As my wife has been blogging about life incidences related to our walk of faith and I too would like to share an experience that I believe was gifted to me by God. It would be a shame if I couldn't share such a beautiful experience that I went through.
When we sleep, we experience different stages of REM (rapid eye movement). When we fall into deep sleep or stage 4 sleep, this is a stage where we can experience dreams or night mares. I also believe this is the time when God really connects with us -- He may speak with us through a dream or show us something about a situation, or even sometimes wake us up to just pray or spend some time with the Holy Spirit.
We only use 11% of our brain and I believe there is an untapped area which many of us don't understand. Our soul (body) sleeps as the body fatigues, but our spirit never sleeps and is constantly awake and can be in communion with God. Many a times, God speaks to us through dreams when we are asleep as it is during our sleep when our spirit is undistracted by our soul and it can connect with the Holy Spirit. Even if you look at the stories of the bible, Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh's dream (despite Pharaoh not being a believer), and Joseph himself dreamt of God's destiny for him when he was a young boy. Also, another Joseph (Mary's husband), knew to bring baby Jesus to Egypt to escape King Herod's wrath when He was born to Mary. Think about it, we sleep a third of our lives, and that's such a opportune time for us to connect with God. So truly, we should pay attention to our dreams that we have as it may be God speaking to us or giving us an experience that is meant to be shared with others.
Acts 2:17 "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams."
Anyway, enough of this long winded intro, I would like to share with you a dream I had late last year when I believe God had given me a glimpse of heaven. It was a dream I never wanted to wake up from. I will try to put it to you the best way I can but it is probably a far cry from the real thing as language itself cannot adequately capture the beauty of the experience.
Imagine yourself submerged in a pool of an extremely light gaseous/liquid substance. This substance (earthly term) is engulfing every single part of your body, you are floating in it yet it was as if you had no skin and everything within you was exposed to this substance. You and the substance were one.
This substance I was surrounded by was felt like love; I felt that I must have been in heaven. I was being surrounded by an overwhelming sense of love so much so that I felt that I could breathe it, taste it, feel it, hear it and most importantly, I felt one with it. It was like I was being embraced by the most indescribably good sensation that I was lost in it. There were no worries, no fear, just love and peace. Nothing else mattered but being submersed in that moment.
I was floating like there was no such thing as gravity and love hit me in waves of gentle vibrations, just like that you feel when you stand next to a big subwoofer. You feel the sound waves hitting you and making your hair stand, but this time I was pounded by vibrations of love hitting me, wave after wave.
Time didn't matter anymore. Everything was in slow motion and every cell in my body felt pleasure, as if in a worship response to the waves of love. Every cell was so possessed with the feeling, racing to understand what all these sensations meant. It was so novel and wonderful, all I wanted to do was to be soaked in this substance of Love forever.
I have been in love before (to my wife) and it's such a wonderful feeling, knowing that I can fully love and be transparent with Estee and, she too, can do that same with me. It is beautiful to know someone intimately, and be known and accepted for who I am. This unconditional love for each other is a very beautiful emotion to give and receive. However, despite knowing the earthly euphoria of love, when compared to the Love experienced in my dream, it was just a small fraction and so minute compared to it. It was only when I awoke from the dream that I knew beyond a doubt that it was God giving me a glimpse of heaven.
I woke up remembering the feeling like 'wow, but no, I want to go back to that place!!!' Of course I tried to go to sleep again, hoping to continue that dream but it just didn’t happen. However, the dream has been imprinted in my memory and just closing my eyes brings be back to the sensations I felt then. I am just so grateful for the opportunity to experience something like that and its something I will remember for life -- I know that heaven is definitely real.
I don't know why I was given that dream, and when I shared with my wife, I tried to make her understand the feeling, but my words couldn’t adequately share how my heart felt. I just want to encourage everyone to believe that God and heaven is for real. Love is not only a feeling, it is a person. He is the person of Jesus Christ, and I know one day when He returns, we will all get to experience how it is like to live with our King of Love.