Msakarina was a girl...

A beautiful girl with brown dreadlocks and soft warm, radiant cheeks was singing a song in my dream. She had her back to Gugu and I as we all sat on the edge of a cliff in this light brown meadow as the sun was setting. We were giggling a lot as we were enjoying a picnic and some lame jokes. This girl was just happily singing her song and wasn't too fussed about us. I began to hear the tune and it was simple and beautiful. I caught just one line but it gave me so much peace. It was, " I will not be labelled." It was sung so finally, with a quiet, gentle conviction and a godly confidence.

I asked her to sing it again but the dream becomes fuzzled at that point and I struggle to remember the words. I remember the simple tune though. I recall other scenes in the dream. I saw my friend, who I love dearly, but have not spoken to in years, sitting cross-legged, wearing tiny summer denim cut-offs and a vintage floral shirt. She was pouting and posing yet looking quite sad. I got the sense she was mimicking something cool she had seen in a magazine or an it-girl she thought was getting something right that she wasn't. Oh, and she was sitting on top of a tall white building with holding on to the emergency flight of stairs that run down the side of some building.

This is so jokes, but I also remember working at a snack stand, totally chatting away, distracted by all the people around me, eating a packet of chips while I should be working and just being random. My boss was Ralph. I think he called me out on my lack of focus or maybe it was my own guilt, I'm not exactly sure but I felt reprimanded in the dream. He gave Gugu and me a lift home from church last night and Gugu came for a slumber party full of giggles and lame jokes, and well, now they are in my dream. I think Ralph makes a good snack stand owner though.

I was woken up from my dream by a man's voice saying,"Asanda." He seemed to be trying to get my attention in all the hustle and bustle and wow, his voice sounded so very familiar, like I have been hearing it everyday. It could have been Ralph's voice it sounded so ordinary but I knew it wasn't because I have never head it before.

I woke up immediately and it was almost 5am.I saw Galatians 5:1 on my wall and finished the rest of the song.

I've been chained
I've been chained
Confused and weighed down by what I've been called in this world
I am not emo-indie-artist
I am not depressed

I've been chained
I've been chained
By lies I've told myself and you to fill this God-shaped hole
I will not be entangled
I will not be enslaved

I've been chained
I've been chained
By living for myself, through myself, to please myself
I will not be discouraged
There's no need to go through this alone
I will start again

I've been chained
I've been chained
By world selling belonging in unfulfilling categories
Disguising pride and insecurity in catalogued Identity
I will not be labelled
Call me by my name

And my name
The one God gave
Beloved daughter of one who lights fire in the sky
Beloved servant of one with the one puts fire in this heart
Beloved bride of one with loving fire in his eyes
I am not emo-indie-artist
I am not discouraged
I will not be entangled
I will not be labelled
I am loved by fire
Call me by my name

Unburdened by the yoke of slavery
My name is free in Christ

I've been changed
I've been changed
Jesus is loving the hell out of me
39 lashes I am free
I will never be the same now
I have a new name