Beyond Our Wildest Dreams (Literally!)

 C.J. writes:
“I just read The Sexually Confident Wife and I think it’s excellent and enlightening. It opened my eyes and my heart to some profound things that have had wonderful effects on our marriage. But as I was cogitating over some of the things you said, I remembered a dream that has brought me a lot of shame over the years. I suddenly realized that God had forgiven me for that, but I’ve worried that somehow my inappropriate dreams were a big indication of who I really was deep down. I’ve had a hard time accepting that, and it’s caused me a lot of mental anguish. What are your thoughts about sexual dreams?”

Shannon responds:
Because God created humans as sexual beings, sexual dreams are as normal as breathing, eating and sleeping. We can’t get angry with ourselves (or our spouse) for having an occasional sexual dream. That would be like getting angry for being hungry or sleepy.

Each person’s dreams can be a reflection of a vast number of things including early childhood experiences, or rebellion against social taboos or family of origin traditions, etc. Therefore, our unconscious dreams can often serve as roadmaps to our deepest longings, fears, or unresolved issues. Then again, sexual dreams can be incredibly random and senseless, serving as a sign of nothing more than the fact that as humans, we can have incredibly vivid imaginations!

It’s important to realize that most people dream about things that they would never actually want to experience in real life. Dreaming about something that you’d never do in real life doesn’t change who you are. Simply don’t act out on those dreams. You can choose to be a faithful wife with conservative values, even if your unconscious dreams occasionally cross the liberal line. Give those disconcerting dreams over to God, and go about your day without letting them rob you of your confidence as a woman of sexual integrity!

Available in Paperback September 8th!

Look for the paperback version of The Sexually Confident Wife in local bookstores September 8^th, or click here to order your autographed copy!

 The Highlight of my Summer...

I want to rewind the tape and share a highlight from my summer writing sabbatical, and the one that tops my list is the trip I made to speak at Amistad Y Vida church in Veracruz, Mexico.

This invitation came out of the blue, and I honestly thought it was a hoax. I received an email the first week of May, asking if I could speak at their annual women’s conference of 400-500 women, which would be held the first weekend of JUNE – only 30 days away!

I figured surely she meant June 2010, but I was wrong. Turns out the swine flu epidemic and the Mexican government’s ban on public gatherings forced them to postpone their annual conference by one month, and as a result they lost their keynote speaker. Panicked, Susana (the pastor’s wife and women’s ministry leader) had thoughts of cancelling the event altogether.

She told me over dinner, “I had cried and prayed so much about the situation and had no idea what to do, but one day I was in a bookstore and felt God leading me toward your book, Completely His, in Spanish. I read it cover to cover, and when I got to the last chapter about ‘birthing God’s dreams’ and not ‘aborting’ the process, I heard God say, ‘Susana, don’t abort the conference. Invite Shannon to speak. She’ll come.’”

All the other church staff members thought she was crazy to try to email me on such short notice, but indeed, my speaking calendar just happened to be open that first weekend in June, and as they say, “The rest is history.”

I had also felt God’s supernatural leading into this event, and I was NOT disappointed once I got there. In fact, in almost 20 years of speaking, I’d have to declare this one the most overwhelmingly amazing event I’ve had the privilege of participating in! There is a spiritual hunger in Mexico unlike anything I’ve ever seen in all the other countries I visited. On the first day of the conference, dozens of women approached the altar to receive Christ as their personal Savior for the first time. On the last evening, over half of them flooded the aisles for prayer asking God to help them “give birth” to His dreams for their own lives. It was a sight I’ll never forget.

I was honored to be asked if I could possibly deliver the sermon the following morning just prior to departing for the airport. With amazing clarity, God gave me a complete message on “Sacred Sex” that night in my hotel room, and I delivered it through an interpreter at the early service the next morning. Susana escorted me to the airport along with our delightful interpreters. As we were driving, the pastor called to ask permission to air the videotaped sermon in the following two services that day, insisting that he “didn’t want anyone in the congregation to miss this message!”

As if that wasn’t honoring enough, Susana said to me upon departing, “I want to give you a gift – something personal from me to remind you of my love and gratitude.” She took off her stunning pearl necklace and placed it around my neck... followed by her earrings... and her bracelet... then the ring on her finger... and just when I thought that surely she was done, she went into the airport restroom and removed her beautiful black chiffon exterior blouse and insisted she wanted me to have it as well. Through tears, I laughed and said, “No one has ever literally given me the shirt off their back before!” I’m not sure if that translated accurately or not, but her laughter and tears assured me that we shared the same kindred connection, and I left a few tokens of my love with her as well.

As I passed through the security gate and waved goodbye to my new friends (mi amigas), I uncontrollably sobbed tears of joy! And to think that I almost deleted that email thinking the invitation was a hoax!

We simply cannot overestimate the sovereignty of our God, or the sheer delight that comes from following wherever He leads us!

May you always have ears to hear His calling, eyes to see His miracles, and a heart that yearns for His will to be done!

Mark Your Calendars - Shannon Is Coming To...