Before she left for North Africa, Mia* dreamed that her whole family was gathered together. Then her brother and sister-in-law, who had struggled to conceive, shared exciting news: They were having a baby!
When Mia woke up, the dream lingering in her mind, she told the Lord, “Wow, God, that would be so cool.”
A month later, Mia had the same dream. This time, she prayed, “Oh, God, please let that happen.”
That Christmas, Mia’s family celebrated together. And just like in her dreams, her brother and sister-in-law announced that they were pregnant.
For Mia’s family, the pregnancy was an answer to prayer. For Mia, the situation showed that God was speaking to her through dreams—something she would have in common with local friends in North Africa.
Dreams in North Africa
After Mia arrived in North Africa, she realized the importance dreams held for her local friends. “It’s a culture where dreams are something they actually listen to,” she explained. “They see it as something from God, not just from our subconscious. Sometimes it’s not significant, but it does open the door for deeper spiritual conversation.”
“God really speaks to people in dreams,” Mia added. “Maybe one-third of my friends have had dreams about Jesus. Most of my friends who are believers have had dreams of Jesus.”
“Whenever people have a vision of Jesus, they always say He’s in white,” she explained. One of Mia’s friends told her about a dream where she saw a man with shining eyes wearing white and walking on water—a picture matching the description of Jesus in Revelation 1:14 and Matthew 14. “Oh, yeah, it was Jesus,” her friend interpreted, before Mia could say anything.
“My mouth just kind of hung open,” Mia remembered. “I was kind of shocked but excited.”
Spiritual Strongholds
Hearing about her friends’ dreams doesn’t surprise Mia—she’d heard such dreams were common—but the supernatural revelations are also sobering.
“I’ve experienced a lot of spiritual warfare type dreams on the field … the battle is strong,” Mia explained. She’s also noticed a connection between prayer and spiritual opposition.
For instance, after she and her roommate pray together, they often get into a silly argument about something. “I’m praying for protection against that, trying to recognize that we just prayed, so this is some spiritual attack,” she said.
When praying against powerful strongholds of evil in North Africa, Mia said she and other workers “have to be careful that we aren’t going in our own will … We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.”
*Name changed
Nicole James is a freelance journalist, ESL teacher and adventurer. As a communications intern for OM MENA, she’s passionate about publishing the stories of God’s works among the nations, telling people about the wonderful things He is doing in the world.
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