Genesis 41:12
And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.
I was prompted to write a book years ago it was a suggestion from my then mother-in-law. I thought to myself, #hmm what a nice interesting idea. I had so many thoughts about what I would write, about who and when. I attempted a hundred thousand times to put my thoughts on paper; I would write a page, walk away, I would open the document read that one page and allow some other opportunity to distract me. I could not come up with a creative or interesting thought provoking ways to start writing that would take me, my thoughts and my readers to the end of the book. I rejected every idea that entered into my head, I could write about my life – too messy, I could write about the good moments – unrealistic reading, I could write about the messy and dark days of my life – too many, alas I defaulted to – book writing was not for me, it was the perfect “out”.
Over the years since the idea was suggested back in 1998 I have attempted to pick up the “keyboard” (well you know who uses pen and paper to write anything anymore). Over and over I would attempt to write and each I failed only to give way to the demands of life or simple procrastination. It would prevent me from settling down to focus on writing, something I now believe I was called to do. I was given suggestions by various people some face to face and some by virtual means to write this book. I remember having a phone interview and the HR manager on the other end said to me during our interview, “I want to read your book…” #hmm well we had not talked about me writing a book or anything about my life other than work related subjects. I have frequently reminded to continue to write on this book, some reminders were so vivid and clear that I began to trust that God wanted me to write. Each time I heard another suggestion or demand to write I would return to the place in the document where I left off writing and I would encounter the same “you can’t do this” thought, [who wants to read another story about someone’s life they don’t know, and what has made my life interesting enough for strangers to read]? I noticed at some point the suggestions to write a book were coming so fast and from so many directions I had no other recourse but to give into the notion that I was to write a book or else!
I thought to myself where do I begin, with childhood memories – boring and confusing, I thought about my relationships – not enough substance, what about my dark years – how many more stories do we need about a black woman coming through the “struggle”. Then the light bulb went off (if you will) I’m thinking more like I received the inspiration from you know who, I remembered a dream I had in the third grade and the story began to unravel.
Genesis 41:12
And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.
Dreams by definition are a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Please do not get this confused with fortune telling, sorcery, witchcraft, or oneiromancy for this is not. I’m simply telling the story as it was designed for me to share with you.Of course I have had those dreams we’ve often heard about, you know the ones where you’re falling but you may or may not hit the ground, and wake up relieved and/or frightened, or the dreams of something running after you. The Bible tells us of dreams and visions from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation. Jacob received God’s promise that Abraham’s blessing would be carried on, Joseph was shown his family would respect him, and Daniel had understanding in all dreams. I’ve had hundreds of dreams; some I remember others I do not. There have been times when I awoke and felt afraid and there have been some dreams I actually tried to go back to sleep and finish because they were so enjoyable.
The story of Jonah is about a man who God called to deliver a message. Jonah was called by God to deliver a message to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. He wasn’t willing to make that journey so he started one of his own which lead him to the farthest point in the other direction away from God, or so he thought. When called by God, Jonah’s selfish desires caused God to have to break Jonah. Jonah had to learn that you can’t hide or run from God and about the mercy and grace of God; much like Jonah I have run from God on many occasion only to find He was there all the time no matter where, who or what I ran to. Trust and believe I’ve had my share of being in the whale. God has over the years has dealt with me in my dreams, I suspect that is because I was too busy to be still long enough for Him to get my attention – or so I thought.
When you are not busy come with me to the next Bus Stop, and find out about #thebus, I hope you enjoy the ride.
