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Riding Out the Storm

JodiJuly 28, 2021

I grew up in south Texas near the coast where the threat of hurricanes was always a part of life. They didn’t come too often, but when they did, people knew how to prepare and survive. Occasionally people would even throw hurricane parties, making the best of a bad situation until it was all over. That may or may not have been the safest idea, but I did think of it as I realized that we are weathering a storm of a different type currently. I am also reminded of a dream I had about 5 years ago before the world was turned upside down and just before the Lord started urging me and my husband to make some changes in our living situation which I believe was to prepare us for what was to come. I also think it may have been my first ever “glimpse.” I have had some vague idea of what the dream may have meant in the past but it wasn’t until very recently that the meaning suddenly became much clearer.

In my dream, I was riding as the passenger in a car down a familiar highway. The driver was my husband’s grandfather who had passed away some years ago. He was a believer and such a sweet man. He was driving the car and as we headed down the road during the daylight hours, I saw him suddenly start smiling as he gazed at something ahead of us in the sky. He was so excited to see it, he stuck his head out of the window to get a better look. My eyes followed to where he was looking and I saw what looked like a giant zipper in the sky. Needless to say, I was rather shocked and I turned back to him and asked him what in the world that was and he just continued to look ahead, now grinning from ear to ear with excitement but not saying a word.

We continued to drive ahead and finally came into a small town that was not familiar to me. As I started walking through the town I realized people were rushing around everywhere in a panic. The zipper was visible to everyone and they were looking up, pointing and crying in fear. I saw store shelves being emptied and people buying up everything they could find but not really knowing where to go or what to do. I walked into a store that had a small cafe off to one side where I saw my pastor and his wife casually sitting and having coffee. I asked him if he knew what the zipper was and he smiled and said he had a good idea of what it was and would get back to me.

I walked back out of the store and down the street toward a small Italian restaurant as the chaos ensued around me. I went into the front door and asked if I could get some lunch. The hostess informed me that they had run completely out of food a short time before. She then told me that I had some friends waiting for me. She led me to the back of the restaurant and around a quiet corner and pointed to a white door. I opened the door and saw the smiling, calm faces of what I recognized to be all my friends, family and church members that were saved. They waved me in as they showed me that they had plenty to eat and had saved a plate for me. A feeling of complete peace came over me as I walked into the room and closed the door behind me. Then the dream ended.

A short time after the dream, maybe a week or two later, I woke with a start one morning hearing an audible voice say “1111, lift up your eyes, your redemption draws nigh.” I looked around, heart pounding in my chest, recognizing the verse from Luke 21:28 but not knowing what it meant and what the correlation to 1111 (eleven eleven) was. A short time later, I started seeing 11:11 on my clock what seemed like everyday and sometimes twice a day. My husband was seeing it too. It happened so often we would send each other screenshots showing that we had randomly looked at our phone at precisely that time. It happened over and over and over again and has continued to this day. Sometimes I won’t see if for a while then it starts again and has been happening quite often lately.

I never felt like 11:11 was meant to signify an actual time or date, especially as it related to the rapture as the Bible tells us that no one will know the day or hour of the Lord’s return but the Father. I looked for verses with chapter 11 and verse 11 in various books of the Bible but nothing seemed to make sense. I finally started to realize that it seemed to be God’s way of reminding me that time was short and that every time I saw the 1111 it was his reminder to me to be about his work and sharing the hope of his salvation message while there was still time as things were going to change soon.

As for the zipper dream, only recently did it seem to really make sense as the Lord seemed to reveal it to me all at once one morning. I saw that the zipper was the obvious sign of his coming and the sign of the destruction and tribulation that was to come upon the earth. Non-believers saw it but didn’t understand what was happening or how to save themselves. I have now come to understand that I, along with other believers, were being placed in a position of protection away from the destruction and the chaos and that all our needs would be provided. We had an understanding of what the sign in the sky meant and did not have fear as the rest of the world did. As the storm raged on outside, we were able to feast and fellowship under the protective covering provided by our Savior.

As the thought of “weathering the storm” with Jesus took shape, I smiled with relief that it all seemed to be coming together. Indeed, the sky is darkening and the waves in the sea of life are starting to churn all around us. People know that something’s not right, that danger is lurking but all they can do is panic and lash out at each other in fear. But as believers, we know our Shepard’s voice as he calls us to Him. We can hear him now, preparing the way for us and reassuring us that we need only to lift our eyes to Him and not to worry about what is all around us. He has prepared a way and will not leave us or forsake us. On the contrary, our wedding feast will begin soon my friends! Are you ready? ❤️