Dreams

I have always been a dreamer. My earliest memories of dreams were of bad dreams that the house was burning down, or there were ghosts in my room. One night I remember dreaming that I was looking for a shirt in my drawer, and the next morning I woke up with my pajamas on the floor and wearing that shirt (inside out). Another nightmare that I had was a recurring one. I dreamed that there was nothing but “TV snow” all around me and there was a huge box in the middle of the room full of socks that I had to mate. I would wake up in a cold sweat and sometimes crying. My mother would come into my room and ask if I’d had the sock dream again. Many years later, that dream came true when I had four children and one husband who were active in sports and wore two or three pairs of socks every day. When I would do the laundry, there were more than a hundred socks to mate every week.

I have also had a few dreams that I would consider “significant” dreams. These have been dreams that were much more vivid, and made sense.

I believe that when we are given dreams that help us solve a problem or give us comfort or information that we would not have been able to obtain while awake, it is a way that our Heavenly Father communicates with us. When we are asleep, our spirits are more susceptible to the whisperings of the spirit because we are relaxed and able to hear what our minds are too busy to hear when we are awake. I have had several dreams like this that were very personal.

One of these dreams had to do with a friend who was suffering a great deal with health issues. I dreamed that I was hiking up a huge mountain with her, and when we got to the top there were lots of people who were taking cover in their homes from a storm that was coming. They literally all ran inside and shut the door. My friend and I were standing outside watching the storm come. I knew it was going to be a very difficult storm, and that we would have to be outside in it until it was over. The two of us turned to face the black clouds together and I knew it was going to be bad, but that together we would survive. However, I did not want to be out in the storm, I just knew that I would have to do it. I awoke, knowing that the situation with my friend would be difficult, and that I would have to stand by her until it was over, but that that was what my Father in heaven required of me. The dream was pure revelation as the situation evolved exactly as I knew it would, and we weathered the storm together.

One of my favorite dreams was one I had when I was a child. I dreamed that I got married to a man named Brian Peterson, and as I walked out of the church with my new husband, I was embarrassed that our “get-away” car was a huge RED truck. I remembered this dream vividly all through my growing up years, but I forgot what the first name of the man was. I knew it was the same name as one of my cousins: either Brian or Mark. Since Mark was my favorite, I decided that the name must have been Mark. When I was in high school, the MTC used to allow people to go to the front desk and look at the names of the missionaries who were in the MTC. I would go there with my friends, and pick out all the Mark Peterson’s and start to write to them. I didn’t really believe that I would marry this person from my dream, but it was a fun game when I was a teenager. The game wore off, and I forgot all about the dream when I was in college. I met Brian and we started dating. Less than two weeks into our relationship, he was asking me if I thought he was marriage material. I was shocked that he would be bold enough to bring up marriage so early on. The very next day was Sunday and as I was walking out of the church meeting, I saw Brian Peterson come around the corner in a very large Brown truck with bull horns strapped to the front. As soon as I saw him, I lost my breath, because I knew that he was the person in my dream and that even though his truck was brown, it was indeed embarrassing. Later, that truck was the catalyst for our engagement. It was stolen and Brian was so upset that he wanted to move back to California. He didn’t want to leave me, though, so he asked me to marry him so he could leave Utah for good. His grandmother told me that the reason the truck was red in my dream was that it symbolized “true love”.

I appreciate the power that dreams have. I have drawn comfort, humor, revelation, and answers from my dreams. Dreams can reveal things about you and your desires and they can help you understand others better. I pity the person who rarely dreams.