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| Awa's Dream |
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Phil and Carol Bergen live in Burkina Faso, Africa where they are translating Scripture, training leaders and leading a church plant. Along with all this, they also lead Bible Studies. After her women's group finished one study, Carol decided to read through Matthew for the next study. Week two of the study focused on Matthew 2. This is where the story begins, in Carol's own words: Does God still talk to people in dreams today? Read on! What happened during this past Thursday morning Bible Study was much more than I expected... Awa, the wife of one of Phil's friends Issou, arrived first - ten minutes early. While we were waiting for the others, Awa told me how sick her baby girl was while Phil and I were out of the country. Awa had cried for days because she was so worried. Then one night at 3 a.m. Awa had a dream that Jesus came to her baby and prayed for her little girl, Samiratu. The next morning the fever had broken and Samiratu began to recover. This was so exciting to me, especially because Issou and Awa are Muslims. Issou is the only one of our close friends who has stubbornly avoided listening to the Scriptures and to evangelism. He seems determined to stay faithful to Muhammed. This is particularly interesting since he once had a dream that Phil and I would somehow help secure his future. As for Awa, she has come a couple times to the women's Bible Studies but not to church. I was honestly beginning to lose hope for Issou and Awa, even though through the years I have probably prayed harder for Issou than anyone else here. He is a dynamic leader and could really help our church plant if he ever became a Christian. (Awa with her daughter Samiratu) After 40 minutes, the other women were still not showing up. Being a holiday week, I wondered if some of the women forgot or were mixed up on what day it was. Awa was about to leave when Mariam finally arrived. Mariam is the pastor's wife of our church plant. She had brought with her a few other women who were her neighbors. We told them we were going to cancel. Awa had already been waiting a long time and had a lot to do that day. But Mariam insisted. So we gave up our protests and sat down. As we read through Matthew 2, we noticed three occurrences of God speaking through dreams. Having Awa just tell me how Jesus came to her in a dream, I asked the women if this kind of thing still happens today. One of Mariam's neighbor friends responded that she once had a dream while she was very sick in her husband's village. Her dream seemed to indicate that some white people were going to help her get better. This woman is one whom I've been helping with her AIDS medication after she returned here, to her hometown, presumably to die. What an exciting day! I received triple blessing that morning: 1) Having the Scripture fit with what Awa had just told me about Jesus helping her baby; 2) Hearing how, through a dream, God had prepared my neighbor to accept the gospel along with AIDS medicine; and 3) As Awa was leaving, she promised that she would for sure be in church on Sunday! Does God still talk to people in dreams today? Yes, I would say He does! |
