"O LORD, You have examined my heart and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away. . . Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous--and how well I know it!""
Psalm 139:1-2, and 14
God connected two big dots in my spiritual life this morning: my eerily prophetic dreams and the book "When God Winks at You."
Before you think I'm getting all weird on you, let me explain about the dreams. A friend asked me several years ago "Do you think God speaks prophetically to us through dreams?" This uncharted, unpredictable type of spiritual discussion makes me nervous, so I gave her a knee-jerk, fear-based reaction, babbling something to the effect of "dreams just tell us what's bothering us below the surface." God heard me and asked, "Really?"
That night began several years of dreaming things that would come true the next day. The first time it happened during a visit with Tom's parents in Florida. I had forgotten my raggedy sandals and dreamed I was shoe shopping with Tom's mom. After she followed me through the shoe department, I turned to say, "Let's go," when we both saw a pair of green shoes between us. She laughed and asked me, "Do you want me to buy those for you? I will if you'll wear them!"
If I had remembered the dream the next morning it would've fit my explanation of a dream: I forgot my sandals, needed some new ones, and Tom's mom and I often shop together. Nothing weird about that, except for the "green" part. However, I forgot the dream until later that day when she and I went to buy a few groceries. Next to the supermarket was a department store and I asked, "Do you mind if I check in here for a pair of sandals since I forgot mine?" She said, "I'll go with you." We wandered through the shoe department, but I didn't see anything I liked and turned to tell her, "Let's go" when we spotted between us a pair of green sandals and, you guessed it, she laughed and said, "Do you want me to buy those for you? I will if you'll wear them!" The dream flooded back and haunted me the rest of the day. In a daze I kept asking, "Why?" and "What does it mean?" And so began a stream of dreams similarly filled with odd situations, useless information, and specific details I couldn't have predicted (green shoes??). This "gift" scared me until I realized, it wasn't a gift but God's gentle reprimand not to tell people what He does and doesn't do: "Don't tell people I don't speak through dreams because I can and do if I choose to teach personal lessons that way."
Now for the second dot: Each night before we go to bed we read a "Godwink testimony" from the book "When God Winks at You." My first stop this morning was the bathroom where there was no tissue on any of the three holders. That's when last night's dream hit me: Nick called from the bathroom to ask me, "Do we have any more toilet paper?" and I said "yes" and hunted some down. God smiled and winked at me: "I know where you are and I know the most intimate details of your life, the deepest secret thoughts in your head, the deepest fears of your heart, your comings and goings, and when you need to replace the bathroom tissue." A warm feeling bubbled up in my soul and burst into laughter because God is with me, He cares, and He speaks through whatever He chooses, from dreams and green shoes to toilet paper.
God Almighty, Omnipotent Father, thank You for Your constant Presence and interaction with us. Open our eyes to see You working and our ears to hear You speaking.
Keep us from making any assumptions about how You work or communicate. Free us to hear You, to respond in love and to obey every leading. May we allow Your Presence to be our comfort as we learn to be comfortable in Your constant Presence.
In the Name of Jesus Who lives as one with You and calls us to do the same
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