A good friend of mine had a strange dream and could not stop thinking about it.  She said, “I’ve been asking the Lord what He’s saying, but I don’t have an interpretation.” In her dream she was in a hospital maternity ward.  There was an infant she did not know but she felt concern and responsibility for the baby.  When she went to change the baby’s diaper, she realized this baby was pregnant and about to give birth.  She frantically sought out help but the nurse was too busy with other patients.  She woke up with a sense of frantic concern and urgency that lingered for days and she desperately sought the Lord to understand what He was saying.

Extreme and strange dreams sometimes seem so far out of our control that it is easy to conclude they are not natural and therefore must be SUPER-natural in source.  We then assume God is the one that is saying something but don’t realize His silence is saying something, “It is not me talking.”  The frustration gets thicker because we cannot imagine how such a strange dream experience could come up from within us!  It is a good thing at this point to look at the dream again and dissect it.

  3. When considering a dream or vision, watch for symbolism.  Symbolism is an object, person or action or event that represents something other than itself.  A pregnant baby is obviously symbolic.  If cats are talking or dogs are driving your car, you’re “not in Kansas anymore” and you’re not talking “literal.”  Thankfully, we do not have to be experts on symbolism to discover what something symbolizes.  We can find out what a symbol represents through prayerfully brainstorming it or researching it until we find an option that bears witness concerning the dream.  (By the way, when you do get understanding about a symbol, record it.  It is likely to become part of your dream language or dream vocabulary and it will usually have the same significance in future dreams.)

What does a baby symbolize?  To it’s care-giver, a baby represents a new beginning, new potential, new responsibility, etc.  The baby itself symbolizes being vulnerable, unequipped, immature, inexperienced, unskilled, innocent, ignorant, etc.

4. When considering a dream or vision, note the setting.  See if it is a reference to an event, season, relationship, pattern, timing, etc.  For example, if the setting is Grandma’s house, the dream message is likely dealing with family history or something from your childhood. The setting of this lady’s dream was a time and place of  birthing or a time and place of new responsibility, a new beginning and a new focus. That was a clue to understanding the reason for this dream, especially since her baby, (literally her youngest daughter), was in a time and place of just such new responsibility.

5. When considering a dream or vision, watch for literal aspects among the symbolism.

During the dream, this dreamer was anxious about who could help and who would be responsible for the outcome of this situation.  She was not able or even skilled to help with this medical situation. That detail indicated this was not God commissioning her nor a God-to-Man communication with instructions for her to hurry and handle her daughter’s challenge in real life. This dream was from within her and revealed her concerns  regarding her baby having a baby. 

Her daughter had just been appointed as a new pastor.  The anxiousness was because of the many factors a baby implies.  She was worried that her daughter may lack experience or ability or maturity or experience to handle what she was beginning.  Her dream brought the anxiousness that was already within her up into her awareness like a flood.  That is why she woke up feeling frantic with a sense of urgency.  When the dream revealed her inner fretting, that she had not realized, she knew she must choose to trust God instead of herself and come to relief and resolve through effectual prayer for her baby girl. (Last excerpt from Kathy’s article “Considering Dreams and Visions”)