Prophetic Dreams?

I know that throughout the course of time, many have wondered about the meanings and purposes of dreams. There's always the scientific write-off of saying that dreams are the thought processes that are occurring in our brain when it is converting short-term memory into long-term memory. Sometimes I'm not satisfied with the simple scientific answer. I am looking for something a little more deeper. I know that there must be a logical explanation to some of the more unique and impressionable dreams.

I remember when I was in college living in the dorms, I could almost count on having peculiar dreams every Wednesday or Thursday night. It eventually turned into a running joke with my roommate. She would always ask me what I dreamed about the night before, and we would sometimes laugh hysterically at the sorts of things my mind would come up with.

Last week I had a very peculiar dream that has left me wondering what the real meaning could be for this. This is not the first time something like this has happened. This is why I am wondering if God is trying to tell me something. I'll get to more on that later.

Last week I had a dream that a friend of mine, who is also a teacher at a sister school of mine, called me to tell me that there was a new teaching position available at her school. The school she works at is one I had looked into working at a couple years ago because it is a highly notable school in our area that also teaches the Core Knowledge Curriculum which is what I teach too. I remember in my dream telling her that I couldn't possibly leave my class and school because this is a place I truly enjoy being at and a place where I feel like I have a respected role in my school's community. I don't see myself leaving this school for quite a few years. I am a committed person. When I work somewhere, I stay for a long time. I also remember feeling delighted at the thought that I could be teaching the exact same thing I am teaching now, but only working MUCH closer to home than I do now.

The story doesn't stop here. I talked to my friend before church started the other day and I told her about my dream. She said that she actually thought about calling me that week because there actually was a position available at her school. She knew that I had looked into working at her school and that I would be interested, but she thought I wouldn't want to leave in the middle of the school year. The other reason why she didn't call was because the position was practically filled by the time she heard about it, but it started to make me wonder what God was trying to tell me.

Is this why my house didn't sell this summer when we had it on the market? Maybe it could have been because the housing market is pretty lousy these days. It's so easy to explain things away. Hearing this news from my friend made me wonder, but I soon started to shrug it off.

While sitting in church just moments after talking to my friend, our pastor started his message which included a passage in Genesis about Joseph when he shared his prophetic dreams with his brothers. He soon got persecuted because he told his brothers that they would be bowing down to him, but that is beside the point. God sent Joseph dreams which were like promises of what was to come.

By this point, I was starting to wonder, "Okay, God. I get it. Is there something you are trying to tell me? You got my attention now, but what do you want me to do with this?" Just a couple months ago, I was so eager to sell my house and move to Brighton which would provide a better way of life for me and my family. I would be working a lot closer to my school and Jason would be closer to his work too. It just made sense to move...at the time.

Now I am left wondering if God wants me to leave my school sooner than I had imagined. I love my school and the people that are there, but sometimes I get really irritated with how small it is and how far it really is. The other reason why I imagined myself staying longer is partially because it has been said many times before that my school hires a lot of new teachers, or teachers who only stay for only a couple years and then they move on to other schools. I don't want to be another one of those teachers. I want to be the kind of teacher who stays awhile and really establishes something special. I guess I can still do that, but maybe it will just be in a shorter time period than I thought.

I still don't know what God wants me to do with this, but I know now that it's not just a coincidence. If anything, maybe God just wants me to pray about it and to start pulling myself away from where I am because I might not be there as long as I had planned. Maybe He has a greater purpose for me elsewhere, but I'm still left wondering, "what next?"

I guess if I already had an idea of what the big picture is and what His plan is for me, then I probably wouldn't feel the need to depend on God so much. I guess I'm just going to send this off out into the abyss of the unknown and just pray that God will guide and direct me through this. I guess what matters is that I am still part of His ultimate plan. Whatever and wherever that may be.