Throughout my life I have experienced several moments when I felt like God... the Holy Spirit... was connecting with me. These encounters began when I was about eight years old and have progressed through my entire life.
There are some people who do not believe we can trust our experiences with God, but that totally makes no sense to me. Our experiences are all that we have when it comes to encountering the Divine... the Holy Spirit. The seven experiences I have gone through where I felt God's nudge, touch or guidance have been pivotal to me ranging from the early stages of my spiritual life to dealing with the loss of my son, Stephen in recent years.
I have never been one to be awkward about discussing death or considering various possibilities about what the afterlife is like. Sure we have plenty of preachers who think they can tell us all about death by reading the Bible, but truth is nobody knows exactly what our next existence will be like. Losing Stephen so early in life has caused me to expand my thought processes regarding various avenues of the afterlife. Don't get me wrong, I held a very open mind about death, afterlife and spirituality before Stephen died, but since losing him I have continued to broaden my thoughts and considerations about death and the afterlife.
So, the story I am sharing in this blog involves a dream I had October 13, 2022. Throughout my life I have experienced many vivid dreams, repeating dreams, and dreams that caused me much reflection; however, the dream I had on October 13th was powerfully moving for me. Since experiencing this dream I have thought much about it... how it helped me to believe that I was helping Stephen... but in the end this dream was helping me cope with the loss of my son.
My Dream about Stephen...
In an unexpected turn of events the Holy Spirit delivered Stephen back to me as a twelve-year-old boy. At this time it had been 28 months since Stephen's death in June 2020. He was a twenty-eight year old man at the time of his passing. In my dream it was my understanding Stephen was having difficulty adapting to his new afterlife existence. I understood it was my duty as Stephen's dad to help him adapt, just like I had done for any event when he was alive.
The Stephen I was delivered was in the form of his soul. I could see him, talk with him, touch him, and experience things in my physical life with him. Other people in my life could not see, hear or experience Stephen. So, you can imagine that everyone else in my dream were concerned that I was going crazy. I didn't care, though, because I had Stephen again and I was completely happy regardless what anyone else thought. I was able to be Stephen's dad again, and that was all that mattered to me.
For what seemed like two weeks in my dream, Stephen's spirit continued to reverse-age in Benjamin Button style. After one week I was interacting with a six year-old Stephen who was wanting to learn how to ride a bike, so I helped him learn how to ride a bike. A few days later I was wrestling on the floor with a three year-old Stephen, who liked to wrestle just like he did as a three year old boy. Whether it was just that the dream seemed so real... or my mind was recalling cherished memories, it was one of the most touching events I have experienced in a while.
I could sense the time Stephen and I were spending together was working, because he was doing better, and wow... so was I. I was able to physically be Stephen's dad, again. Each moment in this dream was cherished.
As Stephen's soul reverse-aged to about 18 months old, he and I visited my grandmother's house in Jacksboro, Texas. Nannie's house was just as it was when Stephen was a little boy... same furniture, same cooking smells coming from the kitchen, same everything, except only Stephen and I were there. I was sitting on the couch in Nannie's living room, and toddler Stephen was clumsily walking around on the floor in front of me.
It was at this time in my dream that I noticed Stephen's head turn toward the kitchen door as if someone had called his name. He slowly and unsteadily walked into Nannie's kitchen, turned to the left and walked around the corner where I could not see him anymore. About the time I decided to get up and go see what he was getting into... an extremely bright, but soft and gentle light filled Nannie's kitchen for a split second.
As I walked into the kitchen, Stephen was gone... (again).
I stood in the kitchen... extremely happy and sad at the same time. I knew in my heart Stephen was ready now for whatever his next existence had in store for him. Stephen being with God was better than anything I could offer him. I was only thankful for the experience I had in my dream... that I could feel what it was like to be Stephen's dad once again.
Whether this was only a dream or an event that took place in my conscious mind, I only know I am happy to have experienced it. What seemed like something I was doing to help Stephen became something that he was doing to help me.
No comments:
Post a Comment