Thanks for joining us for today's encouragement from the Our Daily Bread Devotional.

Our reading titled Not a Dream was written by Monica LaRose.

It's like living in a dream you can't wake up from.

People who struggle with what sometimes

called derealization or depersonalization often feel like nothing around them is quite real.

While those who chronically have this feeling can be diagnosed with a disorder, it's believed

to be a common mental health struggle, especially during stressful times.

But sometimes the feeling persists, even when life is seemingly good, it's as if our minds can't

trust that good things are really happening. Scripture describes a similar struggle of God's

people at times to experience his power and deliverance as something real,

not just a dream. In Acts 12, when an angel delivers Peter from prison and possible execution,

the apostle is described as being in a daze, not sure it was really happening.

When the angel left him outside the jail, Peter finally came to his senses and realized

it had all been real. In both bad times and good, it can be hard sometimes to fully believe

or experience that God is really at work in our lives. But we can trust that as we wait on him,

his resurrection power will one day become undeniably, wonderfully real.

God's light will rouse us from our sleep into the reality of life with him. Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional Scripture reading is from Acts chapter 12, verses 1 through 11.

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.

He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the

sword. When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also.

This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison,

handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each.

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