"Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. ... Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." (Hosea 2:6 & 14)
God moved me from Kansas away from close friends. I have to say my time in AL up till now has been a desert experience both positive and negative. I do not want to elaborate on the many times I have been wounded by people. In short, I have always experienced rejection, and abuse in some form or another, in varying degrees.
The beginning of 2006 was a time when I had to relive a lot of past hurts and forgive the people involved. I worked with a counsellor briefly and she helped sort through a lot of junk. There was rejection and loneliness to deal with. My sister was getting married and I received 3 wedding announcements in one week. Just coming out of depression, this would have been a setback if not for God's timely promise: "Gloria, I love you and I will provide you a husband" -Feb 1, 2006. It would work out from God's providence and not my doing. How comforting!
A few weeks later, I felt God's calling for me to play a recital series to raise funds for my home church, I knew the time for emotional healing had come. It was only fitting now that my body is whole. It was good to do this as I would see some of them at my sister's wedding and of course, during the summer. The test of my forgiveness was to commit to practicing and using the musical gifts they tried to ignore or suppress. When I finished the recital series, I knew I had released them.
At the end of the series, I received two dreams from God in two consecutive nights. In the first dream, I saw a very fierce lion tormenting the townsfolk. It was roaming the town square and I could not get to my car which was parked nearby. The scene was rather chaotic as people tried to figure out what to do. To make matters worse there were lionnesses and younger lions too. My friends offered me ride and I went with them for awhile, but I insisted on getting my car. They dropped me off near the square again. There were still many people around watching these beasts. Suddenly, another lion appeared and the people exclaimed. This second lion walked up to the first lion and we watched. This lion took a swat and the next scene in the dream there was only one lion left. The first lion was gone. "There's not even a piece of fur left! Did you see that?" Pretty scary and awesome dream at the same time.
The second dream just tickled me. I dreamt I was in a mall (I know, you must be thinking .. "Gloria and shopping, why am I not surprised?" ...). There was a shop that caught my attention. There wasn't really anything in the shop but it had bright colors. The walls were bright pink and the floor was flourescent green. I walked in the shop and immediately confetti fell on me. It was big, sturdy pieces of gold foil in a triangular shape. I thought it was fun and so I stepped out to see whether more confetti would fall. I jumped in again and sure enough, it did. I did this over and over again. Playing, spinning in circles and laughing in this rain of confetti, I did eventually became hungry. I decided to look for some food. I found the food court and sat down at a bright orange round table. The moment I sat down all my favorite white-colored food appeared. Different noodles, sweet tofu, sweets etc ;) It covered the table. I was so delighted and began to dig in, of course! Before I could finish a plate, another of the same appeared. I couldn't stop trying all the dishes and I wasn't getting sick from this indulgent fare. You can imagine, I woke up with a smile that morning.
Later that day, I found out both dreams were related to the same passage in the bible.
"I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety. I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid." Ezekiel 34: 25-28
I returned to AL and little did I know, it would be a very difficult academic year 06/07. There will be much more pain. I held on to this promise in Ezekiel along with other promises and prophecies spoken over me.
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