{fragments of my dream}

Do you ever have those dreams where they feel very real and resonate inside you for awhile after you wake up? Yeah, I had one of those dreams last night.

I was in a classroom type setting with a room full of people. One person was speaking when suddenly the room got silent. It wasn’t until I made eye contact with the person who had been speaking that I realized that she had introduced me. I had a brief moment of panic when I realized that she wanted me to talk. In front of the room. In front of all those people. I had nothing prepared. No notes. Nothing. I had thought I was just a part of the audience. No, I realized I was a key note speaker at this event. What? Yes. Me.So I got up, took my place at the front of the room and introduced myself again. As I scanned the room, I saw several familiar faces but that didn’t stop me from being taken over by anxiety. I hung my head, stared at the floor as I started to sputter words. With my eyes now closed, head still bowed, I said to the hundred sets of eyes looking at me, “I really had nothing prepared. I didn’t think I was actually going to be a speaker here today. So I will just speak from the heart and pray it goes well. There is something that has been on my heart for awhile and I am very passionate about, so let’s go with that…”

I cannot remember details of the speech, but as I began talking, I was struggling to open my eyes and look up but I knew I had to engage these people. That’s when I heard a voice in the back of the room. It was my friend, Ashley Wiley. She recognized my fear and opened the dialogue. It was then that I was able to open my eyes, look up and began to speak about a subject that was near and dear to my heart… self worth. She smiled as the words flowed from me and I was walking the room, engaging, sharing my story… with confidence. As I made my way around the room, familiar faces were smiling back at me. Ask me and I will share who was there, it wasn’t many but just a few that showed up clear. But I do remember those people have had significant moments with me in real life to make it important that they were there in the dream as well.

I finished the speech and a few people had gathered around the front to talk to me more, sharing a bit about themselves and the importance of them being there that night, that they NEEDED to hear my story, my words, my heart. I ended my time by praying over the group of people, out loud. I heard “Good job. I knew you could,” coming from the dark in the back of the room. I never saw his face but there was no mistaking who it was and I said, “Thanks, Papa.” Purpose revealed, spoken, lived.

There will only be a handful of people that get the true significance of this dream. It may be just a dream to some people, but to others who truly get why I had to share this, they will know exactly how this made me feel and why it is resonating inside my soul. Wild, right?