Do you think God speaks to us in dreams? by Carol Ford

As I was reading the first and second chapter of Matthew today and I noticed how God spoke to Joseph and the wise men around the time of Jesus’ birth.

Matt 1: 20 ...behold an angel of the Lord, appeared to him in a dream, saying “Joseph, son of David do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

Matt 2:13 ...an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you....”

Matt 2: 19-20 “....behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel....”

To the wise men after their meeting with Herod.

Matt 2:13 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Each of these dreams gave assurance and direction.

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I had a dream like that and I have wondered if it would seem strange to include it in my memoir. My dream happened at a time when I had been reading everything I could find about adoption reunions and searching online for additional information about my birth family. It was a strange, bizarre and emotionally disturbing dream.

In the dream, I was standing in the midst of a crowd of people and a large helmet with curled horns on the top was placed on the ground in front of us. The crowd was told that whoever put on the helmet would be destroyed—killed. No one moved. I felt compelled to step forward. I tentatively put on the helmet. My heart was pounding. But nothing happened.

I woke up abruptly!

“What was that about?” I whispered out loud.

My night clothes were drenched in sweat and I was shaken by the experience.

I couldn’t go back to sleep.

Quietly I slipped out of bed and went to my reading spot in the family room. I picked up my daily devotional and decided to read the previous day’s devotion which I had missed. The scripture at the top of the page was Matthew 25:31-34 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’”

The words ‘sheep’ and ‘take your inheritance’ jumped out at me. I had just dreamt of a helmet with horns that resembled those of bighorn sheep; I had stepped into the unknown.  I had risked the consequences. What did this all mean?

Feelings of fear and apprehension had been my companions during those past few months of searching, and I often asked myself, “Should I, or shouldn’t I, take the risk?” Was God using this dream to show me that He knew my fears? Was He offering me reassurance that I should continue to search and “take my inheritance”? I knew it was a stretch, but there in the middle of the night, I claimed the dream and scripture as a sign to continue searching.

I did proceed with my search and a few months after that dream, in a remarkable way, I found my birth family. It happened less than a week after I travelled to the city of my birth.

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Here is a picture of my grandson reaching to touch the angel. It is a good reminder that we need to be sensitive to God’s leading and presence in our lives. We never know when or how God will speak to us.

You can hop over to this link to read the back story to my first Christmas in my adoptive home. btw did I mention I was born on Christmas Day?

http://hotappleciderbooks.com/the-inside-story-of-my-forever-home/

 I wish you all a blessed and joyful Christmas season.