It’s taken me a long time to write this. I don’t want people to think I’m crazy or prideful or… crazy, but I can’t keep quiet because I’m am overwhelmed with gratitude, and Jesus absolutely deserves the glory for this.
It began 6 years ago…
I was a chaplain on my dorm floor at school and my head chaplain often shared with us the dreams the Lord gave her. One night she told us that she started having dreams from the Lord simply because she asked God to speak to her through dreams. So I told my roommate, and that night we both prayed and asked the Lord to speak to us through dreams. This is totally biblical by the way. God spoke through dreams on many occasions in the Bible: Joseph (the guy with the multicolored coat who saved everyone from famine), Daniel (the guy thrown to the Lions), Joseph (the guy married Mary because an angel came to him in a dream – he also saved Jesus from being killed as a child because of a dream). Shortly after my roommate and I asked God to speak to us through dreams, I saw a girl from the floor I lived on the previous year. Instantly, I remembered a dream I’d had the night before. In my dream she was very sad. I saw her writing in a journal questioning if she was in the right major. When I saw her that day I called her over and asked how she was doing. She said she wasn’t doing well. She had some low grades on her midterm and didn’t know if she should stay a pre-med major. I was floored. Holy crap. Did she just say exactly what was in my dream?! God had answered my prayer. I was able to pray with my friend and encourage her, and I left that encounter absolutely ecstatic to be used by God.
Over the years the dreams have continued. Sometimes often. At other times I’ll go long periods without any dreams. Some dreams I KNOW are from the Lord and others I question. Maybe it was just the bowl of ice cream before bed or the movie I watched that caused that dream. The dreams that I KNOW are from the Lord are so vivid and detailed – sometimes they are literal and sometimes they are symbolic. I’ve learned a lot over the years. When to pay attention to a dream, when to tell somebody you’ve had a dream about them and when not to tell somebody you’ve had a dream about them. I’ve learned what symbols God uses repeatedly in my dreams. And I’ve learned why God speaks through dreams. In my experience, it is almost always to show me to pray for someone. Prayer really does work. “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16 NKJV) Sometimes God uses dreams so I can pray for and encourage others and sometimes God shows me something in a dream so I can pray to stop it from happening. And that’s what happened most recently…
I had the first dream a night or two after intensely praying for a friend’s marriage. I was riding in my friend’s car and everywhere we went there were people shooting at us. G was in the backseat and I was yelling at her, “G, get down! Get down!” but she couldn’t get down. I was so scared for her. It didn’t take me long to figure out the meaning of this dream. I knew there was a spiritual attack coming against G because I had been praying for the friend whose car we were in.
You have to know that there is good and evil in this world. There is God, and there is Satan. There are angels, and there are demons. And there is a battle going on. If you tell me you don’t believe in evil, I will laugh in your face. There are women being sold into slavery and prostitution. There are people forcing children to perform heinous sexual acts for money. THAT is evil. There IS an enemy, and the Bible says he “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) One of the best tricks the devil has is to make people believe he doesn’t exist. If we don’t think think he’s responsible for the evil, we won’t fight him. I’m not saying you can blame all your problems on Satan. I’m saying there is light and there is darkness and they are at war, and if you are on the side of the light, the darkness will come against you.
So when I started fighting the darkness on behalf of my friend, it came against my daughter, and God revealed it to me in a dream. At first I freaked. I got scared and fearful. I stopped praying. Everything you shouldn’t do. Eventually, I realized that God didn’t give me this dream so I could live in fear. He showed me so I can fight back. And guys… the power of prayer is amazing. Absolutely amazing. When you understand that there is power in the name of Jesus and in scripture, you’ve got all you need to fight.
I had more dreams. In one dream there were snakes everywhere and I was holding G’s hand pulling her close to me to keep her away from the snakes. (This one is an obvious interpretation because snakes and serpents are used to describe satan in the Bible).
Next, I had two dreams in one night. One included our friends Tyler and Bekah. I saw them and I said I was glad they were alright. There was a man standing next to them who I just knew was bad. He said, “Yes, but look at what’s happened to your daughter.” G was rolled in on a stretcher. She looked beat up and her leg was in a cast. I freaked on the dude and started clawing his face (the normal reaction for any momma bear ;).
The second dream of that night also involved a friend. There was an ant that grew to be gigantic and it was chasing me and a few others. We were running all over the place to get away from it. In the dream, I was scared for G because I wasn’t holding her but a friend was. I told my friend, please, don’t let the ant get her. I was so scared and nervous because I wasn’t the one protecting her.
These dreams were happening over a period of maybe two months. During that time my friend Bekah was praying for G because she knew about the first dream. I realized through the dreams I’d had that Bekah was a key part in praying and protecting G from the attack of the enemy. And then Bekah had a dream. In the dream Bekah saw me walking ahead of her holding my son and pulling a cooler. She was behind me a ways with her hands full of bags too. G was walking in between us and kind of weaving back and forth – just being a little kid. Then she weaved a bit too much, got too close to a pool, and she fell in. Bekah saw it coming, dropped her stuff and jumped in after her right away. She saved her, and G was fine. Bekah woke up and instantly thought of the dream her dad had about her as a little girl. When she was young Bekah’s dad had a dream she was hit by a car. He prayed against it and knew to be on the lookout. He actually saw the car from his dream go by that was supposed to hit Bekah as he put her in their van.
After Bekah told me about this dream I started praying a lot! She told me on a Sunday night and all day Monday I was thinking and praying about it. Wondering where G could fall in a pool. I double-checked our pool fence that day. But I just kept wondering where Bekah and I would be that we’d have our hands full of bags and food by a pool. It was getting too cold for pool parties. I just kept thinking and praying. And then I thought, “What if this dream is like the car dream Bekah’s dad had?” Why did Bekah think about that dream right when she woke up? What if falling in a pool isn’t literal? What if it is just symbolic of G being in danger. And I began to question when else Bekah and I would have our hands full of bags and such? Shopping? But I had a cooler in the dream… for food. Grocery shopping? But Bekah and I never go grocery shopping together. That can’t be it. I guess we could run into each other at the store. But that’s never happened either. I don’t ever run into Bekah while grocery shopping.
That Monday evening I decided to grab groceries while Josh was working late. The kids and I had been at home all day – I had to get out of the house and we needed groceries anyway. With all of this on my mind I just kept thinking “What if I run into Bekah while I’m getting groceries?” And I’d answer myself, “It’s not gonna happen. You never see her while getting groceries.” Then I’d think, “But what if I run into her? If she’s getting groceries at the same time as me then this HAS to be what the dream was about.” And just as quickly I’d think “Lisa, you’re being ridiculous.”
I pulled into the parking lot at my market of choice and scanned the vehicles. Relieved that I didn’t recognize any of the cars in the small lot, I grabbed my children and headed inside. I’d gotten about half of the things on my list and I was perusing the honey when Tyler and Bekah both came walking up to me smiling. My stomach dropped to the floor. Oh my word, I can’t even explain the horror I felt. Dread. I was filled with dread. This was way too crazy to be a coincidence. All I was thinking was, “Holy Sh-t! Holy Sh-t! This can’t be happening!” My face fell and Bekah’s smiling face turned to one of concern. She asked, “What’s wrong?” Tyler said I looked like I’d seen a ghost. I explained everything. Bekah’s face got serious, and she said, “Let us know when you’re finished shopping, and we’ll walk out with you.” We went our separate ways and I tried to focus, but I couldn’t think about what food to buy. I was filled with fear. All I could think is “Something bad is supposed to happen to my daughter when I leave this place!” I recognized what was happening and started quoting scripture, “I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind!” Then I was praying for G more. Finally, I went to check out and Tyler and Bekah were there with me. Tyler asked if I wanted him to carry G out to the car and Bekah said, “No, I’m going to carry her.” So Tyler grabbed the bags and I grabbed my son and we all walked out toward my car with Bekah carrying G. The walk was short and uneventful. (Insert crickets here.) It felt anticlimactic. Thank God. We got to the car where I opened G’s door and said, “Put her in there!” We’d made it.
I said goodbye to Tyler and Bekah, got in my car, and drove home. That’s when it started sinking in. That was it. That was the moment. All of the dreams and the praying and the fighting for G was for that moment. God just saved my daughter from something awful. I believe the Holy Spirit led me to the interpretation of the dream that day so I could recognize that moment and know that God protected my daughter from whatever plans the enemy had for her. THANK YOU JESUS! God answers prayers, and He is faithful to what he promises in His word.
I share all of this with you simply to give glory where it is due. To the one who has my heart and my devotion. To the one who holds my whole world in His hands – the one who I entrust my children to. He deserves the glory. He is the Lord of my life and I will shout it from the rooftops (or from the blog posts) because this is what he has done for me! This is just one story, but there are others. Two years ago there were dreams of Josh’s funeral and I fought for Him in prayer. The Lord hears and the Lord answers and He fights on our behalf! He is good.
And now my question to you is this: What is God speaking to you? What is He asking you to pray for? What if God is desperately trying to get your attention? Are you listening?