Burning the Midnight Oil

Burning the Midnight Oil

Seek the Lord

Deuteronomy 4:29 MSG

In some ways I feel sad for those who didn’t have the advantages in life I’ve had. I know I am very blessed and I am ever so grateful for the blessing.

But there’s a catch.

It’s not the kind of blessing you might expect. It’s not financial.

My blessing was having two parents who loved me and cared for me. My Mom blessed me physically by making sure I was clean, was able to sew just about anything, fed me nutritious meals, and taught me how to stand my ground when needed. That last part was important because I am a wee leprechaun.

While she was busy doing wash, cleaning the house, sewing garments, cooking meals, and making sure I was clean, my dad taught me about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, reading, drawing, history, and the principles of mathematics. Even though I didn’t pay much attention to the last item, I did alright in college algebra and college statistics. The were (are) both dedicated parents who took the blessing of parenting seriously. They took me to church every week of every year.

My dad taught a large class of adults in Sunday School and he worked many many hours studying for his lesson every week. He regularly told me how much he loved God. He gave me a desire to seek and embrace God for myself. Without knowing it he taught me Spiritual Practices every day. He did not give me answers. He taught me how to look for the answers.

Deuteronomy 4:29 tells us, “if you seek God, your God, you’ll be able to find him if you’re serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul.”

He gave me a burning desire to seek God and he prayed for me continuously. Many a night I would sit under my covers with a flashlight trying to find the answer to my questions by reading my Bible. I would read scripture until I fell asleep. Then I would dream dreams about things to come.

I started having dreams after the night I went to Arrowhead Stadium to hear Billy Graham. That was in 1968. From that day until now I still dream dreams where God speaks to me in motion pictures. It took me a while to figure out how to process those dreams, but they have been my guiding light since I was a young teenager. The hard part of understanding dreams from God is that they are filled with symbolism and they contain hidden messages. It took time, but reading scripture about others who had dreams helped enormously.

Many decades after my first dream from God I know how to sit with God so God can help me understand the message in the dream. It’s not rocket science. It takes time and reading scripture, burning the midnight oil.

Deborah/acrazyjourney.com