I learned some surprising things on my first search for the meaning of a symbol.  1) My first surprise was how God answered my specific questions and then offered to confirm those discoveries.  2) When I look back now, I’m also shocked that I could hear Him because I was nervous about asking. 3) Another surprise was that He directed me to an Encyclopedia instead of the Bible or an obvious Christian source.  4) Another surprise was how one symbol discovery could open so many dreams.  These were things I discovered back in my twenties because I’d gotten a call out of the blue from a lady I didn’t know well.  She called to ask me if I interpreted dreams and I was stunned.  I had prayed to be able to interpret dreams since childhood, but to that point, I could count the dreams I had interpreted on one finger!  So, I hesitated and stuttered, “I think I can, but how did you know?” She said she knew because the Lord told her to call me.  Well, that phone call was both confirming and scary.  It was my first step toward committing to follow through with the task of understanding symbolism and interpreting dreams.

As it turned out, the lady who called had twenty-two years of dreams and most of her dreams had elephants in them.  After sitting with her for hours, I couldn’t interpret even one of her dreams!  The only thing I could see clearly was that the elephant was a symbol.  So, I went home and in desperate prayer I asked the Lord what the elephants represented.  In my inner hearing, I heard, “A religious spirit.” His answer came so quickly that it left my logic in the dust!  I was dumbfounded and totally doubting my ear to hear.  I thought, ‘Lord, how can I say that to that lady?  How can I explain that to her when it doesn’t even make sense to me?’  He said, “You look up the characteristics of an elephant in the Encyclopedia and I’ll show you how they parallel a religious spirit.”  So, I did, and He did.  My point is that if you have to search for understanding, He will make it worth the effort.  —Kathy Gabler