I was driving through a construction zone and the cars came to a complete stop. After some time, a construction worker moved the orange cones to the left to clear the way. I was in the front of the line and slowly moved into the narrow lane. The worker walked off to the right side of the road and when he did I saw a 50 mph speed limit sign. I hadn’t yet accelerated to that speed, but I was thinking I could. It was in that split second the worker slowly walked backwards into the lane and I hit him. I felt in the dream it was because he was wasn’t paying attention and was no longer thinking he had a group of cars behind him. End of dream

September 2018

Upon waking up I knew this was a God-dream. I journaled it, prayed about it, tucked it away, and knew if the Lord had a message for me he would bring it to memory at the proper time. The proper time came four months later.

The day after I returned from the Christmas and new year holiday, my morning began like most. With my cup of coffee and Bible in hand, I turned my worship music on and sat down to spend my time with God.

When I began, it didn’t take long before God made clear what I’m to focus on in 2019. The Holy Spirit pierced two words into my spirit, “slow down.”

This isn’t going to be an easy journey for me. My brain and my body don’t work at a slow pace. I can’t even walk slow if I try. I walk with purpose  to get from point A to point B. It’s about efficiency and I don’t want to waste time.

It’s not just about my daily interactions and activities. My mind is constantly racing with ideas, plans, blog posts, and prayers. Within the first 15 minutes of my day I dare say I’ve thought through if I should worship first, pray first, pray for people first, or my city. Or, “do I blog first?” “Maybe I should worship then dive into the blog?” These kinds of thoughts, and more, swirl through my mind constantly. My thoughts can exhaust me.

When I seek God for guidance and ask him to help me put order to my day, the madness stops. On this particular morning, God quickly stepped in and said to be intentional and “slow down.”

When God said “slow down,” I knew it wasn’t the time to stop praying. It was the most crucial moment to wait on him and receive the instructions on how to put this into practice. I needed to remain in my prayer closet a little longer and start by not rushing into my day, including how I was going to go about doing my devotions.

I stopped and just sat in the silence. The first thing God followed up with was, “It’s not just about one day at a time, it’s in the moment. Live moment-by-moment.” And, it begins with the thoughts swirling through my mind. I want to live like “I have the mind of Christ” at all times, especially when it comes to my thought process. I Corinthians 2:16

Two words from God can mean so much more. The Holy Spirit also conveyed, “One thing at a time and let that one thing come from me.”

Here’s the interpretation of the dream (September 2018) and how it aligns with his personal word to me (January 2019) and how it applies to everyday life.

Interpretation

• The construction worker represents God.

• Construction zone: God will put up road blocks to get me to slow down.

• Stop when God says stop.

• At the proper time, God will remove the barriers in life and tell me when to go.  

• Be cautious. I saw the sign that I could go 50 mph, but it didn’t mean that was the best thing to do. Be cautious, take it slowly.

• Be a follower of Christ [worker] and listen and read God’s Word [sign]. John 10:16

• Hitting the man: The path was cleared to proceed, but it didn’t mean I was to go all the way through. I assumed it was time to get going, but I wasn’t looking at the guide for further instructions. I must know when to stop and when to go, and the pace in which to do so. “Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.” Isaiah 30:21

• The dream represents God and it ends with me making excuses why I got ahead of God.  I wasn’t looking at God. I was looking at something that gave me permission to do what I preferred to do - go faster. There were consequences (the accident). Keep my eyes on Jesus. “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith...” Hebrews 12:2

What this dream and God’s words mean to me personally:

This dream is a confirmation God is changing the direction of my life, but I can’t get ahead of God. He’s making it clear I need to slow down if I want to get where he is leading me to. I have to go his pace, not mine. His ways will look different than the past.  

What you can do to get where God wants you to?

Pray specifically:

• Ask the Lord to give you your personal words of instruction for the year.  

Dreams can provide a way to pray strategically.

You can pray something like this:

• Lord, help me to discern when I need to slow down. Give me the wisdom when to be cautious and know when to go faster and take risk. Lord, I ask for wisdom so that I don’t get ahead of you. I don’t want to overlook your presence and direction in my life. Lord, you prevented Paul and Silas from going where you didn’t want them to go. Acts 16:6-10 I ask that you go before me and do the same for me. Keep me on your path. Help me to have a clear mind in every situation 2 Timothy 4:5 Thank you for your grace and patience. Thank you for your Word, now give me the sense to follow it. Psalm 119:73  In Jesus name I pray all these things. Amen.

We can’t ignore a person-to-person relationship with God if we want to receive instructions from him along life’s journey.  It was through a regular time of prayer when the Holy Spirit impressed upon my spirit how this dream connected to what he was speaking to me on that morning. I could have easily missed that God had already been communicating the same message.

God communicated with me in two different ways, at two different times, and at the proper time he brought them together to reinforce a word of instruction. Don’t neglect time with God. Pray and read your Bible. Sit in silence and wait to hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. Believe in him, trust in him, and he will speak to you.

“The Spirit came into me as he spoke, and he set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words.” Ezekiel 2:2