Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 11:06 a.m. – I lay down for a nap because I had one of those storm headaches – sinus pressure things going on in my head. I was lying on the sofa talking to the Lord about several things that are going on in my life and that were on my heart. And, I prayed for revival in my life, in the life of my husband, my family and the church here in the USA. All of a sudden I realized this song (from a movie of the same title) was playing in the background in my mind:
The Way We Were / 1973 / Barbara Streisand
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/THE-WAY-WE-WERE-lyrics-Barbra-Streisand/33A150E257C26C1348256867002D964D
I inquired of the Lord if this was of him, and if so, what was the message he was trying to convey to me through it. Then, I had a mental image of two newspaper articles that I had just read before putting my head down. It was the story of an off-duty police officer who was riding a motorcycle down one of our roads here in Rock Hill at 80 m.p.h. in a 45 m.p.h. speed zone when he ran head-on into the car of a 22 year old recent college graduate. They both died in the accident and a passenger in the 22 year old’s car was injured. The police reported that both drivers were at fault, because the driver of the car had failed to yield when he pulled out on to the road from his apartment complex. The title of one article was “Grad’s memory serves as inspiration for students.” http://www.heraldonline.com/front/story/1316835.html
Update 2:00 p.m.: Now the police are saying that the 22 year old was not at fault.
I found myself getting personally involved in this story by asking questions like:
• What was the officer doing driving at 80 m.p.h. in a 45 m.p.h. zone?
• What was he thinking?
• Why did the young man fail to yield? Certainly he could see a man on a motorcycle barreling down the road at 80 m.p.h.
• Did the police officer change lanes at the last minute?
• Is this really what happened?
• Is there a cover-up? – the police protecting their own in some way?
Then, I fell asleep and I had this dream: My mom had left me a cassette tape recording and a note of some kind but I was having difficulty understanding what they meant. I think I may have been resting in the dream, too, or at least my head was feeling dizzy from the storm. I was trying to understand what my mom had left me. I was trying to get to the upright piano, but there was furniture (a sofa cushion) that was out of place and the music stand on the piano was twisted in half so that half of it was upside down and I was trying to straighten it out, I believe.
All of a sudden I turned around and there was a woman sitting at a grand or baby grand piano just inside the front door of this house. The house reminded me of a house I lived in from maybe 1955 to 1959 when I was ages 5 to 9. It was at this house that I have my earliest recollection of my father’s abuse towards me and all of us, for that matter. Anyway, the woman sitting at the piano was Asian-looking and she had her hair up in some kind of a pulled back-and-up hair style.
I thought she was an evil spirit, so I prayed in the name of Jesus for her to be gone, but she didn’t leave. And, then she told me that she believed in Jesus and that she was there to help me with the cassette tape and with the note from my mother and that she was also there to help me with or to do my “shopping list” for me. END
That is when I woke up, and again the song “The Way We Were” was going through my mind. Besides the obvious meaning of “shopping list” I found these definitions:
Shopping List – definition: grocery list: a list of heterogeneous (varied; mixed; assorted - Encarta) items that someone wants; "the union came to the table with a whole grocery list of demands" (Google); any list of things desired or demanded: “a long shopping list of amendments to the treaty” (www.thefreedictionary.com).
My mom did leave me a cassette tape recording of her piano playing in real life. My mom has been deceased for nine years as of June 29th of this year. She died of cancer. As I thought about her cassette tape recording, I remembered one of the songs that she used to play which my sisters and I sang at my dad’s funeral:
The Strength of the Lord / Larnelle Harris
http://www.tsrocks.com/l/larnelle_harris_texts/the_strength_of_the_lord.html
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read James 5:
Warning to Rich OppressorsMy Understanding: I believe this is talking about America and that my mom represents (not sure yet), maybe just herself, or perhaps the true church or the Holy Spirit who has left us these words and music to the song, “The Strength of the Lord”.
1Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.
Patience in Suffering
7Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. 9Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
10Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
12Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned.
The Prayer of Faith
13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
When I was lying on the sofa here, in real life, I was resting, trusting and praying, just like it talked about in the song “The Strength of the Lord.” And, I did sense my strength being renewed. I was very much at peace.
When I heard the song “The Way We Were” going through my head, the Lord reminded me of that newspaper article. The scripture passage begins with a warning against rich oppressors because of the misery that is going to come upon them. It says “You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.” That could be said of the police officer since he is one who is supposed to uphold the law and who is to serve and to protect the people, yet he broke the law and because of that, he killed an innocent man.
Then, in the dream, I was trying to get to the upright piano in order to understand a cassette tape and a note that my mom had left me, but I was hindered by a sofa cushion that was out of place and by a music stand that was twisted and turned. Since the location for this dream was the house I lived in when I was a young child and it is my earliest memories of the abuse of my father, I can’t help but believe that the Lord is pointing to another “oppressor” who was supposed to nurture, protect and lead me (and others) in the paths of righteousness, but our house was in disarray because of this abuse. There was no harmony in this house. This was another oppressor who took advantage of the innocent. We were taught a legalistic Christianity and a strict moral code, but my father contradicted what he taught in words by how he lived, just like the police officer apparently did, as well.
In both of these cases, these men represented people in positions of authority over other people; people who were supposed to teach (by example) the ways of righteousness, who were supposed to uphold the law, who were supposed to lead, protect, nurture, love, and serve those under their authority. But, in both cases there was abuse of authority and a breaking of the law they taught with their words, but not with their lives, and it cost the lives of innocent people (some to physical death and others to emotional death or impairment). The encouragement here, though, is that “the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.” The Lord heard my cries when I was a young child and he hears all of our cries.
Then, as I read the words to “The Strength of the Lord” I realized that this was what my dream was about, as well. It begins “Sometimes life seems like words and music that can’t quite become a song. So we cry inside, and we try it again and wonder what could be wrong.” Well, that is definitely where I was at that point in my life. The “words” and “music” that my mom left me just were not becoming a song, so I was struggling to make them work – I was trying and running and wondering about my life and why it was the way it was.
Then, this woman appeared at a grand or a baby grand piano and she said she would help me with the cassette tape (my memories, perhaps) and the words (the note) and she would do my “shopping list” for me. The scripture stated that “the Judge” was standing at the door, so for some reason, the Lord chose this Asian-looking woman to represent the judgment of God. Yet, what was being offered me was help in understanding what my mom had left me and help by doing my “shopping list.”
I believe the “shopping list” was the prayers that I offered up to God, and that he was promising to answer them. The scripture also stated that “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
A piano is an instrument, and since this woman was sitting at this instrument and she was appearing at the door, then I believe the Lord is showing that this woman represents God’s divine instrument of judgment against America. Yet, this woman – this divine instrument of judgment - is also going to be God’s answer to the cries of the harvesters and that through this instrument God is going to answer many of our prayers for this nation and for the church (the mom, perhaps) in the USA.
The encouragement for us in this passage of scripture is to be patient and to wait on the Lord; to stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near; and to persevere. We are also encouraged to pray in faith, believing that God will answer. And, we are urged, should we see someone wandering from the truth, to turn the sinner from the error of his way which will then save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. Time is short. The Lord’s return is soon. We need to have our hearts right with God.
Lastly, which was at the beginning, we are encouraged to not try, but to trust, to not run, but to rest in the Lord and to not wonder, but to pray. This has to do with struggling in our own flesh or resources when the Lord is asking us to put our faith and trust in Him and His resources for the situations of our lives and to rest in Him and His ability to answer our prayers when the time for the harvest is here.
The purpose of the song, “The Way We Were,” thus gives a picture of America – the way we were – but that all that is going to change because God is going to intervene and is going to send his instrument of judgment and I believe he is also going to answer our prayers for changed lives; for the salvation of souls, for deliverance for our loved ones from bondage to sin; and for revival in our nation and in our homes/families. That is what I was praying for when the Lord gave me this dream.
Next I read the news. I had this sense that the woman represented the country of China. So, I looked for news articles about China or about other countries in Asia. I saw this one that stood out to me: China military build-up seems U.S.-focused: Mullen http://uk.reuters.com/article/usPoliticsNews/idUKTRE54363X20090504.
Then, I thought about this woman’s hair, again. A woman’s hair symbolizes the authority over her head, so her hair being up and back in some kind of a “Do” could very well symbolize this build-up of military power. A piano is a large musical instrument consisting of a keyboard fixed to a wooden case containing metal wires stretched across a frame. It is played by pressing the keys, each of which is attached to a small hammer that strikes one or more of the wires to sound a note (Encarta). Metal and wood are both symbols for dependence upon the flesh of man. A frame is a means of support and steel/iron in this context seems to signify that they received their support through human strength; legalism; rules taught by man; and strongholds of Satan in their lives.
The woman is playing the piano or she is at least sitting at the piano. Sitting has to do with a position of rule and authority, so she is in a position of authority over the piano, which very well could represent this army (explains why it was a ‘grand’ piano). And, the army is thus at the door of America (the judge is at the door).
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