Dream a little dream

With all this time on my hands now, I have a whole bunch of it to think about all kinds of things. The latest is dreams,more accurately whether or not dreams come from anywhere, specifically from God. Obviously we know God has spoken to people through dreams, there are plenty of examples throughout the Bible, but what about to us not so saintly ones? Does God speak to us through dreams?

Everyone has dreams, and I know I certainly have my share of them. Some I know come from maybe having had one beer to many before going to bed, and some might come from something I ate, but then there are others I really wonder about, especially the ones that repeat themselves.

We all have dreams and in doing some research I have learned there seems to be two different schools of thought on whether they mean anything or not. Freud believed that all dreams were the result of some secret wish. When he first started discussing dreams he claimed they all had to do with sex, however after his book The Interpretation of Dreams: The Complete and Definitive Text came out, he did modify this some. Others believe that certain dreams mean certain things, symbolism. or example if you dream about oranges it means you will have good health. There is even something out there called the Dreamer’s Dictionary which will help you interpret them. So who do you believe? Like it seems is true with everything these days, there is no right answer, it all depends on your interpretation of what is written.

I can only go with my experience with dreams. As I began this post, I have all this free time to analyze everything, including my dreams and I have found some interesting patterns. One thing I have noticed, in fact I noticed this many years ago, is that I have dreams that constantly repeat themselves. They are not always the same, sometimes there are varying details, but 99% of the time they are similar enough to say they are the same. I believe these dreams are trying to send me a message. I will discuss why I believe some of these dreams come from God in a minute. I have also noticed that when I determine what the message is supposed to be, I no longer have the same dream. I had one recurring dream that started about 1984 and finally about two years ago I figured out what it was about, what it was telling me. When I took care of business, I stopped having the dream. Interestingly enough, my father had once told me he had pretty much the same dream.

Okay, so are dreams, whether all or some, messages from God? Does God try to send us messages, warnings, or prophecy? Again there are two schools of thought here as well, depending on whether you believe in God or your don’t. Obviously I do believe in God, so I do believe He speaks to us. Obviously in the Bible there are references to God speaking to people in dreams, and I believe he still does. However, we need to be very careful on this, because just like God can speak to us through dreams, so can Satan.

How can you tell the difference? Simply by reviewing the dream, the whole dream and nothing but the dream to see what the true message is. This isn’t always easy to do, like with the dream I mentioned above. If the message of the dream follows what God and Jesus teach us, then it is from God, if it contradicts what they teach us, then it isn’t from God, but from someone else.

I had another recurring dream, nightmare really, where I would enter into a deserted building and would be attacked by some unseen evil (Satan?). I would wake up feeling like I was suffocating and screaming for help, usually waking the dog, the cats and even once in awhile Tonya. I had this dream several times over several years. I finally realized after I fell off of that darn truck, that it was from God and He was sending me a very clear message. The very night I realized what He was trying to tell me, I had the dream, I made a conscious choice in the dream to not go into that building, indeed I walked down a completely different street. Not only did I not wake up in fear, I have not had the dream since.

Do I think every dream I have comes from above? No, only the ones that repeat themselves, and that I can’t seem to forget throughout the day. I believe God speaks to us in many ways. I know I didn’t always realize it, nor did I listen, but I think He is always speaking to us. Whether it is from God directly or from your guardian angel (another concept I have been pondering lately) He does guide us. So dream on and take the time to look at your dreams, you don’t need books or help from others, just think about the dream, what it might mean and go from there. Maybe it is God Calling.