Hidden Treasure on an Unwanted Road

Sometimes the places we resist most become the very places where God hides His treasure.

There are dreams you forget by morning—and then there are the ones that follow you into the day.

This was one of those.

In the dream, I was driving a car during the day with my earthly father sitting beside me in the passenger seat. We were headed somewhere outside of Chicago—possibly Indiana—toward what felt like an important appointment. Something about the trip felt serious, like something needed to be settled.

As we were driving, my father asked me a simple question:

“Are you sure you want to drive?”

The question made me pause.

Something inside of me suddenly second-guessed the decision. So I pulled over, and we switched seats.

He began to drive.

Not long after, we approached the Skyway.

But in the dream, it didn’t look like a normal highway.

It looked like a roller coaster rising high into the sky with a steep incline. As the car began climbing, my stomach dropped. The road felt intense—almost overwhelming.

But I wasn’t driving anymore.

So I did the only thing I could do.

I closed my eyes.

I made sure my seatbelt was secure.

And I held on.

I could feel my body shift with gravity the way you do when a roller coaster climbs higher and higher. And in the middle of that climb, I felt something unexpected.

Relief.

I was grateful that I wasn’t the one behind the wheel. I knew that if I had been driving, fear might have stopped me from moving forward.

But someone else was driving.

Eventually we arrived, and suddenly the dream changed.

I found myself sitting in a clear stream with sunlight warming my face. The water was calm and steady, gently flowing around me.

Then something struck my right thigh.

I reached down and grabbed it. At first it looked like rubbish floating in the current.

But when I looked closer, I realized it wasn’t trash at all.

It was treasure.

Diamonds.

Rings with beautiful jewels.

A worn wallet filled with cash.

Treasure hidden inside something that first appeared worthless.

When I woke up, I couldn’t stop thinking about that moment—how easily I almost dismissed what turned out to be something valuable.

It reminded me of a promise God gives in Isaiah:

“I will give you treasures hidden in darkness—secret riches.I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord.”Isaiah 45:3

Sometimes God hides treasure in the very places we would never choose to go.

Places that feel like loss.

Places that feel like exile.

Places that feel like the wilderness.

When I woke up, I realized the dream was showing me something about a season I had been resisting.

In the middle of February, something unexpected happened at work.

I was placed into a 7th and 8th grade cluster classroom for the rest of the school year. The decision felt sudden and permanent, and if I’m honest, I didn’t receive it well.

I was angry.

I was hurt.

Part of me even wanted to quit.

It felt like something had been taken from me—a role, a rhythm, a place where I felt seen. Around that time, I even wrote a blog called Help Me Pass This Test, because that’s exactly what the season felt like.

But even in the wrestling, I kept showing up.

I showed up for the students.

I showed up for the paraprofessionals.

I showed up for the work in front of me.

And slowly, something unexpected began to happen.

The students were happy.

The paraprofessionals were happy.

The classroom began to feel peaceful.

The place that first felt like loss began to look like protection.

What I thought was punishment began to reveal itself as an answer to prayer.

Now I even find myself prayerfully considering requesting to stay in the cluster classroom if I can continue working with the same 7th and 8th grade band.

Looking back, the dream feels like a picture of this season.

The transition to the cluster classroom felt like a roller coaster I didn’t choose. It stirred anger, grief, and questions I didn’t know how to answer.

But somewhere along the road, God gently asked the same question my father asked in the dream:

“Are you sure you want to drive?”

Because sometimes the road ahead is too steep for us to navigate with our own understanding.

Sometimes the most loving thing the Father does is invite us to move out of the driver’s seat.

And if we let Him lead, we may discover something we could never see while gripping the wheel.

Now as I sit in this new space, it feels a little like that stream in the dream.

Clear water.

Sunlight on my face.

And slowly, I’m beginning to see what I couldn’t see before.

The road I never wanted to take may have been the very road where God hid the treasure.