Wrong Way

I had a strange dream this morning. REALLY strange. Let me tell you about it. A lady from my home church died and at her funeral, my friends and her brother were discussing an illustration she used to teach how to get to heaven. Now, as far as I know she has never taught this, so the only realistic thing was that her brother , whom I have never met, was there. We then struggled to cross a stream, the first of the steps, and began to try to 'work out our salvation'. For some reason, there was a time limit. Once you began the steps, you had to complete them within a certain amount of time. My sister, Lisa was struggling with one of the steps and we began to panic. I dropped and lost the things I was going to need for future steps. Panic was rearing its ugly head. I began to dig in the mud for what I had lost. Then I heard a Voice speak to my heart.

Why are you looking down?

Why are you digging in the muck and the mire?

In my dream, I recognized the Voice. My heart was lightened and I looked up to the sky. I spoke out, make that shouted out! "Stop! We are doing this all wrong! Each of us knows the path to salvation and this is not it! Our God is not in these works! Our God does not require that we dig through mud in order to be saved! He is with us and He is with us now! Look up! Let's get our eyes off of these tasks and off of all this mud! Look up!

We pulled ourselves out of the pit and the strange dream moved on to stranger and bizarre places. Then I woke up, groggy and still more than half-way in the dream. As I tried to wake myself up in the shower, I felt a drawing sensation to the dream. I didn't want to. I wanted to leave it behind and get started on my day. But I kept going back to the feelings I felt in the mud pit. I kept hearing that Voice. I realized that even in the Valley, He is with me. Stop looking and focusing on that valley. Stop focusing on how to get out of that valley. Stop focusing on the steps and the amount of time. LOOK UP!!! Stop looking the wrong way! He is with me. He is with you. Our way through and out of that valley is dependent upon nothing we do. It is all dependent upon Who we are walking with. The proper steps and clues that we have learned from this world are useless to us. We have nothing that can prepare us for this valley. That moves our dependence off of ourselves and onto our Lord.

Pursue Him. He will bring us through in His time. Breathe deeply of His Holy Spirit. Commune with Him. Let's take our eyes off of the mud, muck and mire. Take His Hand. He is a God of miracles. And even though there seems to be no way out, He will walk through this with us in His own time. He has chosen this path for us. And even though it seems to be a path of dread or pain, He walks it with us. Let us trust Him together.

Love from the Valley,

Lara