A Dream, Some Thoughts, Moving On

I believe that God sometimes chooses to speak to us through dreams. I also believe that sometimes our dreams are a result of the pizza we ate before we went to sleep or other things going on in our lives. However; one night when we were in the 5th year of this journey I had a dream about snakes. My Dad had told me that dreams about snakes meant the presence of evil. I’d always heeded that and would make sure that I took special care to watch and pray, and most often something would start raising its ugly head. I was in the woods in my dream and one of the snakes was the size of a train and it had 5 parts, there were two small ones in the trees. The next morning I truly believed that this dream held great significance so I asked the Lord for the interpretation. I believe that He spoke to my spirit and told me that the big one represented the 5 years that Satan was raging against us. We had invaded his territory and he was angry. He had tried to take us out and had tried everything to make us lose our faith. The two smaller ones meant that we had only two more years left of this entire ordeal and life would be much easier though not without some tough times. And sure enough, it happened exactly that way.
You’d think the “enemy of our souls” would give it up. But he never does even though the scriptures say, “No weapons formed against you will prosper”, “In this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world” “What you meant for evil God meant for our good” and so many more.

I want to say at this point that I am no one special. God doesn’t love me more than he does anyone else. I don’t claim to understand His ways, but I do know that there is no safe place outside of his protection. All humans go through tough times in their lives. And we can go through them all alone and often be destroyed by them or we can let God walk with us through them and experience his peace and blessings in the midst of them.

I accepted Jesus as my Savior as a child. Thankfully, I had parents who loved God and walked with absolute integrity before their family but I couldn’t ride in on their shirt tails. My relationship with the Lord had to be my own. One thing that has never ceased to amaze me is how very patient he is with us. Though I loved him I blew it so many times and had to ask for forgiveness which he always granted. I discovered over the years that I had some addictions that I had no power over. God is never shocked by that stuff. When I got serious about wanting to be set free He started to talk to me through the Bible about the deeper issues that were causing the addictions and through the renewing of my mind I was set free. There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “Whom the Son has set free is free indeed!” Without God it’s easy to think that we have freedom but the reality is that most people are in some kind of bondage and aren’t free at all. He is the only one powerful enough to totally set us free. The other verse I like is “Jesus said, ‘I have come that you might have life and have it to the full!’” WOW! is that ever true.

I know there are those who may read this who don’t believe as I do. Ya know what? That’s OK. I totally respect your right to choose to believe anything you want to. I have people in my life who I dearly love that don’t believe as I do. I don’t preach at people. I am who I am and will love you unconditionally. If something I have written in my blog has touched your heart and encouraged you I am so glad!

Friends of New Hope Wesleyan Church where we were attending came and helped us pack up our house after selling it and we loaded up the Ryder truck. The car we had, had died but by now we didn’t worry about the supply of our need. We knew we were bound for Indiana and either God would supply before we left or after we got there. A friend went to a car auction and purchased a car for us and told us we could pay him back whatever we could on a monthly basis.

We took an apartment that a friend had found for us sight unseen. It was part of a large house and we signed a 6 months lease hoping to find something in a little better condition. At the end of the 6 months a lady in the church we were attending asked us if we’d be willing to sublet the house she was renting from IWU while she spent 6 months teaching in the Czech Republic. It was a very small but cute house with a huge yard. I asked her how much the rent was and when she told me $200 a month I couldn’t believe it! That was a no brainer. I think it was the cheapest rent in Marion. She left for the Czech and we moved in. Instead of 6 months she stayed there for 2 years and after returning decided she didn’t want the house anymore, so we had a house to live in the rest of our years there, and at a price that was unheard of! I worked full time for the college and Bill worked part time for a funeral home while he went to school.

The story of how we landed where we are now is really interesting too. I think it will complete what I started in the blog but I’ll close this for now.