I get to keep you

“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.” (Genesis 28:15)

I have a secret to share. David sometimes talks in his sleep. Not often, but sometimes he does – and I always hear him. Often, David will utter a sentence or two from his dream. I work hard to remember what he said so I can tell him about it when he wakes up. Thankfully, David can always tell me what the dream was about when I do. On one such occasion, he said something that neither of us will ever forget, as it has impacted our lives ever since.

Most of David’s dreams are work-related. I told him such things are a sign of stress that he shouldn’t be having – especially now that he is mostly retired. That being said, the mind is a powerful organ that never entirely shuts down. I, too, have vivid dreams that play in my subconscious, like movie scripts. I sometimes mix people and places from my past together as my brain weaves memories and new creations into one tiny snippet of thought as I sleep.

According to Sigmund Freud, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.” The famed psychologist wrote extensively about the same in his timeless work, The Interpretation of Dreams, which is still studied by experts and non-specialists today. Freud professed that interpreting dreams can provide great insight into what he termed a “dynamic unconscious.” He believed that understanding what occurs in our dreams allows us to address better how we live our lives in the daylight. Per Freud, “On my way to discovering the solution of the dream all kinds of things were revealed which I was unwilling to admit even to myself.”

One of the most well-known Biblical dream interpreters was Joseph. In his lifetime, Joseph had six dreams that we read about in Genesis, chapters 37-42. The first two dreams were Joseph’s, and in them, God revealed the future path for Joseph’s life. While his father and brothers were unhappy to hear Joseph’s dreams portending their eventual submission to his power and greatness, scripture reveals the truth of these subconscious musings. Over the course of a 28-year interval, Joseph systematically was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, purchased and elevated in the household of a powerful Egyptian official, betrayed and jailed for an offense he was innocent of, promoted again within the penal system, and eventually released from captivity upon Pharaoh’s acknowledgment of Joseph’s God-given ability to interpret dreams. During Joseph’s period of incarceration, he interpreted two more pairs of dreams that ultimately changed the course of his life.

Scripture reminds us that dreams also played a crucial role in Daniel’s life. In addition to his well-known interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2) – revealing the monarch’s eventual fall from power and ultimate acknowledgment of God – scripture advises us that Daniel’s dreams prophesied a future world yet to come (Daniel 7). We can take comfort in Daniel’s dreams, knowing they foretell a time when God will rule and reign over the earth, with all believers reigning with Him.

All told, God’s Word reveals twenty dreams that were used for various purposes. Such revelations include warnings (Genesis 20:3, 31:24, Matthew 27:19), prophetic events (Gen. 37:5, 9, 40:8-19, 41:1-7, 15-32, Daniel 2, 7), spiritual truth (Gen. 28:12), confirmed promises (Gen. 28:13-14), and encouragement (Gen. 28:15) – my personal favorite.

While David’s dream held no such grandiose revelations to me, his words were precious upon explanation in the morning light.

“You talked in your sleep last night,” I told David after revealing his subconscious musings.

“What did I say?” David asked.

“You said, ‘I get to keep you.’” I replied.

As David smiled, he explained that while he couldn’t remember the entirety of his dream, he clearly remembered that phrase, saying, “It was about you. I remember smiling as I said it, knowing that above everything else, I was happy that God gave you to me – and ‘I get to keep you.’”

Since that revelation, I’ve borrowed the phrase quite frequently, telling David that I, too, am incredibly grateful to God for His gift of David to me. “And I get to keep you.”

“You keep stealing my line,” David laughs when I tell him the same. “But I don’t mind.”

“That’s good,” I always say, “because I intend to keep using it.”

I waited a lifetime for David to become a part of my life as he did for me. We thank God daily for our compatibility, which includes our shared love of our Heavenly Father and each other. We know how prodigious a gift it is to find one’s soulmate, helper, confidant, and best friend – all wrapped up in one extraordinary package we call a Godly spouse. “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

Above and beyond finding each other on a church bus in a disaster zone while working for God in an evangelical ministry of love and faith, God gave me a man who speaks my love language of touch and affirmation.

Moreover, I get to keep him. Hallelujah! What a Savior!