By I have always heard that opposites attract and that is definitely the case in my marriage. When it comes to driving, people assume that since I am married to a truck driver that I have a great sense of direction. That assumption would be wrong, dead wrong! Do not confuse me with road numbers or directions like north or south, I’m more of a turn right at the red barn and go a while till you get to the big road then go straight till you see the McDonalds, kind of gal. I am directionally challenged and rely on GPS to take me anywhere I am not already familiar with. My husband on the other hand can get verbal directions from a stranger who speaks very little English and then drive across country to get to a specific location with no problem. We are not the same kind of people.
The other night I had a dream where I was driving to an appointment in a different city. I had never been to this particular location before or that part of the city but I decided that I knew enough to figure it out on my own and didn’t need my GPS. Needless to say, I was still directionally challenged in my dream and I got lost very quickly. I had somehow ended up on a road that was making me do a U-turn because the road ended. I made the U-turn very quickly because there were a lot of people standing around watching me and I felt like they were judging me because I was stupid enough to go down this road that was obviously a dead end.
Shortly after that I ended up on a road that was under a structure or a very large overpass. There were a lot of people standing around and no one seemed to be paying any attention to me. The road was so broken up and littered with trash that it was impassable. I knew I couldn’t just turn around because I had just made the U-turn that got me here and it made no sense, but nevertheless I was there. I stopped the car and got out and began asking people where was the road was that I was supposed to drive on. They all pointed to the road that was broken and impassable. When I told them this, they just shrugged their shoulders and went back to what they were doing.
I decided to get out of the car and walk around a little bit to see if I could figure out how to get out of this predicament. I knew I was going to be late for my appointment but was determined that I was going to try to get there anyways. I went up a crowded set up steps and a man stole my car keys out of my hand. I told him to give them back but he just ignored me, so I began yelling and when people started looking and staring, he gave them back to me and left.
After that incident I was really rattled and my confidence was shaken so I decided to go back to my car. I quickly got inside and locked the doors and decided to check my GPS to see if it could tell me where I was and if it could guide me out of this mess and lead me to my destination.
I was ecstatic to see that the GPS was working and told me to go forward on the road I was on and when I looked up the road was sort of bumpy but had been repaired and was now passable and I could get through without any damage to my car. I finally felt such a peace that I was no longer lost and was headed in the right direction.
I woke up still feeling this peace, and honestly, I have dreams quite often but this one was so vivid that when I woke up, I began writing it down immediately, so I didn’t forget it.
God was speaking so much to me in this short dream, and I was really overwhelmed with the symbolism. The GPS system that I depend on to navigate through life is the Bible, or God’s wisdom. There have been many times I feel like I know what I am doing so I just do it without consulting God or neglect my Bible time or prayer time. Whenever I do this, I will end up lost and usually have made a mess of what I was trying to do. In this dream, the appointment I was trying to get to was something that God had planned for me to do but instead of consulting Him on which path He wanted me to take, I decided to figure it out on my own, which is never a smart thing to do.
So naturally I would have to make a U-turn when I run into a dead end; I do this quite often literally and figuratively. Feeling embarrassed and judged by all the bystanders happens a lot in life. There will always be people standing along your path, some will be cheering you on and some will be snarky and judgmental, you must choose who you listen to and who you ignore.
Being under the structure or overpass when the road became impassable represented the point in life when you feel depressed, lost, and at the end of your road. I got out of the car and started asking people for directions, so similar in life when we ask advice from other people and start looking for the answers in the wrong places.
When the keys were stolen from me by the man on the steps he didn’t appear in dark clothes and a hood. I could see his face and he looked like everyone else around me, not especially scary or anything that you would expect the enemy to look like. The enemy will use every day people to try and get us off of our path (stealing our keys) and I was so scared I ran back to my safe place and looked to my GPS (God’s word).
The GPS told me to go straight ahead on the road I was on and not to veer off, but I knew the road was broken and impassable but when I looked up and seen it repaired, I knew that God had prepped the road for me to go down. There were still a few potholes but just like in life, we all have a few potholes we have to navigate around. The most vivid part of the dream was the feeling of peace knowing I was headed in the right direction and wishing I had just used my GPS in the first place and knowing that it would have saved me a lot of time and heartbreak.
Tammy Bassett is a speaker and the author of the Mopping Up Your Blessings blog. She was born and raised a country girl who’s roots run deep in the mountains of Appalachia. She has worked a wide variety of jobs ranging from radio to insurance agent. She is now a stay-at-home mom, who along with her husband, are raising five daughters (ages 10 to 25), seven cats and one dog. She uses her accounting and business administration degree to help run her busy household.
She loves spending time with her family and homeschooling her two youngest children. She spends a lot of her day trying to conquer the obstacles in her home. With four of her children still living at home the laundry pile (nicknamed Mt. Wash-more) is her nemesis. Some days she wins and some days she doesn’t, but she always gets up the next day and tries again.
She also loves camping with her family as long as there is a camper with air conditioning, a comfy bed, and indoor plumbing. Her downfall is her obsession with iced coffee. Thankfully the closest Starbucks is an hour from her home, or she would be broke. She also loves reading and learning new skills such as homesteading, being more self-sustainable, gardening and foraging.
She relates the most to her favorite animal, the alpaca. They are both kind of weird and look like they are two months past due on a haircut. Much like alpacas she makes a gentle humming noise when happy and if irritated she often stamps the ground with her feet. Her husband has refused to buy her an alpaca much to her disappointment.
But more than anything, she loves the Lord and is growing more in her faith each day and hopes to inspire others to do the same. She wants everyone to understand that God’s grace is truly amazing and has changed her from the inside out and he can do the same for you.
by leaps and bounds 