I had a meaningful dream, in which my wife Maria and I were walking hand in hand out on a deserted highway that ran through desolate semidesert, sort of like western Texas and parts of Arizona in the U.S. We seemed to be somewhat lost and searching for our destination.

Then suddenly we came upon a beautiful little white roadway that led off to the left and down a slight slope. There, just about a hundred meters away, was a beautiful ornamental gate that was a building in itself.

Through the gate and beyond the building we could see for the first time some beautiful greenery and a wide expanse of golf course greens and fairways. Immediately I realized that we were at the gate of a golf course or country club.

So we walked on through the archway and across a deserted parking lot that led onto the golf course. Then we saw a beautiful roadway with tall trees on each side, leading off into the distance toward a beautiful little country town only a couple of miles away.

It was almost as though in passing through the gate of the country club we had entered another world entirely, and we were very happy and relieved and thanked the Lord. But by this time I was very tired, because we’d apparently already walked a long way. Even just two more miles seemed like an awfully long way to go.

Then I looked around and saw a bus turn in from the same highway that we had been walking on and drive down the little white road and through the arch. Our hearts leaped with joy and I exclaimed, “Thank God, a bus! Now we won’t have to walk all the way into town!”

We started to walk quickly toward the road along which it would drive, but apparently we hadn’t acted soon enough! We had stood there too long, looking to see what the sign on the front of the bus said, and now the bus was picking up speed sooner than we had expected. Suddenly it disappeared from sight, down a slight grade, and our hearts sank because we realized we hadn’t acted soon enough; it was getting away from us!

“You didn’t have enough faith,” a voice seemed to say. We had missed it because we had hesitated. As the old saying goes, “He who hesitates is lost.” I was just so disappointed and so sad and upset about missing that bus that I was ready to sink down onto the grass in tears!

But suddenly I heard other voices that sounded like my father’s and mother’s, just the way they used to sing these two beautiful choruses together. It was just beautiful!

Keep on believing, God answers prayer!
Keep on believing, He’s still up there.
Troubles and sorrows will soon disappear;
Nothing can harm you when Jesus is near!

Keep on believing, the storm will pass!
Look for the rainbow, ’twill come at last!
Trust in His promise, ’twas written for you;
Keep on believing and praise your way through!

And the other little chorus begins with the same words:

Keep on believing, Jesus is here.
Keep on believing, there’s nothing to fear.
Keep on believing, this is the way:
Faith in the night as well as the day.

Sometimes we can see the will of God and we can see His hand ready to help us, and yet we don’t catch on soon enough, we’re not prayerful enough, we don’t have enough faith — and that’s what the first voice said to us when we missed the bus: “You didn’t have enough faith!”

It seemed that the bus represented God’s highest will — the fastest and easiest way to get to our destination, in the power of His Spirit rather than the energy of our flesh. If we’d had more faith we could have run and called out for help and jumped on the bus of God’s will and it would have whisked us away to our destination of that heavenly-looking little country town in the distance.

This dream seemed to be teaching us a lesson, that even once we have left the desert wastes of sin and our past lives and passed through the beautiful open gate of salvation, Jesus, we can still miss God’s highest will.

We can miss those golden opportunities of service for the Lord by not having the faith we should have to act quickly in times of opportunity He gives us. Our examining the bus sign to make sure it was going to our destination was akin to doubt. Out there where buses were so few and far between, we should have been willing to run to catch any bus that came along. Sometimes when we see any opportunity at all, we had better seize it.

If you feel you have somehow missed God’s will, His best for you, lift an ear to those heavenly voices that are singing to encourage you that all hope is not gone. Maybe you missed the first opportunity by not acting as quickly as you should have, but maybe you haven’t missed the last one. God will be merciful to you and send along another “bus” so that you can get back on the road, headed His direction to your heavenly destination in His service.

So listen to those beautiful little songs and remember that God is still on the throne and prayer changes things. Believe God! Have more faith! Perhaps you simply need to spend more time in the Word of God to encourage your faith. “Faith comes by hearing … the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).

Ask God to forgive you for your sins and shortcomings and lack of faith, and ask Him for another chance. I’m sure He’ll send you another bus of opportunity to pick you up and lift your spirits and encourage you and inspire you and thrill you and strengthen you and heal you and carry you along in the power of His Spirit to the glorious victory of your heavenly destination.

So keep on believing! Don’t ever give up! And never forget the words of these little choruses. Keep holding on to His promises. And whatever you do, keep on going for Jesus!

Keep On Believing, Copyright © 1998-2012, The Family International