Do Not Fear

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Revelation 2:10

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of
power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

Today, like many days, I took a nap. (Okay, no heckling. I know I'm aging! But in my own defense, I wake very early and go to bed very late, so a nap in the middle is my breather!)

During the nap I had a dream I felt was a direct message from God. I'd like to share the dream with you and if any of you have comments, please feel free to share them. Tonight, I was seeking a Bible verse for one of my WIPs and came across the two verses, one in Revelation, the other in 2 Timothy, I've typed above. Do not fear what you are about to suffer and Fear is not from Me are the messages I got from my dream.

In my dream, I was in a large boat with several other people I knew in the dream, but not when I woke. From what I remember, they weren't family or friends I currently know. It was a dark wooden boat, and had masts, so I knew it was a sailboat. There were wooden benches along the rails and people were sitting on them, fore and aft. We were not too far from shore when a sudden storm erupted. We pulled in closer to shore and could see clouds like a wide tornado coming over the hill. We were all horrified. We saw people running down the hill towards us. I wrestled with myself on taking cover or going to help. At first I kneeled down to hide under a bench, but realized I didn't want to be a coward, and I could clearly hear God saying, "I will protect you." I stood up in the boat, in the pouring cold, wet rain and pointed to the storm and prayed as loud as I could, "God, protect them. Please, take the storm away." I was crying, but suddenly very brave. I jumped into the water (it was about waist high) and trudged to shore as fast as I could. When I got out of the water, my arms were covered with seaweed and I had small tree limbs in my hands. The people running down the grassy hill towards us held seaweed in their hands. I got the impression that a tornado had twirled the tree limbs from land into my hands and the seaweed from the water into their hands. But we never saw it. We watched as the storm evaporated. We were spared. As we watched the storm clouds go back up into the sky, it was like watching the coattails of God moving away.

We were all in awe that the storm had vanished so quickly, and as I woke, I realized how sad God was that we did not believe He would answer our prayers.

Dear God, give us the faith to believe and the courage not to fear. I love you Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.