I’m a big believer that the dreams we dream when we’re asleep reflect what we are thinking, dealing with or about to face in real life.

I have several different recurring dreams.  The details always vary, but the theme is always the same.

1.  I can’t get to a person I am trying to reach.

2.  I can’t escape someone (or many someones) who is after me.

3.  I am late to a class I never knew I had and have to take a final.

4.  I am asked to sing a song in a church’s huge auditorium that I’ve never heard before and haven’t rehearsed. I don’t have my contacts in and can’t find my glasses to see the words on the screen or in front of me.

Number four was what haunted me last night.

I’m thinking I might have some issues with not being in control…:-)

In all of those scenarios, I feel helpless.  Unprepared.  Unable to change what is happening in my circumstances.  And in every single one, I find myself using the only resources I have to help solve the problem at hand. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.

In last night’s dream, I “oohed and aaahed” a lot.  Followed the melody line and ad-libbed an overlying harmony that didn’t require me to read words.  Pretty quick on my feet for an unconscious gal, right?  🙂

It’s easy to decipher the meaning of that dream.  With all of the unknown in my life floating around out there for another week and a half, there’s a sense of not being able to prepare because I’m not exactly sure what’s ahead.  Being asked to sing, but not knowing the words.

In reality, can any of us really be certain of what our future holds at any point in life?  We can have a plan, a goal, a dream.  But sometimes life throws us a curve or hands us a surprise we didn’t see coming that changes the course of everything.  Our circumstances can change on a dime.  Will we still be able to “sing” when we don’t know the new lyrics?  Can we “ooh and aah” until we don’t feel so naked and unprepared on that new unfamiliar “stage”?  Until we learn the words to this new song?

It’s easy to fear the future and the unforeseen that awaits us.  But there’s another choice.

Jesus holds our futures in very capable and loving hands.  Nothing slips through His fingers without His knowing and approving it.  And we know that if it comes from His hands, it is good.  Even if it doesn’t feel like it at first.  Even if it feels unfamiliar and a little scary.  It is good.  It might be difficult, it might be for a time unpleasant.  But it is good.  It has a purpose and He has a plan.

I am willing to walk out on that stage.  I will trust that He will teach me the words to this new song and that I’ll soon be able to sing it whole-heartedly and at the top of my lungs.  And that I will be able to tell others Who it was that coaxed me to the stage and then served as my Vocal Coach, taught me the words, and then sang along with me.

And suddenly the unknown becomes a welcome friend instead of a dreaded foe…

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Proverbs 19:21 – Many are the plans in a person’s heart,  but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Romans 8:28 – And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

James 1:17 – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Psalm 33:11 – The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.