Praise

Proverbs 3:24

When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. (NIV)

You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly. (NLT)

Do you dream? I do. I dream regularly. My dreams are calm and I usually enjoy them. I often dream of college days and fun times in the past. Whenever I'm watching a Korean drama I might dream I am actually part of the drama. lol When I used to play GoStop- when it was still online :( - I used to dream about GoStop ALL the time. I like dreaming. Occasionally I will dream of people who I used to know and when I awake I pray for them- thinking the Lord must have brought them to mind so I would pray for them. Mostly though I dream about my current life. Whatever is going on is what I dream about.

Several months ago I had a dream that was not good. You know. One of those dreams that when you wake up your entire day is ruined. You feel sad or mad or worried or whatever. I was dealing with something very difficult in my (real) life and it was consuming my every thought while awake. Naturally it haunted me while asleep also. I was really sad when I woke up that first morning. I felt helpless and mad at the same time. I was also extremely relieved that I woke up.

Unfortunately I would be haunted in my sleep again and again AND AGAIN!!!!!! At first the (bad) dreams were every few weeks. The dreams weren't the same exactly but they each had the same idea. Maybe the setting was different but all of the characters were the same and the same thing happened each time.

One week in June I had THE dream 5 out of 7 nights. I was almost afraid to sleep. I was waking up DEPRESSED and taking it out on the family. Frustrated and crying. Mike had about had enough. I didn't know what to do. I thought I couldn't take it one more second. I was seriously about to go nuts.

I posted something on Facebook about HOW MUCH LONGER do I have to deal with this? When will these nightmares STOP???? A dear friend gave me the scripture listed above (Proverbs 3:24). She told me to pray it before I slept.

I'm not gonna lie. I was skeptical. Although I am a FAN of God's Word and believe in His power (for others) I sometimes forget that His power can work for ME too. I didn't see how reading the same verse a million times was going to change anything. Even if I stopped having the dream in REAL life I was still dealing with the issue. But I thought I would go ahead and give it a try anyway. I wrote out the scripture on several post it notes (another obsession) and placed them in the areas I would see most of the day- on the fridge, in my jewelry box, on my nightstand, in my handbag, etc. Every time I saw it I prayed it. Sometimes aloud and sometimes to myself. I also shared with my small group and asked them to pray for me.

You must believe me when I tell you that I did NOT have that bad dream ONE MORE TIME!!!! I am not kidding. NOT ONCE. I did dream the "situation" but the ending was different. There was peace in my dream. I woke up so encouraged. Not sad or hopeless but FREE!!!!! It's been 2 months now. I have NOT had that dream at all. Isn't that AWESOME???? God's Word is POWERFUL!!!!

And guess what else?? If that isn't enough, in REAL life I have peace. Although I didn't get a real-life happy ending, the Lord took the burden from me and I am able to live free of it again. It's amazing. In my human mind I can't even understand HOW it happened. Seriously. If you were super close to me and knew the MAJOR struggle it was and how many tears I shed you would be amazed. It is only by the GRACE OF GOD that I am free of it.

I am so very thankful for the Lord and for His love for me. I am also thankful for the dear friend who shared God's word with me. Had she not read my facebook status and listened to the Holy Spirit telling her to post that verse for me then I would not have written it down and prayed it over and over.

My challenge to you-

1. BELIEVE in the power of God's Word for YOURSELF!
2. LISTEN to the Holy Spirit.
3. ENCOURAGE someone today!! You never know how your words (or God's) will be used.
4. SEARCH for a verse for yourself that applies to an issue in your life and pray it a million times as I did.

(dinner time- no time to edit or check for spelling errors. sorry.)