...there's something evil behind me and I must go through a tunnel underground to escape it. the way is dark and away from the light. i am afraid that the darkness will overwhelm me and that i will become wedged in the tunnel, unable to breathe and trapped there. i am not sure of the way to escape. although i have heard that there is a way out i do not know it myself. to get there i must leave behind everything i know. there is something near, it is urgent that i make my decision.

I wake up. Confused, I start to pray. 'God I've had this dream before. I don't know what it means. It leaves me afraid. Help me. I don't ever want to be in that place.'

The prayer calms me but my thoughts linger on the dream and the meaning of it. I see that I am already stuck because I am unwilling to go through the tunnel. I don't know the way because I have never been there before.

A sadness overwhelms me. 'I don't know how to get through this Lord, there's no one to show me the way. You are so far away and I have begun to believe that you don't care.'

I become restless as sorrow wraps its arms around me, heavy with their weight, tears cutting cool streams down my skin.

Dennis reaches for me and draws me closer to him. 'How long have you been awake?'

'An hour or more. I'm so sad. I don't know why.'

We talk of the wedding the day before, how happy it was, a joy to celebrate. My sadness does not make sense, even to me.

The tears still come and he starts to pray for me breaking the hold that sorrow has kept. I see that God has thrown me a lifeline, something to give me hope and I'm thankful. The way is still dark but I am not alone.

Psalm 107:14

14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom
and broke away their chains.