“Does God speak to you in your dreams?”
“Sometimes…”
“What does He say?”
“Oh…you know…” But I didn’t know…I stumbled around and wanted to say something grand…but I had nothing. In fact, I can only tell you two times that the Lord has used a dream of mine or maybe rather that I allowed a dream to be used. Two times…and that was over a year ago.
And as I thought about it longer (longer translates to a few seconds more…thoughts run rapid in the midst of conversation sometimes) I realized my dreams lately had been far from what the Lord would place in my head.
I’m sure this man was tired of waiting for my response…
“Well, you should pray before you go to bed…”
“Yeah?”
“Mmmhmm…pray that God speaks to you in your dreams…your mind doesn’t really stop when you close your eyes…pray that He speaks to you.”
Staring intently at this man they call “Doctor Luke”, a little mesmerized by the words coming out of his mouth, I responded, “Okay.”
* * *
Who is this Doctor Luke, you might ask?
Well, that is a great question.
He is a man I sat down next to at the homeless shelter we’re serving at this month.
This is a man whom I had seen worshipping the week before, extremely excited to be singing the songs of the Lord.
He doesn’t speak the best of English…that’s something you need to know. Because when I would ask him questions later, his answers came in very broken English. When he spoke to me about praying before I sleep…it was crystal clear, flawless English.
Luke was not his given name. He was an Indian Hindu, and he had a different birth name. When he became a Christian, he was baptized and given a new name…he chose Luke. He was proudly carrying around the gospel of Luke, and makes sure that you know that that is where his name stems from.
In Malaysia, when you change your faith, you have to go to the government. You even get a different id card. Your faith is very much your identity.
Luke had to walk away from his parents and change his name in order to live out his faith here.
I pondered that…how much pride I take in my name… how much it rubs me the wrong way when people mispronounce my name…when people call me Cassie, and not Kacie…and think it’s the same thing.
What if I was asked to change my name?
Or more than that, have I accepted the new name that the Lord promises us? Maybe the name on my identity card doesn’t have to change in the country I live in, but even metaphorically, have I fully embraced the truth of the identity I have in Him?
I’m not sure if I have an answer to that.
* * *
A week later, this same Luke was escorted out of the shelter for doing drugs…my heart broke.
A thought came into my head that almost made me discredit what he had said to me…a thought that contained a doubt as to what was true in his story.
And THEN my vision got redirected to the plank that was coming out of my own eye.
I knew very much in that moment with Luke that those words were coming from the Lord…that Luke was the vessel the Lord was choosing to use in that moment…and the vessel the Lord would continue to use for others.
It didn’t mean that he had it all together. And my being used for someone does not, by any means, mean that I have it all together.
One thing is for sure: I am absolutely certain that Jesus is working in him…just as certain as He is at work within me.
* * *
So, what did I do last night?
I prayed before I went to sleep. I prayed for Luke…and I prayed that God would speak to me in my dreams…and I went to sleep smiling. 
