Jeremiah 32: 38-40  "They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. "I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.…

New American Standard Bible

Acts 4:32 The congregation of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned. (NASV)

These verses remind me of a dream I had recently.

In this dream, I was a member of a great circle of people.  We were not standing shoulder to shoulder, but in a line, as you would see in a conga line at a wedding.  In the center of the circle burned the heart of God.

A thread of light came to me from God’s heart.  As I reached for the thread to pass it forward to the next person, I thought, “This is so beautiful!  We will each hold to God’s heart; connected to God and connected to each other.”

I was mistaken in my understanding.  As I looked at the end of the thread of light in my hand, I saw that it passed through a needle.  It dawned on me that I was to take this needle and pass it through my heart!  Then it must pass through the heart of the person in front of me, and so-on, until we were all connected heart to heart with God and with each other.  This frightened me, because I knew that it would be painful; I knew that, if any one of us were to try to pull away, it would cause calamity among all of us.  

Never have I been so deeply impressed with the necessity for love, unity, and interdependence among Christians as I was upon waking from that dream.  It frightened me to realize my own hesitation about letting God pierce MY heart with his love - to connect me so irremediably to my brothers and sisters!  Have I been a spectator in the Church this whole time, I wondered, afraid to commit because of the risk of pain?

Please God, I don’t want a risk-averse, spectator spirit.   Here is my heart.  Pass that thread through.  Make me part of a necklace fit for a Bride. Make me part of a Bride fit for the Groom.

Beverly