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  “Oh, my dear Jennifer, God has a specific plan for your life, and you are seeing it unfold before your very eyes. It is so important to realize that you are where he wants you to be at this moment in time. And I am so thankful you have learned to listen to what he says to you,” said Margaret. She leaned back in her chair and lifted her face to the sun. “In fact, the very angels of heaven rejoice when God’s people learn to listen and obey his voice, as his message can have eternal significance in the lives of his children.”

  Margaret then turned to me, and her face had taken on a serious look. “You have a story that is a poignant illustration of how important it is to listen and obey. Do you know the experience I am referring to?”

  “I do. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life.”

  The memory of this encounter still tugs at my heart. “The experience you are referring to took place when, again, I was at Methodist Hospital doing my lay ministry visits. Before beginning, I routinely prayed a short prayer, asking God to empty me so I could fully serve him and the patients I visited. My inspiration for this was in Philippians when Christ ‘emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant.’ Without first laying all of my own needs, concerns, and to-do lists at his feet, I would not be able to give all of myself to the patients and their needs. My prayer always ended with a request that God would guide me to those needing his comfort that day. I have many examples of the wonderful ways he answered this prayer, every single time I served as a lay minister, steering me to particular patient rooms, giving me appropriate words of prayer—the list is long. But this one particular experience will stay with me forever in its example of how he used me to help minister to one of his beloved children.

  “I completed my rounds on the medical floor, taking longer than usual, and I arrived on the transplant unit already emotionally weary. This was a very special floor. The patients I visited with could be in one of three different stages: awaiting a transplant, immediate post-transplant, or experiencing problems with or rejection of their transplant. I was issued a daily census listing the patient names and room numbers and began my journey around the huge U-shaped floor. I had a couple of visits, but many patients were either sleeping or absent from their rooms, so I began to feel that my day would soon be over. I headed down the backstretch of the U shape and paused at the room of a patient whose name I did not recognize. The door was slightly ajar, and when I looked in, there were several physicians in the room. Protocol indicated that I skip a room when a physician is in attendance, so I went on my way and ended up at the end of the floor. Whew! My day was done, and I was tired. I headed to the elevators and pressed the Down button. Suddenly, a very strong inside voice commanded—and I mean commanded: ‘Go back to that room!’

  “Oh, come on! I thought. Not now. I am really tired and that room was full of doctors. I pressed Down again. Once more the voice commanded, ‘Turn around and go back to that room!’ Okay, this time the voice sounded a little mad, so I let out an exasperated sigh, whirled around, and went back to the patient’s room. To my surprise, the room was now empty except for the patient.

  “I knocked softly on the open door and walked in, finding the patient sitting in a chair next to his bed. When I looked at him, I recognized him as a man I had visited with in prior weeks. ‘Well, hello!’ I said. ‘How are you doing today?’

  “ ‘Oh!’ he exclaimed. ‘I am so glad you came back to see me. I saw you walk by when all the doctors were here a few minutes ago, and I was afraid you might not come back.’

  “Now, this is when I started to realize God was up to something special. I remembered this man had been on a waiting list for a heart transplant. He had some sort of artificial implant that was keeping his heart going and knew each day was a race against time. The news the doctors had just given him was not very encouraging. We talked a long time about his feelings, and he asked me to pray with him before I left. He was such a dear man, and together we participated in a very personal time of prayer with our Lord. When we were through, he held my hands and thanked me and asked me to come back and see him when I returned the next week.

  “When I did return, I did not see this man’s name on the census, so I asked about him. I was told very gently by the nurse that he’d had a major stroke the morning after I had visited with him the week before and had gone into a coma. After several days he died, never regaining consciousness. My heart was broken for that sweet little man. But I was overwhelmed by what the Lord had done for his beloved child. He made sure that this man had been ministered to and had the opportunity to go to his Lord in prayer before he died. And he used me to help make it possible. I was completely and utterly humbled, as well as privately ashamed at my initial reaction to my Lord’s command to go back to that room. I am so very glad I decided to listen and obey his voice that day!”

  Margaret looked over at me, and I saw that her face was streaming with tears. She smiled a little crookedly and made a sign with her hand as if to say keep going, since she was too emotional to speak at the moment.

  So I continued with a thought that had been on my mind for a while.

  “I know there have been many times in my life when I have either completely missed or, even worse, just ignored God’s voice. So often I have felt an urge to act, to give someone an unexpected hug, or heard a whisper to call someone, yet just passed it off as my imagination. I wonder how many opportunities to minister to someone I have missed by doing so.”

  Margaret gave me a tiny smile and her voice quavered with emotion. “Can you imagine, my dear, what this world would be like if all people listened for the Father’s voice and acted upon it? It would be like heaven on earth.”

  She reached over and took my hand in hers. “God is constantly speaking to all of his Creation, and isn’t it marvelous that the most powerful voice in the universe needs only to whisper? Hear, Jenn, what your Creator whispers to you now:

  “Listen to me, beloved child, and do as I ask. You do not have to understand why. Each and every time, when my voice is heard and obeyed, someone is blessed.”

  After a quiet pause, Margaret slowly got up from her chair, brushing away the tears still streaming down her cheeks. Clearing her throat, she said, “Forgive my Kleenex moment, Jenn. Your stories were wonderful examples of how and why God speaks to his children. I am always so moved when I see how our Father works in the lives of his beloved. He loves all of you so much. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go attend to my rather tearstained eyes and face.” With that, she hurried across the patio to the back door and let herself into the house.

  I sat for a moment, wondering if I should go inside and help her. But then I decided that Margaret was an angel, after all, and had been looking after me all these years, so she probably didn’t need any assistance from me. I leaned back in my chair, absorbing the sunshine, and watched a couple of bluebirds investigate an empty birdhouse in the yard. I wondered if they were getting ready to raise a new brood of chicks as they had earlier in the spring. The warmth of the sun made me sleepy and I closed my eyes for a minute. Hmm, I thought, as I began to drift off . . . Margaret said God speaks to all of Creation. I wonder if he speaks to bluebirds . . .

  3-D Vision

  In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

  ACTS 2:17–21

  “All better now,” exclaimed my angel as she strolled out the back door and onto the patio, abruptly ending my catnap. “How do I look? Nice?” I turned to look at Margaret and laughed out loud. There she stood, posing dramatically with
one hand on her hip, an exaggerated smile showing all of her perfect, small white teeth, and wearing an enormous pair of black horn-rimmed sunglasses. She looked ridiculous. I got up and joined her.

  “What in the world?” I laughed. “Where did you get those silly glasses?”

  “Don’t you recognize them? They were on your kitchen counter next to the box of tissues.”

  “Oh yeah,” I exclaimed as I looked closer. “Those are the 3-D glasses I brought home from the movie Guy and I saw the other night on our dinner-and-a-movie date. Why are you wearing those? There isn’t anything unusual you can see with them right now. Is there?”

  Margaret beamed and linked her arm through mine, leading me back to our chairs overlooking the yard. We sat, and she pulled out another pair of glasses from the folds of her gown—she must have found both pairs inside. “Here,” she said, “put these on.”

  Giggling, I put on my 3-D glasses and looked at Margaret. We must have looked really goofy sitting out here in these enormous black glasses. Margaret giggled, too, and then, oh my, a hilarious little snort escaped from her nose. We both dissolved in laughter so hard it made my sides ache.

  “Okay, seriously now,” said Margaret, trying to put a solemn look on her face. Somehow she actually achieved it while I sat there grinning ear to ear.

  “I wanted us to wear these to illustrate a point. When you went to the movie the other night, you had to wear these glasses to see a dimension hidden from your normal vision. Right?”

  “Yes,” I replied. “And it was really cool. Everything looked so realistic and clear. The characters looked as if they were standing right there in front of me.”

  “That’s right,” said Margaret. “If you had tried to watch the movie without the glasses, the images on the screen would have been blurred. You would have missed the clarity and wonder a third dimension provides as revealed by the 3-D glasses. Jenn, do you remember our earlier discussion about heavenly intersections?”

  I nodded.

  “Today,” Margaret continued, “our journey brings us to the heart of one of these intersections—the place where heaven meets you in your dreams to reveal deep and hidden truths. You might say that you wear spiritual 3-D glasses while you sleep, my dear, because you are a Divine dreamer. This gift carries an anointing of the Holy Spirit and should be taken seriously. Your dreams can include prophecy, warning, instruction, and revelation, and while some dreams may be private, others may be shared as the Spirit leads.”

  More goose bumps. My heart constricted from the depth of emotion this subject triggers within me. It is a gift I have held close to my heart for many years and have shared it with very few people.

  “Margaret,” I said softly, “these dreams are very special to me, and I want so badly to understand what God is trying to say to me. Sometimes there are things in my dreams that are obvious and easy to understand, but for the most part, well, you know me and how long it takes for me to get it,” I said with a small laugh.

  “I think I might be able to help shed light on what you do not understand,” Margaret said, smiling, “but before we get to that, I’d like you to tell me a little bit about what it is like to experience Divine dreams.”

  “Well,” I began thoughtfully, “my very first clue that I have experienced a Divine dream is that the realism of the dream is extraordinary and the memory does not fade as normal dreams do. I can recall every detail, even after many years, as if I were watching a movie. Sometimes I am just an observer, and sometimes I’m an active participant. But in both cases, there is the presence of an intellect other than my own. It is deep, pervasive, and wise. Upon awakening from the dream, I am overcome with the knowledge that I have received a special kind of communication from God. And then comes the hard part . . . figuring out what it means.”

  “Do you want to know something remarkable, Jenn?” Margaret asked.

  I nodded enthusiastically.

  “The key to understanding your dreams lives in that beautiful book you hold in your hands every morning. Holy Scripture—the Word of God—is the very source of the truths God is revealing to you in your dreams. I know you have already experienced a few moments of clarity about your dreams while reading your Bible. The deeper you go into the Scriptures, the clearer your understanding will be. You will recognize this truth as we begin to explore your dreams, and you will also discover that Scripture reflects the very character of God. God is not linear. The Bible reveals that he is the God of past, present, and future. You will see that your dreams reflect this.

  “And, you must keep in mind that God’s Word is a living Word. God speaks to you where you are. His truth moves with you, revealing what you need to know at just the right time, as you are ready to receive. Patience is a virtue, child. Understanding the mysteries God reveals to you can take time, and is well worth the wait.”

  I grudgingly agreed. “I admit to being impatient sometimes when it comes to understanding my dreams because I know that wondrous truths are waiting to be discovered. I can say one thing for certain, though, my angel friend. These Divine dreams have led me to consider there is much more to our everyday existence than meets the eye. I guess you could say God was the original inventor of 3-D vision.”

  “Oh, my, child, you just might be right about that!” laughed Margaret. “Now hold that thought. I have a perfect story from Second Kings to share with you. It’s about when God opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant to reveal an incredible sight . . . at just the right time.”

  When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

  As she finished the story, Margaret’s voice trembled with emotion. “Jenn,” she said, “God did this very thing for you when he gave you this gift of Divine dreams. As you slept, he spoke this into your heart:

  “I have opened your eyes, precious child, so that you may see the wonders of my kingdom!”

  “So now let’s delve right into these wondrous dreams of yours.” Margaret removed her 3-D glasses, leaned back in her chair, let out a deep sigh, and closed her eyes, ready to listen.

  I decided to keep my 3-D glasses on while I began to speak of dreams.

  Pilgrimage

  Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

  whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

  PSALM 84:5

  As Margaret sat listening contentedly, I related the details of a dream—a journey to a mysterious mountain.

  I am carrying a small suitcase. I look ahead of me and realize I am in a very long, winding line of people, all carrying suitcases like me. We are in a beautiful valley. The line snakes gently over small rolling green hills and leads to a large mountain ahead, in the distance. I wonder to myself, Where in the world am I and, more important, where am I going? I sense the same vague type of mystery from the people around me, curiously mixed with a feeling of excited anticipation. We smile and nod to one another as we slowly meander along.

  Suddenly, a man appears directly in front of me wearing jeans and a dark brown T-shirt. The curious thing about his T-shirt is that it has on it a line of little white sheep, which wrap in a band all the way around the shirt, right at chest level. The even more curious thing is that the sheep are moving—as if they, too, are walking in a line. Now, this man is beautiful—absolutely, strikingly beautiful. He has dark hair, a closely trimmed beard and mustache, and eyes that sparkle with such extraordinary radiance and excitement that I can’t even tell what color they are. He speaks directly to me, and with a smile reflecting the radiance in his eyes, he exclaims, “Isn’t this wonderful? Isn’t this exciting?” He then steps aside to give me a
view of the mountain ahead of us. People are now streaming up one side of the mountain and down the other, and at the very top of the mountain is Jesus. I guess that this must be an angel speaking with me, and his pure joy and excitement catch like a wildfire in my heart. We are on a journey to see Jesus!

  When I finished, Margaret opened her eyes and said, “My goodness, Jenn, what a wonderful dream. I felt like I was right there with you. Thank you. So, tell me your initial impressions of your dream. How did it make you feel?”

  “The first thing I remember from when I woke up was that the feelings of joy and anticipation I experienced in the dream were still with me. And the angel with the beautiful smile and eyes, so alive with excitement, is as clear in my memory today as he was twenty or more years ago when I had the dream. Other than that, I really did not understand much about the meaning of this dream until I experienced a particular moment of clarity while studying the Song of Ascents . . . ” I paused as I was struck by a sudden realization.

  “You’re right, Margaret. I was reading Scripture when I got this moment of clarity.”

  Margaret just smiled and waited for me to continue.

  “Okay, back to my story. The Song of Ascents are fifteen psalms sung by the Israelites as they journeyed to and from Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate Passover and the harvest feasts at the Temple in Jerusalem. This type of journey was called a pilgrimage, and I pictured in my mind large groups of extended families making these pilgrimages together—cooking and camping out by night; riding, walking, and visiting by day—filled with anticipation of arriving in their beloved city and celebrating the harvest feast together in the presence of God. And all the while they sang songs handed down from generation to generation to pass the time and to express the joy of their journey. I realized I had similar memories of my own family travels—singing songs and playing games to pass the time, each of us full of excitement and anticipation of arriving at our destination and the fun awaiting us.