After a 12 hour flight from New York to Dubai, Emirates Airlines put all 50 of us in a hotel for our over night layover. As I walked off the plane in the Middle East, my spirit was uneasy. We finally got to our hotel room around 11pm. After dinner, my roommate and I shared life stories until around 2:30am. The jet leg already had us way out of whack, so it didn’t seem like a huge stretch to stay up to 2:30am. At this time my spirit was still uneasy. and after my roommate fell asleep I felt incredibly vulnerable. I kept trying to block out the intense negative vibes my spirit was feeling. I prayed and kept my eyes close as tight as i could. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel a negative spirit in the hotel room. I cracked my eyes open to see an aggressive evil pale white face. My brain was trying to rationalize what I just saw. Night terrors are common for me, but this was like nothing I’ve witnessed before. Whenever I have a night terror, it’s always a black shadow-like figure that comes after me and just when the shadow figure is about to kill me, I wake myself up screaming in a panic attack. However, the evil pale face I witnessed in Dubai was a detailed face.
I didn’t scream when I saw the white face, but laid still and talked to Jesus. I was paralyzed because I was afraid of what would be waiting for me if I turned my head in the darkness. I thought if I could just fall asleep, I could escape the face. At 3:00am I finally dosed off, only to feel an intense presence try to push me off my bed and jolt me awake. Sleeping was not an option at this point. I turned worship music to try to calm my spirit. After I was able to gather myself, I just called it quits and got up for the day. I was already exhausted and the Race had literally just started the day before. The enemy tried to put doubt in my mind. “What if every night is like this on the World Race?” I felt God tell me to tell my squad what I experienced. I told my roommate, Geneva, when she woke up and she prayed over the room. We went downstairs around 4:30am to met our squad and right away my friends starting asking me how my night was. Jonathan and Pat asked me how I slept, so I told them what I had experienced only 90 minutes before. I felt a little better after I told the guys. Every time I told a friend what happened, the uneasy feeling in my spirit had less and less power. My sweet friend Cat came up to me and asked me what time I was jolted awake and I told her 3:00am. She told me how she woke up at the same time and said my name. Cat didn’t know what was going on across the hall at 3:00am, but she knew I was in distress. I love how God gives up people in our lives to stand in the gap for us.
In the Dubai airport, we were informed on how spiritually dark Côte d’Ivoire is. Côte d’Ivoire is recovering from years of physical and spiritual warfare. Therefore, as soon as we arrived in Africa, I started praying over where we would be staying. The first night I could physically feel the tension between good and evil in my room. Therefore, I prayed and turned on worship music and the evil dissolved. The enemy CANNOT be where the Spirit of the Lord is! I continue to play worship music and pray. Since being in Africa I have not taken a sleeping aid. I’ve only used some lavender oil to help me relax. Its been probably a decade since I’ve fallen asleep without any help. Insomnia keeps me awake for days, and then night terrors come when I’m exhausted and vulnerable. Thus far in Africa, I have sleep very well. Praise God!
SN: I wrote this blog before bed one night, and after writing I felt spiritual tension. The enemy did not like how I was sharing the power of God. I was awake until around 3:00am again listening to worship music and keeping my eyes closed. I turned on a little night light so I would not be able to see any shadows.
Much love,
Sarah Amberley
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