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Claim it By Faith
By William C. Summers
“No, no, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.
I promise I’ll be good.”
“Wake up, William, You were dreaming, no one is going to leave you,” my father told me as he shook me awake.
“My mommy left me,” I said.
“I know,” answered my father, “but you will see her again some day.”
“But I want her now,” I sobbed, as I pulled at my dark curly hair.
I was five when my mother died of infection after a miscarriage. My nightmares had started shortly after her death. I didn’t know then how my mother had died. I just knew she was gone. I missed her so much. The nightmares were so real; they were etched on my mind so deeply that I can never forget them. I remember every detail just as clearly as if they had happened yesterday.
I also remember with great clarity, like a moving picture that plays over and over, the day my mother left for the hospital. She called all of us children to her bedside, one at a time, and told us good-bye. I remember how badly her breath smelled. I also know now she had to have been aware she was dying, and would never see any of us again, on this earth. That was in the days before “wonder drugs”—no penicillin, no sulfa drugs, nothing to fight infection.
After I got fully awake, I told my dad about the dream.
I dreamed I was on a big sandy beach. The waves were rolling in and splashing against the sand on the shore. My mother, sisters, and brothers were all there. I saw in the distance something moving slowly over the water. It was coming toward the shore. After I watched it for a while I could see it getting closer. Then I could see it was a big sailing ship. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It came into the bay, just a little way out there. Then I saw a boat being let down by ropes from the big sailing ship. Some men rowed the boat to the beach, where people began loading onto it. When it was full they rowed the boat back to the ship, where all those people got on. This happened two or three times. The number of people on the beach was getting smaller and smaller. Oh, Daddy, don’t make me see it again. Don’t make me think about seeing everyone leaving me on the beach by myself.
“You have to see it again, William. You have to face it in order to get rid of those nightmares.”
“Alright, Daddy. After everyone on the first and second boatload had got on the ship, the boat came back for the rest of us. My sisters, my brothers, and my mother all got in the boat. I was left on the beach alone. I was crying and shouting, but no one seemed to hear me. I ran up and down the beach waving my arms and crying, but no one heard me. No one saw me. No one even looked toward me. They all left me. I was all alone. The ship sailed away without me. Oh, Daddy, it was awful.”
The nightmares had become so vivid, so disturbing, they were destroying my sense of well-being. They were tearing me apart, my mind and my emotions.
“What can I do to help my son?” my father asked, more to himself than anyone else. (He told me this after I was older.) He prayed, “Oh, God, give me wisdom. Show me what I can do.” He waited and prayed.
He waited and prayed some more. Finally, he heard a still small voice, “Isaiah 40.” What can that mean? he thought. He got his Bible and turned to Isaiah chapter 40. He read: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:29-31)
He was puzzled. He prayed again. “Lord, I don’t understand. How can this help my son, William? He prayed and waited. Finally he began to hear the words impressed on his mind. “They that wait.” (KJV) Slowly, ever so slowly, a thought was developing in his mind. He called me and said, “William, I want you to trust me. Will you do what I ask you to do?”
“Yes, Daddy, I will do whatever you ask me to.”
“I want you to pray and ask God to keep you from having nightmares tonight. Believe that He is going to do that. Don’t doubt. Tomorrow, thank Him for answering prayer. Do the same thing over every day. Pray, wait, and thank Him for taking away the nightmares. I will remind you every day.”
Every morning after that, my father asked, “Did you sleep well, William?”
“And every morning I answered, “Yes, I did, Daddy.” From then on, every time I was afraid to go to bed, for fear the nightmares would return, I would pray and ask God to keep them away. I trusted Him, and He never failed me.
I never had those nightmares again. I praise God every day for that. And I praise Him for giving me an earthly father who loved God enough to be concerned about me. My dad was a father who loved me enough to seek help in the promises of God.
God has been so good to me for many, many years. I have so much to praise Him for. The Scripture passage, Isaiah 40, is not one usually used for healing, but those words, “He would renew our strength,” were strongly impressed on me as a child. These are healing words both spiritual and physical. God makes the promise. Our part is to claim it by faith.
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