Very early in the process of diagnosis and treatment for DID during Abigail’s first hospitalization under the care of her new psychiatrist, when Abigail was resting but not asleep, she would see herself standing in the shallow water at the edge of a vast amount of water looking far into the distance where water and sky mingle, searching for the shore on the other side.
It became evident to both Abigail and her psychiatrist that this was her subconscious mind ( possibly guided by God) depicting the healing journey she was beginning to embark upon with the unseen other shore representing a time when she would be mentally healthy.
As time progressed over the course of a week she was aware that she was gradually wading deeper into the water. Then one time she was aware of a very brief impression of something bumping up against her leg, and this repeated a couple times before she started seeing the fins of sharks circling her and periodically coming in close enough to touch her before widening their circles again.
Sharks have always sparked an immense amount of fear in Abigail, but no matter how hard she tried she could not get the sharks to go away or to protect herself from their potential harm.
The focus of psychotherapy for a while became how to make this journey safe for Abigail, but no matter what was tried to alter the image, the image remained the same.
Sabbath (sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday) came, and Abigail explained to her psychiatrist that this was a time to take the focus off herself and the work/trials/concerns of the week, and put it on God/worship/rest and restoration.
Her doctor agreed to write orders allowing her to not attend therapy groups or other activities for this 24 hour period and agreed to postpone their therapy time together until after sundown on Saturday.
While Abigail was resting on the Sabbath, focusing on the Bible passages she had read, the image of the water came to her again, but this time a small group (pod) of dolphins came into the image and chased the sharks back away from Abigail.
The dolphins remained close and watchful and were present in all images that came after that time. When the psychiatrist came that evening for his daily sessions with Abigail, she explained what had happened, and he was overjoyed with this turn of events. “Who but God could come up with a solution like that!”, he exclaimed.
From then on Dolphins became a symbol of God’s promise to watch over and guide Abigail through all the dangers that she would encounter in her journey toward mental health; and kind of like the rainbow was God’s symbol of His promise to Noah that He would never again destroy the earth with another great flood, dolphins came to also represent God’s promise to see Abigail safely to the other shore.
