Sweet Dreams

(Picture: galerie-appassionata.com)

    

     Those who are devotees to this blog from the beginning, know that in the course of the last almost four years, I have found that when I dream,  and speak occasionally to my loved ones who have passed, and that I believe that in most instances, that they are genuinely communicating with me.  I believe this because I have received in dreams information from Dad, from Daniel, and others which have made both my personal path clearer, and have provided information which later turned out to be factual. I believe that God is much larger, more capable, and far more wonderful than most of us allow him to be, in our own existence.  Sometimes, we can be likened to toddlers saying that engineering, medicine, and music do not exist.  When faced with evidence of God's love for us, and for those who have passed and are with him, we explain things in such an oversimplified fashion, that we get it wrong.  God is so capable, and so broad, and so powerful, that he can do anything.  The limit is our imagination. We cannot conceive of His skills, or of his love for His creations.  Because of God's love for us, I believe that He does allow communication from those we have lost, who are no longer embodied here. He may do so, simply because hearing briefly from those we love may provide us with the courage to stay on track in our own lives. Simply knowing that those we love, and who may have suffered are safe at Home, can give us a much calmer perspective.
           I also believe that most everyone can hear from loved ones passed, particularly when we enter deep sleep, and are in dream.  This does not mean that I dream of passed loved ones every night. I am unusual only in that I probably remember more of my dreams on awaking than do most people.  This is a skill that can be grown. Put a spiral notebook and a pen next to your bed. If you awaken during the night, or in the morning, jot down what you remember from your dreams immediately.  At first it's likely to be very sketchy.  "I was in a cool forest walking, looking for a road.  I got to a clearing and there was a package from the IRS".  Some such recollection of dream might be your first entry.  Over time though, your ability to concentrate enough on detail will grow, and then you will be paying attention, and more likely to catch and recall valuable detail from dreams. As for being psychic, I think all humans are interwoven in the collective consciousness, but that we fight this all our human lives, seeking to hear only ourselves. Sadly, this cuts us off from all types of really important information.  I am no more psychic than anyone else, however, I am a willing listener.  I do recall some of what I am told in dreams.

(Photo: carltons-quote-corner.weebly.com)

 
           My mother passed some years ago. We were not particularly close at that time.  The loving mother I knew from an earlier age, changed radically in her seventies and eighties, due to multiple disease processes. She did not recall my siblings and I, and she chose to leave her assets to a friend and a charity with which she had become acquainted within the last six months of her life. I know she did not dislike her children, but her disease process certainly did. She said and did a lot of hurtful things in those years, and also mistakenly thought we had said or done things which hurt her.  I did not hear from her in my dreams for many years after she died.  Interestingly, one of my siblings did.  It is only recently that I have heard from her in dreams. Even then, she is not apologizing for her actions while ill. In the dream she is lamenting how she was treated in the last year of her life via messages on an answering machine.
           I mention all of this because I want to convey that I believe that we can plug in to the consciousness of those who have passed.  Most times, this can be both inspiring and very therapeutic, as it has been with communications from my Dad and from Daniel.  Sweet dreams.

Yes, you can hear Christine Dente, formerly of "Out of the Grey" singing background vocals in this inspiring song, by Newsong.

Brief Meetings in Dreams

Just above Daniel's farm

      In the early hours of this morning, as I slept, I saw Daniel.   I was walking toward a building with a glass entryway, that looked something like a modern brick school with a glass entry alcove.   I could see Daniel standing just to the left of the entry positioned facing the door as I approached, so I could see a side view of his hair, but not his face.  I still knew it was Daniel.   In the fractions of seconds it took to enter the building, I could not wait to see his face.  As I entered the glass alcove to the building, there he was. I looked at his face.  His face was very similar to how I remember it, as was the rest of him. There were tears in his eyes. There was both joy that we had this small time together, and I was not sure whether there was sorrow or simple compassion in his face. I just know I was thrilled to see him.   I was not sure what had happened or if he were simply there to encourage me or simply to let me know that he is always still with me.  Then the dream was over.
         I suppose I will have to get context from future dreams or perhaps I will recollect another portion another time.  In any event, I feel encouraged overall when I see Dad or Daniel in my dreams.


Although many of us think of the performance of Josh Groban when we think of this song, the songwriters of "To Where You Are" are actually Richard Marx and Linda Thompson. This is the Richard Marx version.

 

A Visit in Dream for my Husband

          I was just thinking this week that I had not heard from Daniel or from my Dad in some time, in dreams. I don't have any control over this, and I am convinced that this is something THEY do from time to time, and not really something my psyche can orchestrate.   (Although I certainly can orchestrate dreams in which I am restating to someone what happened and the feelings of loss and bewilderment which can occur.)   There is not much I can do but let them know before I sleep that I am open to hearing from them, before I pray to God each evening before sleep.
           My husband has not been as lucky as I have in this regard.  Normally, he does not recall many of his dreams, and when he does, they are not vivid, and they are often a simple restatement of his days frustrations.  Last night though, it was different.    He related in the middle of the night that he dreamt that we were living in the big white house we lived in, in the suburbs, before we moved here.  This is the house we lived in when Daniel was born.  We moved to the country from that house when Daniel was two.    In my husband's dream, he dreamt that Daniel was about four, and that my husband and I were watching tv in our bed with Daniel sitting with us.   I had fallen asleep while watching television, so my husband picked Daniel up, and carried him to bed, tucking him in.  Daniel was wide awake, and not in any rush to go to bed.  A black labrador dog, just like Mark, (one of Daniel's dogs) who died of a stroke, a couple of years after Daniel's passing, was sleeping  at Daniel's feet, guarding him.    My husband awoke at around 2:30 am and was crying.   This type of dream is unusual for him.   I told him that Daniel was likely visiting and that this was a loving encouragement from him.   This morning, my husband recalls this dream very clearly, which is also unusual for him.
          Last night I dreamt "busy dreams".   I was busy with multiple tasks.   Oddly, I too dreamt that we were once again living in the big white suburban house, but that we were at war, and that there was civil unrest.

This is the house both my husband and I dreamt about last evening. This was our second home together.  It was a surburban home with about an acre of land, with a full basement and three full floors.  This is the home Daniel spent his babyhood in. We moved from here, to the first farm we built when he was two.

             I wonder if all the coronal mass ejections of the sun, that we have had of late, generate more vivid dreams for us on Earth, or whether it makes it easier for those who have passed and whom we love, to pass a message of remembrance to us.
              It's good to know my husband had this dream and that it got through.   I think he may need the encouragement.  Christian faith does not always leave room for the possibility of positive visitation from those we love, but of course, they should know, that with God, all things are possible.


Lead Vocal:   Christine Dente of "Out of the Grey"
 

Brief Visits

The last days have been busy and rushed. The animals have not been sleeping well due to the six or seven continuing post earthquake aftershocks we have been experiencing, and this means the human beings are not sleeping well either. The day before yesterday, after my husband went to work, I fell back to sleep in the morning. I dreamt that Daniel came to check on me as I was sleeping. He looked very much as I remember him, only taller, and somehow healthier. In the dream, I looked up and said, "You're still HERE ?" He said, "Of course I am. Where else would I be ?" With that, he put a DVD in the machine in the master bedroom, and sat on the end of bed to watch it. I turned over and went back to sleep. When I woke up I felt much happier. You can believe I had a lovely dream. I will believe he made a quick visit home.

Almost Three Years, Daniel

Daniel,
I can almost make it through most days now. Even standing on the edge of what might be an early autumn, significant because this is when I first lost my Dad, and then before I even knew what was happening, lost you suddenly and unexpectedly as well. As you know, I have not been able to return to teaching college. I honestly don't believe that I could stand up there, and go back to what I did when you were still on the Earth. I don't believe that I could stand up there talking about cardiac conduction disorders and the like, knowing that what I described so well, just two weeks before your passing, in my last class before the break, was what is likely to have called you from us. How good could I be at what I do ? I never suspected that you had any kind of a heart rhythm disturbance. I never saw anything.No one did. Almost three years later, I still find the entire thing hard to believe. I wish you had simply been borrowed for your superior intellect and problem solving creativity by a secret governmental agency, or a superior race, leaving us to believe for just a time, that you have passed. Oh how I wish that your "Celebration of Life" (funeral) had been a sham. Yes, I know. You are laughing at me telling me I still watch too much science fiction, and I do. I do it because you are not here to.
I am trying to live and use my life well as both you and my Dad have told me to do in dreams many times, since your passings. Oh, and this week I saw my mom in dreams too, but you likely already know that. I am trying my hand as a radio program host. Your Dad jokes that it should be easy for me because I talk in my sleep, and it should be effortless for me. Yet it's not. It's the acceptance that you are not coming back while I am on Earth, and the acceptance that I must do something to move ahead and earn money, when of course, some days I would rather evaporate and find you. I will do my best with this new venture. Please don't think that because I have a job now that I don't need to hear from you and Dad just as much as I have been. I still need both of you in my life whatever way you find that you can send messages. The support of both of you is invaluable and is priceless. The song below reduces me to the crying little girl I sometimes am. Love you both......wider than the oceans and deeper than all the seas.

Reminders of My Father

These photographs were taken in early September 2011 in Shelburne County, at the southernmost tip of Nova Scotia. Copyright 2011 Krehbiel Ind.



My father was a world explorer and seafarer from the 1940s onward. He tried hard to stay on land and be a "regular husband and father" while I was growing up, but the sea always called him, as it did his Nova Scotian and his Scottish ancestors. Eventually, as I readied for college, he returned to the sea as a head ship's radio-electronics officer, where he enjoyed his work, for the most part, until long past most people's retirement.
I suppose it is natural that following a trip to Nova Scotia, that I would dream of him. Last night I dreamt that my father was fine and was pleased about our trip. Daniel was not with him, but this somehow did not feel strange. This morning as I search for a message in the dream, all I really get is that although he is gone from Earth, his consciousness lives, and knows what we do.

Strange Dreams

Part of the farm


the cabin in the dream was similar siding and roof but with large front windows

Today was a busy day. Tosh, Daniel's cat needed to go to be neutered today. We put away his food at 10 last night as we were told, and the cat was up from about 3 am on, meowing. My husband and I finally got up at 6 am, and took Tosh to the vet. This morning I ran some errands before coming home in the early afternoon. Since I had been up with the cat since three in the morning, by four in the afternoon, I was really tired. I decided to lie down for just a minute on our bed, and I fell into a really deep sleep. I had a strange but very clear and detailed dream. For some reason, we had built another house on the farm in addition to the one we have. It was deep within the farm and was brown cedar with large front windows and I was inside cleaning. Outside, a lady from the postal service, with white hair, very fit, about 60, was looking in the windows from the front porch. I have never seen her before, and she does not work for our local post office, which incidentally does not deliver mail here anyway. We must go to pick it up. I went outside, and she exclaimed that she could see Daniel inside the house when she was looking for us to deliver our mail. In the dream, I knew Daniel was there, but I could not disclose this to her, and so I told her that she had seen James instead. (Even though they do not look alike) I remember thinking I needed a stronger gate and curtains in the front windows of the cedar house deep on the property. She delivered some certified mail, that hadn't needed to be certified. Then outside became very blustery and we had all the windows open. The high warm swirling winds from outside blew things over and put dust everywhere inside. I was running around to secure lamps and close windows. The winds were so strong that I could not close some of the windows.
At that moment, I awoke to realize I had fallen into a deep sleep, and that it was now nearing dinner time, and I was late in putting it all together. I was still half asleep as I made dinner.
I have no idea what the dream was saying to me, other than my acknowledging that Daniel is with us, just not in an official sense where you could take him as a tax deduction or inform the post office, yet dwelling here at times, at least figuratively, nonetheless.


Nichole grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Now a wife and mother of two, she lives in Texas, and her singer songwriting has garnered her multiple Dove Awards.

A Week of Many Trials

Daniel and Dad,

As you know, not all days here on Earth are filled with inspiration and light. Some of them are days not only that are hard, but they remind us that nothing on Earth is pure, easy, or achieved without a lot of work, or strife.
Politically, we are watching fuel costs skyrocket, and many places go out of business. Getting something done, like the glass replaced in the minivan, is now something which takes signficant driving from here, because no one who does that is still in business for many many miles. Our normal inspection station is gone too. We must go to another county. Jobs, especially for the young, are almost impossible to find. The news is filled with wars and natural disasters, and we have an impending federal government shutdown shortly due to lack of agreement with regard to financing it.
The kids here are soldiering on, but this week there have been trials. Daniel, in a dream a while ago, you told me to "Help Matthew", and I have been watching him. It seems that his prior grades in college, from 4.0 are slipping badly. He is no longer cultivating a variety of friends there, and he thinks he might like to quit college, get a job and move in with some friends from college. Of course, if his plan were viable ones, then we would support his maturity and his entry into the world, but his plan cannot work without money saved, a job, a concrete plan, or a way of paying his health insurance and his car insurance. He is also bitter and resentful toward his siblings, his college, and us. He denies that he has reached an impasse in the processing the loss of both of you, but I think we know this is impacting him also, and contributing to what I think may be depression. I have made an appointment for him next week, at the college, with someone who can help. Please pray for Matt in this really difficult time.
This next week we take the cat to be neutered, but this week, a female cat has been coming by the farm, and Tosh is uncharacteristically hostile with us. He put a gash in Stephanie's nose which bought her a mad dash to the emergency room for treatment (as she is diabetic and also needed a tetanus shot) We came a hairsbreadth from their jurisdiction impounding Tosh, because rabies in endemic in Virginia, and a rabies shot alone is no longer assumed to guarantee immunity.
In less than a couple of weeks it will be time to pay our federal and state taxes. This will be difficult since we have already paid property taxes, and personal property taxes on cars etc. Life on Earth and concerns for loved ones while we are here and don't have the big picture is tough stuff, and getting harder. We miss you both more than I can ever say here or in my dreams when we speak.

This is Tennessee based JJ Heller