Q:
Sometimes something good will happen to me, or I'll have a vivid dream about something, and later I'll wonder if maybe God was trying to speak to me. But how can I be sure? Maybe it's just my imagination.
A:
We must be cautious about saying that things like this always come from God, or that He is directly speaking to us through them. The reason is because it’s easy for us to misinterpret them or draw the wrong conclusions from them—unless they are clearly in line with what God has told us in His Word, the Bible.
However, God sometimes does use good things to demonstrate His love for us, or bad things to warn us of danger. He also may use events in our lives to remind us of our need for Him, or call us to repent. God sometimes does this to humans “so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him” (Acts 17:27).
Recently, for example, I received a letter from a man who had grown up in a Christian home. But he had rebelled against God and lived a wild, immoral life, and now he was in prison. He said it was the best thing that had ever happened to him, because it made him face his sin and admit his need for Christ. Now he’s living for Christ instead of the devil—but it took a series of bad circumstances to bring him to that point.
Don’t wander through life wondering if God cares for you or has a purpose for your life. Instead, turn to Christ and commit your life to Him. Then you’ll know that no matter what happens to you—either good or bad—you belong to Him forever.