By Brenda Mays, Feb 1, 2010

Tilda worships with us now.

ow important are dreams? While dreams aren’t very important to most Americans, they are of great significance to many Albanians. Bible stories that include dreams draw the attention of Albanians, to the point that they become stories about dreams instead of stories with dreams.

Does it make sense that God would use dreams to communicate to Albanians as He often did to people throughout the scripture? Or should we caution our friends about relying on something that could have no meaning or could have been planted by the enemy to confuse or mislead them? I have read and heard many mission stories about God giving dreams and visions to people to prepare them to accept a missionaries’ Bible message or to encourage them in their journey with Him. Is it possible that He will use this method here? Is it possible that He already has?

Tilda was born to a Muslim family but raised an atheist during the long communist reign, which crushed Albania under a terrible weight of religious oppression. All religious expression was forbidden and severely punished. All religious literature was illegal. This was Tilda’s world for most of her life.

Tilda and her family became friends of ours shortly after they moved back to Albania from the States. When I met Tilda, she was severely depressed and didn’t know if there was a God. She had experienced devastatingly frightening and painful things in her life, but she had also experienced amazing blessings. She has a compelling story about how God loved her even when she didn’t believe in Him and how she can now see how He was with her and helped her through all the difficulties of her life; how He arranged for her to learn about Him and gain an entirely new life outlook through Him.

Tilda loves to tell the story of how, after they moved back to Albania, her son told her he had met an American man (Sean) living in their city. At first, she didn’t believe him. Then she heard about an American woman (me) who could help them continue their son’s education. She thought, “There is no way. It’s impossible.” She laughs heartily as she recounts how she didn’t even believe we existed, much less that God did. Now, she knows for sure that God not only exists but that He loves her and answers her prayers. She is gratefully learning how to know Him and serve Him.

Tilda recently sent us a message early one Sunday morning after spending Sabbath with us. She’d had a dream, and she wanted to tell us about it. In her dream, she was with a fairly large church group, giving her testimony and praying. Some of the people were crying. She told us she felt like she was flying, she was so happy. She told her husband about her dream, expecting him to tease her about it, but instead he gave her a big hug. The dream moved Tilda to decide to be baptized. She then went to her friend’s hair salon and told her about our church, saying she would love it if she came, that she would “feel the truth.”

Tilda gushed to us that she had never felt like this before, and she wanted to tell everybody. Now she understood what made us leave our home in the States and come to Albania to tell people about God’s love. She said she might even become a missionary if that’s what God wanted, whether in Albania or abroad. She boldly declared that she might even take her family to minister in a jungle somewhere, like John Kent had told her about when he visited here. That’s quite a statement for Tilda since she harbors so many fears about numerous things. I think she was trying to make us understand the depth of her commitment.

Since that day, Tilda has continued to seek God, but the enemy of souls has tried to erect many barriers. Tilda asks that you pray for her and her family that they will rely on God’s strength and grow closer to Jesus each day. She also has one more request: Will you please pray that we will soon have a church building to worship in? Tilda wants there to be room for the worshipers in her dream.