There’s no doubt that some of our dreams can be a bit bizarre. We dream of places that don’t exist, people who have gone before us, and events or places we would like to see. We speak of dream vacations, dream lovers or dream jobs. In many cases, we see dreams as positive images of things we would like to have or accomplish.

But, there are other types of dreams. There are nightmares.

There are times when we literally force ourselves awake to escape the terrors and tragedies of those nocturnal images. We may awake with tears in our eyes, or we may elect to sleep with the light on after a troubling nightmare.

In our quest to apply logic to embracing faith, we might ask, “what do dreams accomplish, and how does that impact our belief system?”

There is no shortage of scientific studies on dreaming, and no shortage of dispute on the various interpretations.

Some believe that dreams are the brain’s way of rebooting at the end of the day – addressing unresolved issues to allow a new day to start with a clean slate. Dreams may also reveal hidden stresses, such as the common “falling” dream that may be triggered by anxiety over life’s circumstances that seem out of control.

Dreams may be the brain’s way of idling to stay “on-line” during a period of rest. The fact that most dreams are forgotten within moments of awakening would suggest that dreams may just be the brain’s “play-time,” and not necessary for conscious functioning and are quickly discarded.

Finally, there are multiple examples of dreams, both Biblical and mystical, seemingly being a channel to the spirit realm, giving counsel or prediction. In short, the dreaming period seems to briefly lift the veil of awareness between our normal waking state and the tenuous connection with the spirit realm.

When it comes to finding the connection between dreams and faith, we are faced with one, very logical question. If we revert back to the non-believers’ viewpoint that all of existence is the result of random chance events, we stumble when we are faced with the incredible improbability that dreams, and their refreshing effect, are just another accident of nature. We stumble even further when we try to tie accidental design with the occasional ability to access the spirit realm.

Once again, it is just another of the plethora of evidence that there must be intelligent design behind our existence, and that intelligence is what we call “God.”

And that is the starting point in building faith.