Dreams & Visions

Where The River Runs

Years ago I had a dream that I was traveling up a mountain. This mountain is like crystal quartz. It glistened with a pure light. We were following a path and there were trees that surrounded the path. I'm traveling with a group of friends, and although I don't recognize them, I am very aware in my dream that I know we are friends and that God has placed us together.

We reach a point in the mountain that levels off like a plateau carved in the side of the mountain. I see only one doorway in the mountain side. I noticed that from the doorway, there is a line up of people who are leaning against the wall of the mountain, as though they are holding on for fear of falling off the plateau or waiting to go through the doorway. In my dream, it never occurs to me that I should get in line so that I can enter the doorway. My friends and I just walk right pass the people and go through the doorway of the mountain. As we go through the doorway we enter into what looks like the lobby of an exquisite high class lobby of a hotel. The floors were polished marble and the front desk was the most finely crafted front desk with a marble counter top. There was an amazing fountain in the center of the hotel lobby. As I looked at the fountain, I realized that the fountain was just the beginning of a river that flowed beyond the lobby. It appeared to go through the mountain. 

Just then, my friends and I were approached by a young man who came across as someone who was a surfer and spent a lot of time on the beach. His hair and skin looked as though it had been kissed by the sun and he was wearing beach shorts, a T-shirt and simple sandals.  He asked us if we would like to take a tour through the caverns of the mountains. We were really excited and agreed to go on the tour. We found ourselves piling into what seemed like a very humble fishing boat, perhaps only one step up better than a rubber dingy. The young man, who was our guide, sat at the head of the boat. We began to enter the caverns of the mountain on the river that ran through the mountain. Even in the dim light inside of the mountains, the walls were lit up by luminescent jewels encrusted in the walls of the caverns inside this mountain. There were golden stones and rubies, emeralds, diamonds and other precious jewels embedded in the walls. There were also beautiful stones that you could crack open and you'd find a precious jewel or stone inside or them. Everyone on the boat was taking the jewels off the walls, collecting them and holding on to them. They were marveling over these stones and precious jewels. I would take the jewels and stones from the walls and admire them with amazement of how beautiful they are and then put them back. I felt that perhaps there wouldn't be enough to go around for everyone as I thought of all the people who were still lined up outside the doorway on the plateau. I also wasn't sure that they were “mine for the taking”. Just then the water gets rough in the caverns and the boat is being tossed in the water, as though it's a flimsy rubber boat. I asked our guide, if we should turn around? He said “Don't worry, trust me, it will be alright.” Sure enough the water settled down and we continued to pick the jewels and gems off the walls of the caverns.  However, I always put them back. Time went on as we admired the beautiful walls of the caverns and I must have fallen asleep in the boat. The next thing I know, the boat is docked at a humble port and I turn to look and realize that I am left alone – all my friends are gone but the guide had stayed with me while I slept. I asked the guide where my friends went and he said “Oh they all took the jewels and gems they wanted and left already.” I said, “But I want to go back to the port where we started. I'll never find my way back if I don't find the port we started at.” The guide said, “ The port is just over there. All you have to do is cross the water.” “No” I said, "you don't understand, I can't cross the water." "That's too far for me to swim". He smiles, “Look I'll show you.” He gets out of the boat. “See? The water is really only a few feet high. It's the same through all the caverns in the mountain.” I looked at the water and realized it was only as high as his knees. He continues by telling me, “You can go through all the caverns and you will not drown. Choose all the gems and jewels you desire and catch your eye, then come back to any port you wish.” and so I did. I went though the entire caverns, even the rough waters, gathered any jewel that caught my eye and came back to the port that I started at. 

When I arrived at the port with my arms full of jewels and stones, the young guide walks up to me and smiles with great assurance. He radiates with a pleased look on his face as he says, “ I see that you have everything that you need.” "Yes" I said with a sense of satisfaction. I felt that I had been empowered by what I had just done. Just then, my friends who I realized had been waiting for me, came running over and fussed over all the beautiful gems that I had in my arms. They were so happy for me and so glad to share the journey with me. We left the hotel lobby and as we walked through the door my eye caught the massive number of people who were still lined up along the wall of the mountain. I suddenly realized that they weren't waiting to get inside. As a matter of fact, they had already been inside. There was a familiar man who sat right next to the door. He was sitting on a little bench, and on his knee he clutched a very large jar that had been polished clean. He looked at me with the corners of his mouth turned down and sadness in his eyes. “This is all I got” as he looks down at his jar. His jar was empty.

I was disappointed for the man but I left with my friends because I knew I couldn't give him jewels that he did not find himself. My friends and I continued traveling up the mountain from that point.

There a few things about this dream that are very important to notice. What surprises me the most is what the guide says once I have collected all my gems and jewels. He says, “I see that you have everything that you need.” Now, I don't equate jewels and precious stones and gems as something I would need. That's more of a want than a need. The Lord is saying that what ever the desire of your heart is, He will give it to you, and He'll give you what you need along the journey so that you can be a blessing and receive a blessing along the way, whatever they may be, to equip you along the way. Jesus said, that He came to give us life and life more abundantly. (John 10:10)

While I was stepping out in faith to receive healing from God, from Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and Depression, (found at the link "True Stories of the Divine" entitled "And Then Came Joy")

The Lord gave me a scripture. 

Psalm 103: 5. 

He satisfies my mouth with good things to eat, and renews me with the youth of an eagle. 

In everything I did, I used that scripture to encourage my faith, trusting in this promise, that He would renew me with the youth of an eagle and free my from what troubled my body. I ate with that scripture on my lips, slept, washed dishes, sang it. It was the essence of everything that I would do throughout my day. His promises in His word is one of those jewels on my journey... and it's the same for you today.

For this journey up the mountain, God has provided what we need. We just need to take it. Don't leave it behind. God's blessings are so abundant that there is enough for everyone. ... and those people who were sitting on the plateau-- they were stuck there. They couldn't move on in their journey. Don't miss it, like the people who were sitting on the plateau lined up at the door. Because beyond the door, this is where the river runs and the blessings flow.