we know that there is an enemy that wants to trip us up all the time, and gain a hold of us through many ways, and we always need to be on the alert for this. But, the most significant part of this dream for me was when the woman walked out of the church and handed me the phone. I knew that this meant that God knew me, and knew exactly what I needed without me even telling Him. He is always there waiting for us to turn to Him, so He can meet our needs. This dream changed me from that point on. My faith was greatly increased, and I have grown in the Lord since then. I know now that the Bible does say that God can choose to speak to us through dreams, and I know that this dream was a very special gift, as it has stuck with me for years. Most dreams I have don't make much sense, if I remember them at all, so something this vivid and meaningful was not your normal dream, and I knew that. It wasn't until 20 years later, that I had another dream that I knew was from God. I will share that one next!!!