A Dream About a Dress
"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" I have heard this message twice over two days. First, when I read the Jesus Storybook Bible rendition of Mary being visited by the angel Gabriel, when she received the message that she was going to be the mother of the Christ child. Second, as your Daddy read the story of Abraham and Sarah, where Sarah heard the promise of her bearing a son, even though her body was 90 years old.
I've been having interesting dreams lately. Some are "teacher dreams" where a class goes completely berserk and I am doing my utmost to control the kids. I chalk this up as normal, as I will be entering the classroom as a substitute teacher in the fall. My worst teaching fears are coming out in my sleep. Other dreams are random events, probably me processing elements of the day. But there is a category of dreams that are vivid. These dreams often require action, either on a creative level or a spiritual level.
You kids have been introduced to Ticket to Ride: The Heart of Africa this year. Over the course of several months, we trained you on a modified version of Ticket to Ride: Europe. Slowly, we added all the rules, and now you are full-fledged players of both versions. True, you are still learning strategy. And true, your attention span sometimes fails. But you are offering good competition for your Mommy and Daddy. Anyway, one night, after several, several continuous games with family and extended family this summer, I had a dream where I envisioned an adaptation to the game. It was quite vivid and detailed. My creativity was running wild in my dreams! I woke up and relayed the dream to your Daddy. Well, he is working on a prototype of my idea.
As chair of our church's World Mission Committee, I correspond with several missionaries on a regular basis. Plus, there are missionaries in our extended family. One night I had a dream about one missionary. She looked exhausted and discouraged. I prayed for her, that she would be renewed by our Heavenly Father. I e-mailed her with my dream and found out that she was experiencing just that: exhaustion and discouragement. The dream God gave to me was used to grant her joy in spite of her circumstances.
A week back I had a dream about a dress. In my dream, Ricki's was having a sale. I was excited, because in reality, my North American style dress collection is down to two (I have too many East Indian outfits for living in the prairies). So I perused the racks and found a glorious pink dress with a gold pattern woven throughout (where is a dressmaker and a fashion designer when I need one). I tried it on and it look fabulous on me! And, it was only $15!! I woke up and decided to act on my dream. Maybe it was prophetic?!
The morning of my little shopping adventure was filled with the usual chores of my life. Tidying up the kitchen. Planning the meals for the day. Throwing a load of laundry into the washer. Plus I was thinking, as I often do, about other stuff. Particularly, I was thinking of a friend, a friend who is of another faith. I was mulling over how difficult it is to connect with her. She is at a different life-stage than me and, really, the only thing that ties me to her is a similar cultural background. I was also feeling discouraged and hopeless in regards to sharing my faith with her. I mean, why would she want to change? Why would she and her family want to leave the religious element of their community -- the only part of her life here that reminds of her of home -- to start afresh? The reasons would have to be convicting and convincing. And ultimately, I don't think I have any right to "convert" her, or anyone for that matter. That is the job of God's Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit elects to accomplish heart change in the way He wishes. Sometimes He chooses people to be elemental in the change process of another individual's heart. Other times He utilizes "Acts of God" to draw people to Himself. (Or, of course, a combination thereof.) On top of that, an individual has to choose to follow the God of the Bible or not. So, do I have any role -- even a minuscule one -- in my friend's spiritual story? Or should I just give up and let God choose some else other than me.
In the afternoon, I went on my shopping errand. I entered into Ricki's and headed straight for the summer sale rack. I found a purple and white dress, with a wide skirt, that came above my knees. It was $20. Not bad. I tried it on. I looked horrible! I tried on a couple of other styles. I looked frumpy. I walked out of the store.
As I exited the mall, a bit frustrated, a bit nonchalant, I bumped into my friend. Yes, my cultural friend who is of another faith. There she was, with most of her family. I greeted her with a hug and spoke to her with mixed English/Urdu. I engaged with their infant son and asked them how their travels were to visit family. And then she asked me if I was going to the community play group this fall, and if so, to give her a call so she could come with me. I said I would.
I left the mall and went off to another store to see if my dress prophecy might come true there. No such luck. But as I exited store number two, I realized the significant of my dream about a dress. God wanted to encourage me to get out of my house, even if it meant following a dream about materialism, to meet up with this friend. Because God loves her. He has not given up on her or her family. And for some reason, He would like me to have a tiny role in her spiritual story. After all, nothing is too hard -- or too impossible -- for Him.
I've been having interesting dreams lately. Some are "teacher dreams" where a class goes completely berserk and I am doing my utmost to control the kids. I chalk this up as normal, as I will be entering the classroom as a substitute teacher in the fall. My worst teaching fears are coming out in my sleep. Other dreams are random events, probably me processing elements of the day. But there is a category of dreams that are vivid. These dreams often require action, either on a creative level or a spiritual level.
You kids have been introduced to Ticket to Ride: The Heart of Africa this year. Over the course of several months, we trained you on a modified version of Ticket to Ride: Europe. Slowly, we added all the rules, and now you are full-fledged players of both versions. True, you are still learning strategy. And true, your attention span sometimes fails. But you are offering good competition for your Mommy and Daddy. Anyway, one night, after several, several continuous games with family and extended family this summer, I had a dream where I envisioned an adaptation to the game. It was quite vivid and detailed. My creativity was running wild in my dreams! I woke up and relayed the dream to your Daddy. Well, he is working on a prototype of my idea.
As chair of our church's World Mission Committee, I correspond with several missionaries on a regular basis. Plus, there are missionaries in our extended family. One night I had a dream about one missionary. She looked exhausted and discouraged. I prayed for her, that she would be renewed by our Heavenly Father. I e-mailed her with my dream and found out that she was experiencing just that: exhaustion and discouragement. The dream God gave to me was used to grant her joy in spite of her circumstances.
A week back I had a dream about a dress. In my dream, Ricki's was having a sale. I was excited, because in reality, my North American style dress collection is down to two (I have too many East Indian outfits for living in the prairies). So I perused the racks and found a glorious pink dress with a gold pattern woven throughout (where is a dressmaker and a fashion designer when I need one). I tried it on and it look fabulous on me! And, it was only $15!! I woke up and decided to act on my dream. Maybe it was prophetic?!
The morning of my little shopping adventure was filled with the usual chores of my life. Tidying up the kitchen. Planning the meals for the day. Throwing a load of laundry into the washer. Plus I was thinking, as I often do, about other stuff. Particularly, I was thinking of a friend, a friend who is of another faith. I was mulling over how difficult it is to connect with her. She is at a different life-stage than me and, really, the only thing that ties me to her is a similar cultural background. I was also feeling discouraged and hopeless in regards to sharing my faith with her. I mean, why would she want to change? Why would she and her family want to leave the religious element of their community -- the only part of her life here that reminds of her of home -- to start afresh? The reasons would have to be convicting and convincing. And ultimately, I don't think I have any right to "convert" her, or anyone for that matter. That is the job of God's Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit elects to accomplish heart change in the way He wishes. Sometimes He chooses people to be elemental in the change process of another individual's heart. Other times He utilizes "Acts of God" to draw people to Himself. (Or, of course, a combination thereof.) On top of that, an individual has to choose to follow the God of the Bible or not. So, do I have any role -- even a minuscule one -- in my friend's spiritual story? Or should I just give up and let God choose some else other than me.
In the afternoon, I went on my shopping errand. I entered into Ricki's and headed straight for the summer sale rack. I found a purple and white dress, with a wide skirt, that came above my knees. It was $20. Not bad. I tried it on. I looked horrible! I tried on a couple of other styles. I looked frumpy. I walked out of the store.
As I exited the mall, a bit frustrated, a bit nonchalant, I bumped into my friend. Yes, my cultural friend who is of another faith. There she was, with most of her family. I greeted her with a hug and spoke to her with mixed English/Urdu. I engaged with their infant son and asked them how their travels were to visit family. And then she asked me if I was going to the community play group this fall, and if so, to give her a call so she could come with me. I said I would.
I left the mall and went off to another store to see if my dress prophecy might come true there. No such luck. But as I exited store number two, I realized the significant of my dream about a dress. God wanted to encourage me to get out of my house, even if it meant following a dream about materialism, to meet up with this friend. Because God loves her. He has not given up on her or her family. And for some reason, He would like me to have a tiny role in her spiritual story. After all, nothing is too hard -- or too impossible -- for Him.