Divine Dice

It's NaNoWriMo! That means significantly fewer blog posts this month for me. And slightly out of date posts as well. This one's about Halloween. I know, been there done that. But the story has little to do with the holiday, and is only getting more relevant as I ruminate on it. 

As a rule (I use the term loosely), I like to take anything people in my realm of influence have deemed secular, demonic, anti-christian, or any other label that's supposed to suggest I steer clear, and advance the Kingdom with it. 

Recently, my husband and I started playing a game called Magic: The Gathering. We particularly like to play at our favorite pub because inevitably, other Magic players light up at the sight of their favorite game being played in public. This a game for nerds and dweebs. People have been scorned and ridiculed throughout child and adulthood for playing this game. And it has a particularly unsavory reputation in the Christian clubs. Most players don't like to broadcast themselves outside their safe zones. We love drawing people out of hiding, engaging with them and watching their eyes light up because we are as weird as they are. And we're not afraid to show it. 

Harry Potter taught me about being a friend and the gift of service. Game of Thrones is teaching me about ruling (or about how not to rule) as a Queen in Heaven. I do Yoga, because I hear Dad speak more clearly when my body, mind, and breath are synchronized. Any time, any where, give me something the Church clubs have rebuked and I will find Jesus all over it. Because I can. Because He's all the time everywhere. Because I take joy in people and the things people find joy in. 

"...Dad told me I'd be drawing people into their identities.
Specifically, I'd be naming people "Healer..."'

OK so, Halloween. Obviously, I had to find Jesus in Halloween. So I dressed up as Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter to work my shift at the coffee bungalow. Once I got there, I set up two dice and a little sign offering "prophecies." Then, I let Dad speak. 

This is the second year I've dressed as a fortune teller for Halloween and given prophetic words. Dad seems to love speaking to people this way. Last year, we threw a party at our house. Some friends tended bar, and twenty or so other friends dressed fancy and enjoyed themselves. I set up a hookah and a tea pot in the lounge, and offered tea leaf readings. Then I got to prophecy identity over people.

I have never prophesied so much, so accurately, and been so eagerly received at any given time. Last year, there seemed to be a theme. Whether people saw ducks or unicorns, when I Googled the symbol meanings, Dad was talking about leadership, decision making, and transition.

This year, there was a theme as well. I asked anyone interested to roll the dice. I wrote down a list of numbers, 1 to 12, and meanings associated with them (see bottom of post for list). I told them the meanings of each dice individually, then combined the dice for a third number and meaning. Then, I let Dad weave the three numbers together for a prophetic word. 

Before we started, Dad told me I'd be drawing people into their identities. Specifically, I'd be naming people "Healer." Right off the bat, my first two customers rolled the dice. A couple, they both rolled a 1 and 6.

"One means unity and beginnings," I explained, not so slyly reading my number list. "Six is the number for weakness. Together, they're seven, which means resurrection and spiritual completeness." 

"Ok, that's kind of neat," the woman replied. Clearly, none of us saw much significance in the dice so far. 

"Let me focus on your drinks for a moment, and I'll have your prophecy ready." While making her mocha and his Americano, taking the next customer's order, preparing milks and cups as more people walked in, I asked Dad what he wanted this woman to hear. 

By the time I had their drinks ready and brought them to the register, I was feeling a bit frazzled. We still had money to exchange, which involved counting change, which further distracted me while I tried and tried to hear what Dad was saying. With more customers waiting, I felt I had to move and speak quickly. "Ok, ready for your prophecies?"

The couple nodded enthusiastically. I looked back at the dice again, and suddenly the puzzle fell into place. Speaking to the woman first, I began."You see the weaknesses in people around you, but you don't identify them by it. You are able to see past the weakness, to what makes a person powerful. You identify people by what makes them strong, and draw that strength out of them." Without a doubt, I knew the 1 and 6 were the dice Dad told me about before we started. "You are a Healer. You resurrect people out of weakness into a new, strong and whole beginning." 

This sounded much more interesting than the original dice meanings I'd read, as was made clear by the looks on the couple's faces. "Since we rolled the same thing, does that mean we have the same destiny or something," the woman asked. 

"Very few times did a customer roll the dice
that I didn't feel totally frazzled trying to
do my job and prophecy at the same time..."

"Not quite. One and six are the Healer's dice. So you're both healers. Remember, one means unity. I think your strengths and weaknesses will compliment each other, and you will work together in unity toward your individual callings." 

We couldn’t linger much after that, my line of customers and drinks was growing. So I left them pondering their identities with smiles and eager eyes. From then on, I knew just what 1 and 6 meant whenever they were rolled. “You are a Healer,” I’d begin. And Dad provided slightly different explanations about what that meant for each person standing before me. 

Very few times did a customer roll the dice that I didn’t feel totally frazzled trying to do my job and prophecy at the same time. But the disorder came from striving. Eventually I had to settle down and just let myself speak. Every time this happened, the chaos in my head calmed and my heart felt light. I must say, this was incredible practice listening for Dad, quieting myself in the midst of disquiet, purposefully prophesying and expecting Dad to move. 

Sometimes I was able to calm down very quickly, prophesying while making drinks and taking orders. Other times it wasn’t until I’d already made the dice roller’s drink and counted their change that I remembered to take a breath and be still. Once focused, Dad never made me wait long. 

 — I’ll take a few sentences here to clarify what I mean by “prophesy.” In this context, and pretty much every other time I use the word, I am speaking of edifying and encouraging The Body of Christ. To be very honest, I didn’t use Jesus’s name once throughout the day. I was worried about this, but after speaking with Dad I have concluded that my purpose was to encourage and edify The Body, not make converts or evangelize or build the church or even “save souls.” I didn’t speak Christ’s name, but every person heard what their identity in Christ looks like. I know this screws with my theology. It's messy. Yes. —

Besides the Healer’s dice, I saw another trend. Whether 2 and 6 were rolled, and I got to say “Two is a balanced number, meaning both union and division. Divided, we are weak. You birth community, balancing and unifying those around you…” or a 4 and 1 and I got to say “You’re a creator. Grace is vital to the creative process. Through it, our mistakes cease to be errors and instead become new beginnings…” New birth, new beginnings, and creativity were part of every person’s prophecy. 

Even when the numbers 1 and 8 weren’t rolled - which was rare - the prophecy seemed to uphold the trend. When someone rolled 2 and 3, I explained “Balance can serve to divide us or unify us. Balance alone isn’t necessarily good. But you tend to focus on grace, which means the balance you carry releases divine completeness over yourself and those around you. With grace and balance, you create completeness.” Inevitable, Dad spoke creativity and new beginning. Or, more accurately, the creation process transitioning into or birthing a new beginning. 

I’ve written about creativity (for example), it’s been on my heart and at the forefront of my thoughts recently, so this trend was particularly interesting to me. I’ve also written about transition. It’s been a major topic, and not just for myself. I’ve read word after word about transition, and Dad confirmed each word at least three times so I'm convinced they were accurate. The other trend, or anti-trend I saw: 11, the number for transition, wasn’t rolled once. We as a body, individual parts and collective whole, are in a period of transition. Yet no one rolled 11. 

This observation makes me think that Dad has something to day to The Body as a whole. I don’t think he’s  saying the time of transition is over. Rather, he’s giving us insight about what we can do while we’re transitioning. 

What do we do while we’re transitioning? Do we stare at our end goal and twiddle our thumbs until we get there? Or thrash about, shouting the name Jesus until our desires are at hand? 

My Halloween gave me a few ideas, and having tried both options above, I like these ideas better. They’re new for me, in this context. First, while in transition, we create. Whether a painting, a house, a new bone in a broken leg, a new outfit, or a meal for the homeless, create something. Anything. Why? If for no other reason than because we are made in God’s image. When we create, we move into our Christly identities. We engage the process of listening to Dad and releasing his voice upon the earth. When others experience what we create, they are drawn into their Christly identities as well. Can you see the ripple effect?

The first step in any creative endeavor is to engage our imagination. So, second, we imagine as a community what we’re transitioning toward. We do not, then, force our vision to happen. We unite, and we we focus on our King, and we learn about what it means to rule at His side. We are part of creating the new beginning we are transitioning toward. In fact, I’ll declare that unless we create alongside him, our new beginning will never be. Our God isn’t a dictator or taskmaster and values our free will above our comfort and happiness. Though he has a vision for us, he won’t impose it upon us against our will. We will always be in transition until we learn to create with Dad and with each other; until we create something to transition into.

Finally, notice these ideas involve engaging with other people. We are strong when we are united. It is as a community we should enter into our new beginning. A new beginning we create. Our alone time with Dad can and often will be creative. However, to create a beginning alone means I’ll enter into it alone. Let’s build each other up and enter together into the new beginning we create, lest we must begin again at square one. 

Here’s an experiment I want to try. If you read or hear any prophetic words related to anything in this post, would you link it in the comments below? Or let us know where we can look, in the crazy event your source isn’t accessible online. As always, questions, thoughts, and comments are welcome and encouraged. 

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The numbers I used were:

1 - Unity; New Beginnings 

2 - Union and Division (Which came to mean balance, when people rolled and I started talking.)

3 - Divine completeness

4 - Creativity 

5 - Grace

6 - Weakness

7 - Resurrection; Spiritual completeness 

8 - New Birth

9 - Fruit of the Spirit 

10 - Testimony

11 - Disorder; Transition 

12 - Government; Protection 

(click here for the source of these number meanings).