#dream

In the last few months several families, friends, and our community have experienced unimaginable tragedy. When you lose someone often it can feel like you are amid a bad dream. Yet in the morning when you awake, the unsettling truth is still reality.

As humans we ask; why do bad things happen to good people? My thought has always been that since Jesus died on the cross, our pain and suffering is no different. This past week my daughter Kendal helped me see things in new perspective. The perspective is that God loves all his children. We are all precious in his sight, therefore when bad things happen, he does not categorize us as good or bad. I was reminded of the scripture from Psalm 139:13; “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb”. God’s love for us started with our creation.

Kendal went on to tell me about a scene in the movie ‘The Shack” where the father is asked to choose one of his children to go to hell over the other, which would it be? Of course, no parent could make this choice because they are equally loved just as God equally loves His children.

This past week in prepping and planning to write, I came across this song, When God Dreams by Scott and Becky Parker. The lyrics sing; “When God dreams, there’s a throne. His children have come home. In one voice will praise His name, oh Lord. Will always remain in the image we were made. The old life gone to a long-lasting grave. When God dreams, I believe we become what we might be, there’s no more shame, no more pain, no more suffering”. Again, this is a beautiful reminder of God’s love for us and how He sees us from creation.

In our Run for God group, we have recently talked about how grief is different for everyone. My grief over my Dad’s death is going on ten months. Since we did not live in the same town, there are days I dream of seeing him at Christmas and then I wake up. A friend shared with me that grief is like an ocean and that it comes in waves. I find this to be very true. In the same song, the question is asked, “When God dreams, does he dream in colors we can’t see”? This is a beautiful reminder of how God sees our lives from beginning to end. Just like the footprints in the sand poem, He is there to carry us through our trials here on earth and will never leave us as we journey to our forever homes.

Note, the pictures shown are of my sister Leaha and I with our parents during and after my Dad’s cancer journey. We have been blessed to create many memories that we continue to dream about today.