“On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.”

Mark 4:35

There is a dream that I had about 10 years ago that has carried me through most every difficult journey I have ever faced. I think this is one of the most vivid and intricately layered dreams that I have ever had. Not one detail escapes me to this day. I will try to give you the abbreviated version in hopes that this dream will be a source of preservation and encouragement for you –  as it has been for me, throughout the years. I also will not give much commentary (for now.) Instead, I will trust the Holy Spirit to shine his light on it as you read, and give to you exactly what it is you will need.

In this dream I was being sent on a mission by a man who seemed to know me and had quite an intimate knowledge of my life. I accepted the mission. I wasn’t sure where I was going or what the specifics would be, but he assured me I would be fine and gave me a cell phone to reach him whenever I needed to. With just enough direction to get me started, he sent me along my way. A short distance into the journey, I came across an ocean. I looked around but there was nowhere to go to get around it. I decided to walk into the ocean to see if, by chance, I could cross. However, the further out I went, the deeper it got until the water was up to my chest. I decided to turn back around to call him and let him know I couldn’t make it across but just then a lady swam up to me, put me on her back and swam me across. She sat me on the shore and swam away before I could even thank her.

I marveled at where she could’ve come from and how she even saw me but she was long gone so I kept walking. A few miles into the journey,  I came across what looked like a huge sand dune that was miles high. I walked back and forth looking around to see how I could get over it but there was no way up, through or around. I decided to try to climb it even though there was nothing for me to grab hold of or nowhere to securely place my feet. It was all sand. But as I got ready to risk it all and climb, the tallest man I had ever seen reached his hand down and pulled me up over the huge mountain of sand. I tried to thank him but he gave me a tight smile and walked away.

After a few more miles, I came across a bridge. As I was crossing the bridge I saw a mirror and my tired disheveled reflection. I started looking around for a beauty supply store to find products to fix my hair and a place where I could freshen up. Then, for the first time, the phone I was carrying rang. It was the man who sent me. With a slight urgency in his voice, he asked me where I was. I saw a street sign so I told him. He then gave me the exact address to the place I would be going and told me to hurry along because I was not too far off.

I danced the rest of the way because by then I was so tired and ready to get there. A few moments later I saw the exact address and house he sent me to and I was overcome with joy. FInally. However, as I skipped towards the gate, I was accosted by three frightening hulking men dressed in all black with hoods over their heads. They cornered me and tried to throw me in the van they pulled up in. I cried and begged and pleaded with them to let me go because I was right there at my destination. But they ignored me, snatched me up and threw me in the back of their van. I passed out from fear. 

I’m not sure how much time had passed but when I passed out it was like I was taken into a dream (inside this dream). Now I was inside of what seemed like a gigantic office and on every wall there were these towering bookshelves with thousands of huge leather bound brown books on them. There before me seated at this huge desk, was the man who sent me on the mission. I was crying hysterically and angrily and I began screaming at him trying to figure out what happened and how I got here. Who were those men? Where was this place? What happened to me? Why did he send me there in the first place?

He didn’t respond but he placed one of those huge brown books and told me to open it. I did and to my surprise the book contained every single event of my life. From the day I was born, to my childhood days in my grandmother’s house, my first day of high school – there it was. It was all written. I looked at him in shock trying to figure out how he knew all he did about me and how all those intimate personal details of my life got inside of this book. Once I realized that it was a book of my life, I tried to flip to the end of the book. But just as soon as I thought about it, the man’s hand was on top of mine, stopping me.

“I cannot let you go to the end,”  he said. “But I will allow you to look ahead a few pages.”

I made one giant swoop with my hand about 20 or so pages ahead. Immediately I was transported inside of a huge home and I was laying in the bed watching the day break. I looked around nervously, got up and walked over to the window to open the blinds. I was on the top floor of the home. As I looked down out the window, I saw the exact gate, exact street, exact location where the men had cornered and taken me. I gasped and shuddered wondering how in the world I got here. Why would I come back here? How is it that I wasn’t too afraid to return? What was I actually here to do?

I had no answers because I knew I had skipped ahead in the book and something inside of me knew I would have to return to live out the details. But regardless of what had happened in the middle, I realized that I made it to my destination in spite of all the interruptions. 

Just like the old man told me I would.

“Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Mark 4 39-40.

“So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said.” Acts 27:25