A Childhood Dream That Stayed With Me
There is a dream from my childhood that has never left me. It was the first dream I can remember, not because of its imagery, but because of the impact it had on my young heart. I was very small, yet this dream has stayed with me all my life.
In the dream, I was riding in a small car. In my mind today, it feels like a red Volkswagen bug. Mom and Dad were in the front seat, Dad driving, Mom beside him. I sat in the middle of the back seat, leaning forward so I could be part of their conversation.
But behind me, something was wrong.
From the back seat came a constant irritant. I was being poked and prodded by an evil spirit. As a child, I somehow recognized this to be the devil, though I cannot explain how I would have understood that at such a young age. He would not leave me alone, and I could not escape his constant prodding.
Whether I understood it then or only later, the message of the dream became very clear to me:
Satan would never leave me alone.
I know I am not unique in this. The adversary pursues anyone who seeks to follow God. But as I look back over my life, I can see the pain and heartache he has caused as his temptation has been present throughout my life.
I can testify of the adversary’s power, but even more, I testify of the power of God and the right I have to call upon His strength to bring me through the storms of mortality.
Facing hard times can break us or build us. I try to let it build me.
As I look back on that childhood dream, it taught me early that opposition is real and relentless. But it also taught me something else, something far more important: if the adversary is constant, then so is God.
Through every season of my life, even the ones that felt unbearable, I have felt moments of quiet strength that were not my own. I have felt peace settle over me when nothing in my circumstances had changed. I have felt the Lord steady me when I could not steady myself.
And I have learned that while Satan may prod and poke and whisper discouragement, he does not get the final word.
God does.
I still think of that little red car sometimes. I think of my small self sitting between my parents, leaning forward toward safety and love, while something dark tried to pull at me from behind. And I realize now that the dream was never about fear. It was about truth.
There will always be opposition. There will always be moments when the adversary presses in close. But there will also always be a Father at the wheel, a Savior beside Him, and a path forward that leads me toward light.
