I had a dream just before waking this morning. There was a melody playing. A man was standing beside me whom I had a loving connection with. I don’t know him, but I do know who he represents (I’ll explain that in the backstory section below).

The man pointed to a piece of paper on which were typed four lines of lyrics. I didn’t have time to really read a couple phrases before I awakened abruptly.

I immediately hopped up from bed for a pen and paper. As I went to write, the only thing that lingered were a few words and the melody.

I jotted down the words I could remember and turned on my phone’s voice recorder to capture the melody. Even though the lyrics weren’t there, I started writing. Within about 30 minutes I had almost the whole song written.

I had to take a break to do a leadership meeting, but the entire song came together within about an hour.

I’ve had lyrics come to me before while I’m awake or dreaming. At other times I’ll have a melody come in a dream. But I’ve never had words and music come simultaneously.

The song is a man and woman duet called, “You Were The Dream.” I recorded an a cappella version of me singing it and typed the words and sent both  to my cousin Jody. I have picked out the melody on the piano, and I know it’s the key of G, but I think it would sound better accompanied on the guitar.

The Backstory

Back in 2010 I caught the vision of the ideal companion for me. I wasn’t sure if my husband at the time would be that person or whether someone new would come into my life.

I began what I called my S.A.M. experiment (Spot A Mercy). Unknowingly, these were my first attempts at being aware of the Divine Law of Compensation. I had a list of things my “SAM” would do and how he would treat me. Whenever someone did something on the list or something happened that met one of those items, I’d document it. I kept a journal of how these things showed up in my life.

Eventually my first marriage ended, and I began a quest to find my real live SAM. When I finally found someone I thought was him, it didn’t work out.  I fell hard for this man and I honestly gave up on my quest for SAM when he broke my heart.

I told God, “You pick. I obviously don’t know what I’m looking for or what’s good for me.” Then my second husband came along. I never felt for certain he was SAM and at that point I didn’t worry a lot about whether he was or not.

I felt Sam was a figment of my imagination. No man could be this Sam. So I gave up and decided to be satisfied with whomever God wanted to bring. My last husband did have a lot of SAM qualities and he had other good qualities I never thought to ask for. When I prayed about marrying him, I got what I felt was a clear answer to do so. I did, and of course, that all ended mysteriously 18 months after we were married.

The song is about my “Sam”… about living for him, giving up on him, and him returning to my life in physical form. The man beside me in the dream was Sam, and the lyrics he gave me were his words to me, assuring me he is still out there and on his way.

When I’m home I’ll have Jody play the guitar and sing it with me. I would really like to record a CD at some point. Jody has a recording studio and does a great job with music.

If I do a CD, I have a start on the lyrics for three other songs and one of them is set to the melody of a popular hymn. The other two need to be tweaked and set to music.

Music Is the Gift in the Tragedy

Had my mother not died simultaneously with my husband’s rejection, I would not have had the opportunity to dive into music like I have. I went to stay with my dad to help him through the transition and, ended up living there. My cousin Jody lives down the road from my dad so he started inviting Daddy and me to do music with him a couple evenings each week.

Jody has opened up a whole new world of music for me, teaching me a lot about creative expression. I had only played whatever notes were in front of me until about 4 years ago. After my first divorce, I started playing the piano extemporaneously. Then, during the three short months after my mother’s death, I learned to play chords, sing in public, and gleaned ideas for writing lyrics and music. It’s been a priceless experience.

I have always wanted to be able to feel comfortable singing a solo and composing music. It wasn’t something I ever told anyone, just a longing of my heart which I figured I didn’t have the creativity to explore. Had I not been forced out of my nest, I never would have realized I had wings to fly musically. I might have died with the music still inside me.

In this video (which is Day 42 of the Light the World: Build the Kingdom 90 Day Challenge), I sing the song I wrote today and talk about how it’s a fulfillment of one of my hearts’ desires.