Vivid dreams. I have them. I’ve always had them. Okay—sometimes they were during the day when I should have been listening to the teacher give out the next day’s assignment—but they were very real. I still have them, but mostly at night when I am sleeping. I tell my husband about them even though dreams don’t really interest him all that much. That explains the funny grin on his face when he handed me the July 2, 2012 issue of Time Magazine open to an article by John Cloud titled “Nightmare Scenario.” After a thorough explanation of the latest and greatest theories about dreams, the author ends with Stephan LaBerge’s idea of lucid dreaming—you can take conscious control of your dreams.

Although their techniques and reasoning differ, Dr. Mark Virkler teaches something very similar: “You can ask God to give you dreams that wake you up. Write them down right away.” He teaches classes on how to interpret dreams Biblically to hear the voice of God.

I stumbled onto this concept myself years ago, on nights that I had trouble turning off my spinning mind so I could sink into slumber. When the usual regimen of devotions followed by a crossword puzzle (to keep my mind from straying down a multitude of rabbit trails) didn’t work, I started using alphabet games: names beginning with each letter, three-syllable words, places … One night I was full of worries and decided to focus on God because he is the one in control. So I used the alphabet to list attributes of God. I fell asleep the third time through, around the letter E, and my sleep was calm and deep. I woke up rested, and started the next day saying, “Thank you, God, for the reminder to rest in you.”

I’ve continued to focus on God as I go to sleep, using a lot of variations of the alphabet method: songs, Bible verses, Biblical characters, …

My dreams can be full of anxiety or they can full of God. The thoughts that I choose to let spin through my mind affect the quality of my dreams. So, I choose God—awake or asleep.