“To Dream of You” - a 2007 reading by Jaz to Marcy (used at our wedding)

I suspect that there is a significance to dreams that we don't really understand. God created mankind to be a creature of dreams, a creature that dreams. He revealed Himself to Abraham and gave him a dream of being a father of many nations. Jacob was a dreamer. God used dreams extensively in Joseph's life. The great men of faith listed in Hebrews were also men who dreamed and dreamed big. Throughout Scripture we see the use of dreams and visions and it all begins with Adam. He was created to be a creature of community and was given a task of naming all of the rest of creation.

In Genesis 2 it says:

The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

The creature most specifically created for community lacked a companion.

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

This to me is an incredible, wondrous concept. Every living thing previously had been created from dirt.

Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

But when God created Woman, He created her from Man. She is completely unique in this. She is both completely unique in her creation while being completely tied to Man. God made Man's companion from Man. Based on every creative act ever occurring previously, this is a mindblowing concept. Moreover, God put Adam to sleep first. He certainly didn't have to do so. Was this the first time Adam ever slept? Did he dream? If so, was it his very first dream? What really excites me (and I believe that this fits with God's revealed personality so wonderfully well) is the idea that while God created Eve, He gave Adam dreams of the woman, the companion, that He was creating. This gives especial significance to that moment when Adam awakened to see his bride, the Woman created for him, the Woman of his dreams.

Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

Looking back over the past several years, I feel like I have kind of been in limbo, neither here nor there - asleep if you will. During this time, say the past 10 years, a Dream has been forming in my heart of a Woman and a Future with her. It has been a long, ever so long, wait but what I didn't realise was that while I dreamed of that Woman, God was creating her. It wasn't until this year that I awakened as if from a dream and saw the Woman of my Dreams (and, yes, she is about 10 years younger than me)! My Perfect Companion... Marcy Rose Brown

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 61

For you, O God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
So will I ever sing praises to your name,
as I perform my vows day after day.