Dreams. Your probably thinking, “what kind of dreams are you talking about?”. The kind where you envision your future (“I want to have 50 kids like the Duggars”), aspirational and goal oriented dreams (“I dream of owning my own business.”) or the ones that happen while you are sleeping. I’m talking about the dreams that happen while you are sleeping!!!
This is a subject that I am not extremely familiar with and I don’t even know where to begin with how to explain but I am going to try my best! I do believe dreams in our culture have become an afterthought and are not seen as very significant but as a way for our mind to empty itself. This is the exact viewpoint I had until a few months ago. I honestly thought any dreams I’ve ever had didn’t truly signify anything and were just a way for my mind to empty out all of the clutter throughout the day. I do think dreams can sometimes be a way for our brain to process events or parts of our lives, at least in my experience. I also believe that dreams come easier for some and not for others. I have friends who say they never dream or at least don’t remember, others who dream but can’t recall them and then those who dream all of the time. What I do believe is that dreams are 100% from God. It’s a way for him to communicate with us when our minds are truly quiet and at rest (which can be hard for us busy humans).
For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds, Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction. Job 33: 14-16
According to Dictionary.com, a dream is a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep. I’ve always dreamed, but never associated them with being very significant or meaningful and just thought they were extremely weird and strange to explain. That was, until one day a few months ago, my sister started talking about her friend who has prophetic dreams. Once my sister started talking more about dreams and her own personal dreams, its like the floodgates of heaven opened up and I was suddenly able to remember certain dreams I had years ago.
I didn’t just remember my old dreams but I slowly started to dream on a regular basis and was actually able to remember them. It wasn’t something I asked God for specifically, but once my mind was open and receptive to them and actually knowing they can have significant meaning, the dreams started pouring in. At first they started coming very slow and I wouldn’t remember them very well. They were super foggy and when they did wake me up during the middle of the night, instead of writing them down, I would just roll over and go back to sleep, hoping I would remember them the next day. Every time I did this, I could not remember my dreams for the life of me, no matter how hard I tried or asked God. I realized I had to train myself. If I wanted to remember my dreams, I needed to write them down the instant I woke up.
It only took a few days but I was able to train myself to remember them. I’m not sure exactly what time I dream at but I believe God always wakes me up around 4-6 AM, and sometimes 7 AM. This is when I am in a super deep sleep and the last thing I want to do is roll over and type them out on my iPod as I lay there half asleep. It’s become quite a normal routine over the last two months or so. Anytime I dream, I roll over right away and type them out as fast as I can, so I can remember them the next day and be able to go back to sleep quickly. There have been a few times where I was so tired, I purposely didn’t write them down, thinking I could remember them, but upon waking the next day I just drew a blank. I couldn’t remember anything about them. I rarely ever wake up at 4 AM, so this is why I know God is getting my attention and telling me, if I want to receive them, I must wake up and write them out or I will never remember them, but it works! Every single time I have a dream, I am woken up from around 4-7 AM and I write them down instantly on my iPod.
Dreams are seriously so awesome though, I wish I could have tapped into this gift sooner! Some are more vivid and clear, while others are much more hazy. I dream in color quite often and there have been some that are so extremely beautiful, it’s like God’s painting a picture in my head. The colors are so vibrant and the details are unreal. Other times it’s like trying to pull teeth out because they were so fuzzy, and there was no significant colors or detail- these are the ones I believe that my brain is just processing information from the day or week. But those vivid, clear and detailed dreams I’ve had are where God has revealed so much, there’s no doubt they are from him.
If you didn’t pay attention to any of that blabber above, here is where you want to start tuning in! You are also probably wondering, “how do you know they are from God or if your mind is just processing things from the day?”. I don’t know if there is specifically a clear answer for this. I am still trying to figure it out myself. What I do know is that a few of them that I’ve had have been extremely clear and God has revealed things to me that I know would only come from him.
I could talk about dreams all day! They are so intricate and pertain specifically to each person. The majority of my dreams are extremely symbolic and don’t make much sense without some sort of explanation, which is why I used to think it was just a way for my mind to empty itself out. Some of the common people, places and things I often dream about are bathrooms, cameras, my old houses, friends old houses, friends, my family, eating, garages, swimming, beaches, cars, planes, and running/working out. Each of these has it’s own specific meaning. He uses things that we can relate to and enjoy. My sister dreams a lot about babies, longboarding and being active because she enjoys and identifies with those things.
I’ll give you an example of two recent dreams I’ve had to help explain how I can really tell if they are very lucid/vivid dreams or just my mind processing things from the day:
Dream Example 1: Before the weekend started, I had written out a TO-DO list of all the things I wanted to get done over the weekend. I wrote it right before I went to bed and laid it on my nightstand. That night I had a dream where I was frantically running around trying to get all of these tasks done. I could tell I was anxious and in a hurry throughout the whole dream. It was very fuzzy and there was no peace, just chaos. This could have possibly been God telling me to slow down and just enjoy the weekend, but there was nothing extremely significant about the dream, it was very hazy (it’s like having 20/100 vision, super blurry) and no details, like a specific place or person. The dream could have been God saying don’t stress yourself out about trying to get an impossible list done but I just wrote down the list so I wouldn’t forget, there really wasn’t any pressure I was putting on myself to get everything checked off the list. This is why I think this dream was just my brain processing things from the day before. I’ve had many like this before and most are even more fuzzy and all over the place.
Dream Example 2: This one is a little more intricate, detailed and a lot more beautiful! There is very specific places, people, images, color and I knew exactly where the setting of the dream took place at. The night before I had this dream, a friend had prayed over me. She told me she had a vision where she saw a tiny sprout that was slowly growing taller. During that prayer, my sister also saw a vision of me walking in a garden with God. Now stay with me, your probably thinking, ” Whoa Whoa Katie, I thought we were talking about dreams here, not visions”. Yes, my sister and friend both had visions from God while I was being prayed for, BUT it goes along so well with the dream! There are probably a ton of skeptics out there and you might think I’m crazy but just keep reading!
So that night before bed, I was asking God what the sprout and garden meant. I just kept hearing pruning. He must be pruning me. I didn’t even know what that word meant but I went with it. “Ok God, cool, pruning. What’s that mean?”. And then I fell asleep.
That night I had a dream. It began where I was standing across the street looking down at my current house. I wasn’t up as high as the clouds but I wasn’t ground level either. Maybe a few feet or so off the ground but it was a very abnormal view. I could see my whole house, and right in the exact spot where my friend prayed for me, this huge hole in the sky opened up. The sky was gray and the clouds were powerful with flashing lightning and rolling thunder. It was God opening up the heavens (like in the pictures above , the clouds just appeared, filled with power ^). He opened up the heavens with a huge circle. All I can say is that I knew God’s power was there, it was so mighty! All of the sudden, it started raining hundreds of colorful flower buds from that circle. The flower buds were being poured out all over my house and specifically in that spot where I was prayed over! This dream was unlike anything else. It’s not something I could have ever thought of myself, it was straight from God and so crystal clear!
I woke up and immediately wrote down details from the dream. The instant I woke up, I knew God was in fact confirming that he was pruning me. I honestly didn’t even truly know what pruning was until I looked it up later that day. It’s a term gardeners use a lot and simply means to remove dead or living parts of branches to improve the shape or growth of the plant. Flowers are often removed to prepare the plant for the next season, so it can be more fruitful and produce more flowers. I had no idea God would show me he was pruning me through a dream in such a beautiful way. It’s pretty mind blowing! I was looking for verses about pruning the next day and found John 15:2:
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
I still can’t grasp how or why dreams work but I know they are God’s handiwork 110%! There is no doubt in my mind. The dreams that are from Him are so clear/vivid and show details that only he or I would know about. There are so many more dreams I’ve had that are even cooler but it’s still not time to reveal them. When the time comes, I will make sure to share. Oh, the suspense! Don’t worry, I can barely contain my excitement myself, they are beyond amazing and awesome!
If you’re interested in learning more about dreams/visions, here are some sources. They explain this whole dream thing way better than I can!
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