God Is a Friend of Dreamers
Sunday, October 27, 2024
And I-in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. Ps. 17:15, NIV.
The blue-gray water, the sunset gleaming on the waves-it was a picturesque background for my dreaming along Lake Wigry's shore in northeastern Poland. In sleep during the period of rapid eye movement (REM) baffling nerve impulses shoot up the cerebral cortex from the lower brain. Some studies suggest that dreams result from the brain's effort to organize the impulses into tangible images. But I was awake, and it was an array of real ideas in kaleidoscope-like patterns that bewildered me. I needed a wedge to break through the impenetrable walls of prejudice surrounding the hearts of the people I had come to witness to. My thoughts raced as I kept asking myself, "How can I share Jesus?"
A sick feeling stirred my stomach as I pictured the vivid faces of my uncles suffering with cancer. Later, their deaths intensified my dream and my sorrow. Could anything have prevented their deaths?
A young woman who attended one of my health seminars did not protest when I offered more than health principles when I offered her Jesus. Joy filled her, and she gave her heart to Jesus. Health work, I realized, was that needed wedge.
Seven years have passed since that evening on Lake Wigry's shore. As from a dream, I awake to see what God has created from nothing. A series of miracles led us to a farm from which we could launch a health program in Poland, a country where tobacco, alcohol, and ignorance of nutritional facts rob millions of their health and their dreams.
Now three health food stores, a small publishing house and press, and plans for a school testify to God's willingness to transform dreams into reality. At least 1,000 people have attended our various health seminars, and we have sold more than 150,000 copies of recipe books. Many have found Christ and been baptized.
Just as our early church leaders discovered, I also have found that God is the friend of dreamers. "He is well pleased when they [His people] make the very highest demands upon Him. . . . They may expect large things if they have faith in His promises" (The Desire of Ages, p. 668).
My dream keeps demanding, "How can I share Jesus?"
What large things are you expecting from God? Remember, He is the friend of dreamers.
The blue-gray water, the sunset gleaming on the waves-it was a picturesque background for my dreaming along Lake Wigry's shore in northeastern Poland. In sleep during the period of rapid eye movement (REM) baffling nerve impulses shoot up the cerebral cortex from the lower brain. Some studies suggest that dreams result from the brain's effort to organize the impulses into tangible images. But I was awake, and it was an array of real ideas in kaleidoscope-like patterns that bewildered me. I needed a wedge to break through the impenetrable walls of prejudice surrounding the hearts of the people I had come to witness to. My thoughts raced as I kept asking myself, "How can I share Jesus?"
A sick feeling stirred my stomach as I pictured the vivid faces of my uncles suffering with cancer. Later, their deaths intensified my dream and my sorrow. Could anything have prevented their deaths?
A young woman who attended one of my health seminars did not protest when I offered more than health principles when I offered her Jesus. Joy filled her, and she gave her heart to Jesus. Health work, I realized, was that needed wedge.
Seven years have passed since that evening on Lake Wigry's shore. As from a dream, I awake to see what God has created from nothing. A series of miracles led us to a farm from which we could launch a health program in Poland, a country where tobacco, alcohol, and ignorance of nutritional facts rob millions of their health and their dreams.
Now three health food stores, a small publishing house and press, and plans for a school testify to God's willingness to transform dreams into reality. At least 1,000 people have attended our various health seminars, and we have sold more than 150,000 copies of recipe books. Many have found Christ and been baptized.
Just as our early church leaders discovered, I also have found that God is the friend of dreamers. "He is well pleased when they [His people] make the very highest demands upon Him. . . . They may expect large things if they have faith in His promises" (The Desire of Ages, p. 668).
My dream keeps demanding, "How can I share Jesus?"
What large things are you expecting from God? Remember, He is the friend of dreamers.
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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