I firmly believe that God uses the dream process to help us through our life. He created the brain to continue to process unsolved, unresolved issues also. A dream is usually what you think it means, even if you do need a little coaching or assurance.

When my dad visited me in my dreams after his death, he was old nor sickly. He never was the center of the dream either, though, lol but always peeked into an ongoing dream and said hi.