Soooo.... I've been having lots of dreams from the Lord lately. I'm super excited about this, as anyone would be, because it was prophesied over me when Will and I were engaged that I would start having lots of dreams and that they would be given to me from God. I've had them scattered here and there, but recently it's been a lot more frequent.
I know these are God dreams because I wake up thinking they are real every time. It's like it takes me a while to figure out that they were just a dream. My God dreams are always way more vivid and clear... not weird, like me eating cotton candy with unicorns on a rainbow in the sky. These dreams always have some sort of meaning to them and they always make sense to me, even when I wake up.
There was one dream in particular that Will and I felt like I should write about and share with other people. I normally have dreams about my personal life, or about my family... but this is the first one I've had about our country.
I saw a map of our country. It was almost like an illustration of it and it was cut out, like in 3D. I was looking over it and noticed a huge cloud over it. It was a thick, dense cloud, but (being over it) I could still see a faint outline of America. It was grey and gloomy, just like you would expect a rain cloud to be. There was no lighting or storms yet, just clouds.
In my dream, I asked the Lord why it was there. I was sort of having this dialogue with God about it. He said,
"this cloud represents that there is still hope over America. Nothing going on right now is permanent and can't be undone. The state of the country SEEMS gloomy and dark, but, in reality it's not. America is MY country and I have claimed it from it's start. Although it looks like darkness is surrounding, once you get past the clouds it is light and sunny. The appearance of the clouds is causing my people to question where I am or what they should do. Many people are wondering if the darkness has taken over. But, I want you to know that this is NOT a wall! (** I remember that part very clearly**) If it were a wall above the nation, you would not have any light shining through and it would take years, if ever, to break it down. It would be hard work and you wouldn't be able to see me through the wall. There is a cloud because of the way that America is choosing to go right now, but I am still present. Clouds are not permanent, they go away quickly and, even if you can't see it, the light is still shining beyond them. I want my people to not fear these clouds and to not be intimidated by them. America is still my nation and I still guard it. The more my people stand out as a light during these times, the quicker these clouds will burn away. Clouds can easily be blown away. They look intimidating, but you can easily blow them away or through them"
I woke up not remembering my dream right away and then that night it hit me and it all came flooding back to me like I had actually had that conversation face to face with God. It was awesome and that's usually how it works for me for some reason.
I feel like God is encouraging His people to not get discouraged in a time that might SEEM dark and gloomy. The enemy clearly wants us to back down and start thinking that the fight is over, when God is still wanting to shine is light brighter than before. Our country looks like it is going the wrong way, but this is the perfect opportunity for God to step in and show people His love. I was even thinking, with our government suddenly inviting so many muslim people in, this is the BEST way for us to show them the love of Jesus. These people coming into a country founded on God from the very beginning, they are bound to feel the love of God whether they accept it or not. God can turn this around for good, and He will.
I am one of those who has once thought that America is already too far gone... with debt, with turning away from God, with abortion, etc. I start to get down. It is so encouraging to know that it is only a cloud over us. Clouds blow away eventually and a bright sunny day WILL shine through. Kind of like that Switchfoot song that says "the shadows prove the sunshine"... the darkness right now is just God's way of shining brighter later (even if it's not His plan, He promises to turn it around for good).
So, don't be discouraged, friends!! Let's take steps towards asking God how pray in His wind and glory to blow those clouds away. I want to daily ask God what I can be doing to bring His wind into my apartment complex, my city, the Starbucks line... whatever. We also need to burn hotter than ever before. The hotter we burn, the quicker those clouds will burn away. How do we do that? I feel like God is asking people to not compromise in daily things. This isn't out of religion or to make life miserable, it's to align yourself even closer to what God is saying. We can't burn as hot when we have so many other things trying to suffocate our fire with the Lord. Just tuning ourselves in to personal convictions of what the Lord has placed on our hearts. For me, it's not listening to secular music because I don't want it competing with what the Lord want to do in my heart. It's also not watching rated R movies and looking up all movies before I watch them because I know that there is never anything good to put in my heart that comes from them. These are things that fill my heart and can push out what the Lord wants to do. Let God burn you! It's ALWAYS worth it. Once He does, you will notice a burning and a longing to feel the things on His heart and you will automatically start doing things for the Lord. He leads you when you're emptied out of the junk that keeps you from Him.
The more we burn for the Lord and the more we invite His winds to blow, the quicker we will see our nation turn back to God. The more that we are a light to the people around us, the quicker they will see the perfect love of Jesus.
