Does your dream mean what you think it means?

Often the elements in our dreams do not have the meaning we might initially think they have. When trying to understand our own dreams in particular, it is common for us to focus on one symbol in the dream and take a negative view of what it might mean – that God is saying something negative to us, or pulling us up for something. However, although God does correct us and reorient us through dreams it will always come with hope, affirmation, and love.

This was brought home to me again recently, as I was listening to a dream. In the dream, the dreamer needed to buy a lot of fabric for the windows in a new office, to make curtains. As the dream featured an office that needed curtains, and she runs a business, the dreamer wondered whether God was saying ‘it’s curtains for your business’. As we looked at the dream, however, we felt the opposite was true. The office was new, so the work was not coming to an end – in fact God was letting her know that the transition she was in would have a good outcome.

We looked at what other meaning curtains could have. To explore this, we asked ourselves:

• What purpose do curtains serve?
• Is there mention of curtains in scripture?
• What might curtains represent to the dreamer in particular?

This thought process highlights the three most important keys to understand what a symbol might mean in a dream;

• the context of the dream itself – the same symbol can appear in two different dreams but have two different meanings, based on the different contexts of the dream.
• What the symbol represents to the dreamer
• Listening to Holy Spirit – the Spirit of wisdom. This is the most important key; it is the Holy Spirit who reveals what God is saying in a dream.

Curtains are mentioned in scripture (the curtain of the temple, e.g. Matthew 27:51) but we did not have a sense that this was relevant to the dream. So we thought about the purpose of curtains and came up with

They provide cover

They bring privacy

They let in light (or block it)

In conversation with the dreamer, the meaning that made most sense was that the curtains represented privacy, as the dreamer was in the process of privatizing their business. The curtains were needed, so the process and transition she was in were important, and there was a sense of urgency in the dream for her to get those curtains up.

An encouraging message from God!

It can be difficult to interpret our own dreams as we are not objective. It often helps to have an objective, prayerful interpretation from others. What might God be saying to you through your dreams? Send us your dream

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