I sent this as an email to a friend recently, and thought I would share this with the rest of you as I think you'll find it neat and encouraging.  Especially if you've been following my journey over the years.

    I've got an interesting one for you.  I wouldn't call this anything really prophetic, but while I was taking a nap today God gave me kind of a short dream that I feel was meant to encourage me.  It started out in our old house in my parent's bedroom and the scene was just like it's been many times in the past.  Namely, their big double bed is in there, dressers, etc like a normal bedroom.  However, in every case in the past that room is always filled with piles and piles of stuff.  Old books, papers, trinkets, objects from my childhood, memorable items, etc.  Just piles of the stuff everywhere, on the bed, etc.  The bedroom looks kinda like the junk drawer for the entire house.  But this isn't garbage that needs to be thrown out.  It's things with family, historical or sentimental value.  It's just that there's a LOT of it.  So much so that it just fills this room from wall to wall.

    Anyhow, in the dream I'm in there trying to sort through the room, organize it, clean it up, make it presentable, livable, etc.  Boxing up stuff that doesn't need to be just laying around. Mom is there with me trying to help, but in her dementia state she's more unhelpful than helpful.  Not in a mean or malicious way.  She just doesn't have the mental ability to help, so I'm not really getting anywhere as she's picking through boxes, pulling things out, putting them back in place instead of helping me pack them all away and put them in storage so we're not stepping over things or climbing mountains just to move about the room.  Now, what's odd and different about this room vs times before, is that the bed is on the opposite wall.  Our old house faced east and was on a north to south alignment with the compass.  And because of that, their bed was butted up against the south wall under the window.

    In all my dreams of that same room, the bed was always in its traditional location.  Not this time.  Instead, the bed was up against the northern wall near the bedroom door, and the things that we were boxing up were piled up against the southern wall where the bed usually rested.  Anyhow, I remember that, while I was packing boxes, I was slowly growing frustrated with mom's "help" (again, nothing malicious.  Just more or less like a curious two year old) as it was hindering my progress.  Somewhere in the middle of this my dad walked in and began helping us clean and pack up everything in the room that didn't need to be out. But the most important thing he did was he took mom aside and began working with her, patiently walking her through everything that needed to be done to clean the room, and was having much better luck at it than I had been.

    While he was doing that, and keeping mom distracted, I hustled along and darted very productively getting things boxed up and put away, organized, etc.  The room cleaning went WAY faster with dad in the room than it was with just mom and I.  Thinking about that dream, and thinking back to a couple other "house cleaning" like dreams where my dad was present, along with some other people from time to time, it's almost like God was confirming to me that, "Yes, I'm still here, and I'm still helping you clean things up.  Be encouraged, don't quit, don't get frustrated.  I'm still cleaning, and I'm still here with you through all of this.  Stay at it and we'll get this cleaned up in time."  It's interesting to think back about each of the dreams and the places where God has been showing me all the places He's been working with me to clean things up.

    There's even one dream where I'm in a facsimile of my Grandma's old red wooden barn that was filled with all kinds of old gadgets, trinkets, antiques, curiosities and more.  It's almost like the Lord is showing me that, room by room, He's going through my life, cleaning up and removing what doesn't need to be there, while also boxing up old memories and things that don't need to be out and in use, and putting them into storage.  Not throwing them away, as they are precious memories and good things of my past.  But also not things that need to be out all the time.  Sorta like Christmas decorations.  They only need to be out about one month each year, and these memories are kinda the same thing.  Box them up and put them in storage for now, and if they're needed later, then bring them out to show off or examine briefly, before putting them back again.  But they're not something that needs to be out all the time, because they just clutter up the room if they are.

Anyhow, just wanted to share that with you as I thought you'd find that neat and somewhat encouraging given how you've kept pace with all that God's done in my life over the years.