Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Ava's Dream

Lately I have not felt very connected to Jesus. I’m not sure why. I love him– but haven’t felt close to him. To be completely honest…he has seemed 2,000 years away, embedded in a distant culture and not near enough to really know the me on the inside.

Just when I felt He was furthest away, my sister-in-law shared her daughter’s dream with me.

Ava, my 4 year old niece, lives in the middle east – a place that puts a high currency on the meaning of dreams.


For a full day she was very distraught – crying frequently, in anguish that she “didn’t get to hug the nice man goodbye!” She kept saying, “I want to go back to sleep and see the nice man!”

Hours later she would start sobbing saying, “I really miss the nice man! He was a doctor and he was so nice.”

My sister-in-law realized Ava had experienced a dream so vivid, it seemed more real than being awake.

The dream in Ava’s words:

“There was lots and lots of hot lava. There were lots of people getting hurt from the lava. The nice man was a doctor and he helped get the people out of the lava. Then he gave me special powers, and I jumped in the lava but I didn’t get any owies. I helped him get the people out of the lava. I could jump all the way down the stairs from the top and not even get hurt! I had really special powers. The nice man was fixing all the owies and making all the people better. He was a doctor. He knew everything about me and kept asking me questions. He was SO nice!

He came to our house and helped make Jett better. Then he got into his car and he had to leave. He told me he had to go to Morning Star to help some people then he wanted to go spend time with Emme.”

I was blown away! THIS is the Jesus I know – the One who knows everything about us, yet still asks questions. The One who partners WITH us to touch and heal a broken world. The One who wants to spend his time with a little girl with Down syndrome in a far corner of Africa.


Suddenly Jesus was near – more real and full of love for ME – than I had realized in a long time. Now I am the one that can’t stop crying.

Thank you, little ones!

6 comments:

  1. Julie, I love Jesus and I love you. Thank you for this story. I'm also crying now.

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  2. Hmmm. Our creative God gives us just what we need, and just WHEN we need it. He is good!
    Love you guys!

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  3. WOW, what a loving God, an ever present help.
    Precious babies "out of the mouth and dreams of those in which heaven is made up". Thanks for sharing this.
    xo
    Jonie

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  4. ummm... goosebumps.

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  5. I trained as a classical vocalist in college but stopped because of family and career. When I heard Jackie's voice, for the first time in my life I heard perfection. Let's be clear, my voice will never reach the natural perfection she possesses, but listening to her helps me understand the direction I need to be going. Her tones are crystal clear, yet she has vibrato. Her pitch is exact. By trying to emulate her sound, I have actually improved my own voice. In fact I auditioned and was recently accepted into the most prestigious chorus in the city. I credit this achievement in a great part to Jackie because she showed me to way to excellence.

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