Vivid dreams can come after a late night meal,
or sometimes they come from God

Suzanne Adams
March 2014


The Journey

          It is midnight and I am walking all alone on a dark road.  There are thick woods on either side of the straight road.  I am headed toward home that is at the end of the long road. 

          As I walk I can only see one step at a time.  The black of the night frightens me and I am afraid of what might be just ahead.

          After walking for a few minutes, a floating, dark, ugly head with no body, comes out of the woods about shoulder height, directly toward me. 

          It wrenches and twists grotesquely.  It snarls and snaps at me with misshapen, jagged teeth.  I am startled and fearful.  Apprehension grips my heart--and yet, I walk on. 

          I cannot see His face or form but at the very second the awful thing is about to get me, to hurt me, Someone loving and protective disintegrates it like ashes from a fire, crumbling to the ground.  Completely gone.

          I continue on my way one step at a time, relieved the thing is gone.

          A few minutes more on the road and the second thing springs out of the night just above my head on my other side.  This one is dark with no definite shape, twisting and writhing--threatening.  It is as frightening as the first.  I am startled and again fearful.  Apprehension grips my heart--and yet, I walk on. 

          At the very second the twisting shape is about to hurt me, the same protective, loving Someone disintegrates it as the first one, like ashes crumbling to the ground.  Completely harmless.  Completely gone. 

          Relieved that the thing is gone, I continue on my way. 

          Frightening things continue to come at me every few minutes as I travel the straight road but always at just the right time they crumble as ashes on the ground, never harming me. There are many but each one is different and every time a new one appears I am protected by Someone.

I am never harmed.  I am fearful, but I am never hurt.        

          My dream ends before I reach home. 

          My final destination is yet to come. 

I told you these things so that you can have peace in me. In this world you will have trouble, but be brave! I have defeated the world.  John 16:33 NCV

What I Think My Dream Means

         

          I think the road I am on is my life, my walk with Christ.  I am alone because our walk with the Lord is personal and no one can walk it for us.  It is a straight way of undetermined length but with a definite destination.  The night speaks to me of not knowing what's "out there," in life, for me.  Thick woods, especially at night, scare me because I don't know what harmful things are in there.  Not knowing is frightening to me. 

          We read in scripture that our steps are "ordered of the Lord."  We take steps of faith one at a time.  The Bible says, "from faith to faith."  In my dream, I'm walking these steps one at a time in all the light I have. 

          The attacks are frightening but not disabling.  I still function.  I still walk though fearful.  I worry.  Each and every time I think I'm about to be harmed by these "scary things,"  Someone loving and protective, The Lord, crumbles them.  The scary things are but ashes with no real strength or power.  Over and over I am attacked on my journey by paper tigers.  

This dream is a reassuring comfort at a time in my life when my family and I have come through a long season of much turmoil and heartache.  I believe the Lord is saying, I've protected you through all your troubles and I will protect you until you're home.  Sometimes I'm afraid but there is no need to be.  Fear is useless when we have faith in Jesus.

         

I believe the Lord is reassuring me that even though troubles come hard and often, He protects me and no harm comes to the real me.  My body is scared but my spirit is safe in Him.  He is my protector and my Savior.  He is the One who will bring me home even on the final leg of my journey.   

Father, Thank you for your protection until the end of my earthly journey.  You're a wonderful protector and the lifter of my head.  I love you.

Suz

finishing strong

My kids were at our house for dinner recently.  After we'd eaten I was sitting on my front porch swing with Summer, Sid, Hannah and her boyfriend, Corey.  We were talking and laughing and playing with our big dog, Goose.  Summer was trying to get Goose to run with her so they could play but he wasn't having any part of it.  There were too many other things to capture his attention.  That's when I had the bright idea that if I ran he'd surely run and play with his mama.  So I took off.

I ran, and I'm using the term "run" loosely, to the end of my front walk.  He didn't follow.  Hannah started laughing and I thought she was laughing because Goose wasn't cooperating.  Nope.  She was laughing at my attempt to run!  I am not thin skinned and if I can do something to make my grandkids laugh, I'll do it until it's not funny anymore, so it absolutely didn't hurt my feelings.

Hannah kept laughing and told me I looked like I was speed walking, not running.  Hmm, a speed walking Gramma.  That IS pretty funny. I laughed at the visual too but I was laughing harder because I hadn't felt like I was speed walking, I felt like a gazelle!  When I told them how I'd felt, we all laughed!

Today as I walked around the lake at our nearby park, I wasn't nearly as tired as I had been in the beginning.  I am up to twice around the lake, nearly two miles, and yes, I'm pretty happy about it.  As I was completing my second lap and my car was in sight, I decided not to limp the last stretch but to run, to finish strongly.  Of course, as I started to run, I thought about looking like a speed walking Gramma and how funny I must have looked but I ran on...feeling like a gazelle...a Gazelle Gramma...and thinking about how the kids had laughed at me, I laughed, too!

As I got closer to the car I thought about the real race, this walk with Jesus, that I'm on.  More than anything in my life, I don't want to limp across the finish line.  I want to finish strongly!  On the outside, I may look like I'm speed walking Gramma, but in my heart, I'm a gazelle, sailing through the finish line into the arms of Jesus!    

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing."  2 Timothy 4:7-8

Father, thank you for the race and for the strength to finish it.  I love you!

Suz

silent seasons

I will admit I'm not a very proactive friend.  I love my people, I really do, but when it comes to keeping in touch with them regularly, I often fall down.  My thinking has always been, "No news is good news," but it's not always true.  Sometimes, ok, often, it means stuff is going on in my pals lives and it's not always good.  The more days that go by, the more friends I hear of having serious issues...cancer, death in the family, financial woes, and family troubles just to name a few.

The truth is that even when I'm in a silent season, one of my BFFs sends me a note that says, "What's going on?  You've been quiet for too long,"  and she's usually right.  Either Byron or I have been ill or there's been a negative relationship issue or something else has been haunting me.

I am going to give my best effort to not being the one leaving my friends alone anymore when they are making themselves scarce.  I might be the very one who can offer some help, encouragement, or just a listening ear.  

"If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble."  Ecclesiastes 4:10

I am thankful for my friends, including my daughters who have grown up to be my friends, and I am blessed with many others, most of whom are very long time friends. I need them and they need me. I am grateful for them for they lift me up when I am low.

Dear Father, 
How I thank you for strong friends who help me, who lend me their hands to lift me up.  Help me to always be a supportive hand to them.  Thank you for being my very best friend. I love you! 
Suzanne