I remember a reoccurring dream I had as a child. The dream followed the same sequence of events every time I had it. I was always hovering above the scene watching myself as the event unfolded. It began with me viewing my neighborhood from above. As I looked on, I saw the tops of all the houses in my neighborhood—all the roof tops were red. It was dusk, blue and hazy, and just dark enough for the street lights to be lit yet light enough to see everything around me. Each time, at the beginning of my dream, I stood on a street corner under a lit up street light. As I observed myself from above I could see a dark mass moving through the streets enveloping everything in its path. When the mass came around the corner near where I stood, I ran onto the front porch of my house and rang the doorbell. I could see the doorbell distinctly from where I hovered. It was lit up from a bright yellow light that was inside of it. The closer the mass got to me, the more frightened I became, and the more fratically I rang the doorbell. Then I woke up. I don't remember how old I was when I stopped having this dream, but it came back two or three times years later after I had married and had children.

I had a dream about five years ago that had the same blue haze appearance. Again, it was dusk, just dark enough for the street lights to be lit yet light enough for me to see everything around me. I stepped outside of my house and stood in the front yard to the right and looked out at the street. Suddenly a beast with the face of a wolf and the body of a pig jumped on my back and pushed me face down to ground. It growled viciously as it shoved my face into the grass. I tried to lift my face so I could speak, but it kept forcing my head down. I finally managed to lift my head up, and I screamed "In Jesus' name!" I immediately raised up and threw the beast off of my back. It disappeared and I woke up.

About a year later, I had another dream. Again, it was dusk, blue, hazy, and the street lights were lit, but I could still see everything around me. I was enrolled in college at Liberty University but was being forced to transfer to Memphis State. The schools were back to back with an alley in between them. I had gone to my locker at Liberty to get my things and was walking down the alley to transfer my belongings to my new locker at Memphis State. While I was walking down the alley, a dark mass started chasing me. I dropped my books and ran down the alley and then came to a cliff with a gap between me and the other side. A broken down railroad track spanned the gap, so I jumped onto the track to run across. The track had missing railroad ties, so I had to jump over open spaces all the way across, and when I looked down, beneath me was nothing but a dark abyss. When I reached the other side, the spokesman for the Allstate commercial stepped out and said, "You're in good hands with Allstate." The dark mass disappeared, and then I woke up.

I believe God speaks to us through dreams; He has spoken to me through dreams. But I don't think these dreams were from Him, especially the one with the Allstate spokesman. Most likely these dreams were simply my mind's way of resolving issues I was unable to resolve while awake.

I noticed, today, all three dreams had a common theme. In all of them I was either running from or trying to get out from under something that was trying to overtake me. Though it was close to doing so, it never did. Each time, before I woke up, it either disappeared or I was able to escape.

I recently shared with you another dream I had this past fall. I dreamed my family and I were on a trip and stopped for a restroom break at a rest area. When I entered the restroom a man followed me inside, crowded up behind me, and forced me into a stall. But once inside the stall, I found a way to turn around and push him back with my foot. The man fell down then got up and ran away.

I do believe this last dream was from God. A few days after I had the dream, my family and I were on a trip, and while I was driving I felt the fear I had been battling most of my life lift. I haven't had any fear since.

Though I've been keenly aware of each phase of my journey, I noticed something today I hadn't noticed before. I realized I've been running for most of my life—not from God but from something I felt was trying to over take me. But I'm not running anymore. It was a quiet but an amazing God moment.

I have no insight to add; I'm just sharing my moment. Maybe me sharing will help you understand how personal God is. I have a lot of moments like this with God, but I'm nothing more special than you. God will do the same for anyone. He wants to have moments like this with you. Start a conversation with Him and see what happens.

#thankful #Godisgood #rejoice #resolution