I’m not the one to usually receive a vision from God or hear His voice on a regular voice, but this past Thursday, God both gave a visual and spoke directly to me. I began by asking the Lord to reveal to me anything that He wanted. I invited the Holy Spirit to come. There was a song that began to play in my mind from the Christian artist Bob Carlisle called “Living Water”. The lyrics of “Come, living water, flow through me like a river. My heart’s been thirsty so long…” would not leave my mind and so I began to get a little frustrated that I was already being
distracted and I wouldn’t receive anything from the Lord then. Then something did happen. I saw a waterfall before me. The sight was beautiful as the running water glistened in the bright sunshine. It was a clear day. I then saw a person, not myself, twirling in the fall, with arms raised, splashing in the water, having a great time. As I watched them from a distance I heard the Lord say the words “freedom” and “acceptance“. The Lord then said that the person enjoying the waterfall was who He wanted me to be. Ugh, that hit me dead center. You see, lately, I’ve been struggling with issues of freedom, acceptance, and genuine joy. It was then that I knew that this scene playing before me was not created in my mind. The person standing in the water then became me, but I had my back to the downpour now. The Lord showed me nature at its finest, stretching as far as the eye could see. There was a river in the center and dense forests on either side. It was then that I heard “the world“. Nothing more. The scene then changed to me traveling along that river in a canoe. I had no paddle, but was being propelled by the current of the river. The river was not wide at all. In fact, there was little water on both sides of the moving canoe. I was checking out the dense forests along the riverbank when to my left I saw a group of people. The people were dressed in attire of what I imagine the native Americans wore when the English first came over to America. Both adults and children were going about what appeared as their normal routine, not paying me any attention. They were a primitive people group that had been untouched by anything modern. I also sensed that they had never heard the Gospel or anything about who Jesus Christ is. As I sat in the canoe, I did not feel any fear and, instead, felt the weight of a responsibility for these people. I then realized that during this part of the vision, I was 12 or 13 years old. It then hit me of a memory from a summer youth camp, when I was about that age. I had felt the Lord call me to be a missionary in foreign countries. Since that time, I had forgotten or ignored about the calling. Ugh, I felt like my memory had just received a thorough dusting. If I wasn’t completely convinced that these images were from God, I definitely was at this point. The Lord told me that “the dream was still alive“. Wow. I was then an older version of myself and was on dry ground, encircled by trees. The Lord was then in the form of a shimmering cloud just about the treetops. The shadow above didn’t cast any shadow or darkness. With my hand on my head, I was pacing back and forth saying “But, what about this..” and “I can’t do that.” Then I heard a voice say, “Don’t you trust me?” Ugh. I fell to my knees with my head bowed down. After what seemed like too long, I replied, “I trust you”. Then the Lord said simply, “Alright“. With my head then raised, I watched as the shimmering cloud began to ascend. I felt the warmth of light on my face and I was smiling. As the cloud pulled away, a voice said, “Be happy” and “Smile“. Then vision ended there, but the effects of what I had just seen and heard are still ongoing. The Lord revealed to me what He still wants me to do, even after 16 years or so when He first told me of His desire for me. While watching the vision, I asked the Lord to show me where Jesus was in it. He revealed that Jesus was the river that had led me to where the people were. It was so awesome. Not “awesome” like a blond-headed California surfer boy might say in reference to a nice wave, but “awesome” as in GOD-awesome! God shared with me that He desires me to be free, that I do belong and have His acceptance, and that He wants me to be happy and joyful as well. I now know that the Lord does desire to speak to me and to show me things, but I have to be willing to still myself and remove all distractions. For those of you that aren’t used to this either, I want to encourage you that it is SO worth it and so God-awesome!
