QUIET CONFIDENCE

Last week I reached a place where I felt the stretching in my life was almost more than I could manage, and was feeling very ragged indeed by the weekend.  I have been seeking the Lord for ‘a word’ about which direction to take for the future, needing to know which path to walk and what would please Him, even if it wasn’t exactly how I would think it ought to be!! 

Saturday night I had one of those dreams that you remember the details of clearly, but more importantly, the whole essence of the dream remains with you as if the Lord has found a way to impart something directly into your spirit in a unique way.

In the dream I made my way to a library because I was looking for ‘words’.  I picked up a book with a bright flashy cover, but it turned out to be romantic nonsense and I put it back down again.  Next I picked one up and the title was “Pau” – it was an old book, dusty blue, and well used, and I knew it was the one to take even though I could not translate the title!

I went through to another room and met a ‘friend’ – he was an olive skinned man and we sat to talk together.  He looked me directly in the eyes and said “This is VERY STRONG, like nothing you have ever known before” – I could feel this immense faithfulness, trust, confidence, strength, love, all flowing right into me.  I knew that what he had said was totally trustworthy and would be unchanging.  We left the library and went our separate ways, very happy and confident in the strength of this friendship which I knew would last forever. 

As I woke the scripture “in quietness and confidence will be your strength” was in my mind, and my spirit was filled with the strength and confidence that had been imparted in the dream.  I am very sure that it was Jesus I was talking to in the library and he gave me the words my heart was seeking.

Yesterday I found what the word ‘pau’ means, and realised that there are many who feel like that right now and need to have this same impartation from the Lord.

pau [te] hau
be exhausted, out of breath, run out of steam, worn out, tired, used up.   Ka tau mai ki ngā kura reo, e pau ana te hau, ka hoki atu e hikohiko katoa ana te ngākau (HM 4/2008 wh3).I arrived at the language learning gathering worn out and when I returned home I was enthusiastic. See also kua pau [te] hau.
pau
(stative) be consumed, exhausted, used up, finished, spent.   He aituā, engari kua poropititia e ētahi o ngā hīnātore, ka pau i te ahi i taua wā (HP wh6).It was a disaster but it had been prophesied by some of the wise men that it would be destroyed by fire at that time.

I find it interesting that in the current journey it was a Maori word the Lord used to describe the way I was feeling and the place that many have come to – this in itself indicates to me that He is moving in a way that is indigenous and beginning to merge the separate identities into ‘one new man’.  It is most encouraging.