The Dreams and Destiny of Believers -2

If my oldest high school teachers were living and if you asked them about me and what I was like in our school days they'd tell you, "I was a big dreamer like Joseph, the Son of Jacob." My mind left the classroom ten minutes after it started." It did. I was floating down the Mississippi River with Huckleberry Fin and Jim on a raft or off exploring with Tom Sawyer. Anyplace was better than listening to boring teachers - but it wasn't the teacher's fault. It was the building contractors fault. Let me explain my rationale'.

It was if my mind went to sleep and I was floating away discovering new things. I wasn't visited by alien beings from outer space, but it was my bodies way of overcoming the allergens in our new school. It wasn't until twenty years after high school during genetic testing we found out I was allergic to minute particles of formaldehyde poisoning. That's below minimum levels detectable by environmental testing equipment. Formaldehyde is in everything under the sun, it still is, and the warning signs of formaldehyde allergens are warming cheeks, difficulty breathing and loss of concentration and confusion. High levels of formaldehyde gave me excessive migraine headaches within twenty minutes. It short circuited brain cells making it difficult to focus on studies. Trying to remember in excruiciating pain made learning impossible. I was physically and mentally "tripping" on formaldehyde fumes like a drug addict. Learning how to avoid this addiction has taken another twenty-five years. Learning how to avoid it, well that's the cure. It is extremely difficult since formaldehyde is everywhere you go.

Despite what you might think just because a person dreams in class doesn't mean we stop learning valuable lessons. The brain still records what is being said, but puts it in different context. Persons in a coma are locked in dreams. Time spent is no longer a constant. They can understand the chatter of those talking around them. That's why its important for people to talk nicely with respect to those in a coma or sleeping. Talking stimulates the brain cells that repair damage. Those in a coma may awaken with the snap of a finger.

I still do lots of dreaming like Joseph, the son of Jacob, but his character is for another time. In dreams we can recall the good as well as the not so good remembrances of our life. I had another dream lately. I've been remembering my days at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital. Spent four years in the ward. Recently I went back to the old place to buy a new leg brace. The old one has lasted fifteen years and the springs were exiting the brace material when I exercised riding a cycle at the gym. The other night I felt like Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), when he was running away from childhood bullies, the rods in his leg braces flying off.

Well I returned to the hospital this week. My reoccurring dream has been pestering me to return. My wife had previously found several other numbers, but I said "How about the brace shop." She dialed the number at MFBH and I got an appointment within 18 hours. Have you ever gotten a non-emergency doctor visit in 18 hours? It was dream destiny. I obeyed the gremlin in my mind. It said return to the brace shop at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital. I walked in the door and bypassed the historical display cabinet. It was filled with old pictures of structures over more than 100 years. I didn't tarry, but left for my scheduled appointment.

Upon returning I by passed the historical display, but when going outside the gremlin said, "Go back, something inside the cabinet you need to see." I obeyed the voice. The first picture my eyes saw was "two nun nurses sitting at a table with a clustering of several of my ward friends." That photo was taken in the early 1950's. I was standing between the two nurses. My how time flies. I could remember all the names of the patients, but not the nurses. Fifty-six years had passed, but could still recall their voices from the past.

Was the voice I obeyed to return to the cabinet one of destiny or was it the living God, the God I believe in making sure I had rekindled an old memory from the past. I remembered my roots. How about you? Do you listen to what is being said in your dreams? Do you obey the voice or do you cast it off because you are afraid to explore your dream or afraid of what others might think. Never allow life to rob you of dreams. Many people and circumstances in life rob our dreams. Dreams are God given, but they need to be nourished. Listening to the voice in the dream is food that yields great rewards. Not all yield fruit.

In II Kings 17: 21-22, in the Holy Bible it says that Elijah cried to the Lord (in reference to the widow's son brought to life), "O Lord my God, let this child's soul come to him again. The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived".

Walking together Elisha (meaning, God is Salvation) asked Elijah (meaning My God is Jehovah) for double-shares of your spirit. As they walked a chariot of fire and horses passed between them and Elijah was swirled up by the passing whirlwind into Heaven. This wasn't a dream, but Elisha was impressed by the power of God to raise Elijah. Elisha may have been more powerful than Elijah, but Elijah is mentioned more than 27 times in the New Testament. God does listen to our prayers. But, I think too many times those asking the prayer are beating their drums so loudly they fail to listen or hear what can be told in dreams. Many dreams aren't practical, but do trust what the dream says. Trust the dream. Listen to the visions and voices in dreams. Follow what your heart and mind tells you to do, but don't listen to those who will try to destroy what your dreams tell you. Till next time, "Keep on dreaming and may all your dream come true."