Same Dream at Night for 10 Years

Laurentiu Stefan Druga began to wonder whether God was telling him something.

By Andrew McChesney

Only three Seventh-day Adventist children attended the elementary school near Romania’s capital, Bucharest.

All three were in the eighth grade.

Laurentiu Stefan Druga also was in the eighth grade.

Before long, the Adventist children invited Laurentiu to church on Sabbath. Laurentiu, who had never heard of Adventists, quickly fell in love with Sabbath School. He gave his heart to Jesus, took baptismal lessons, and was baptized.

A desire blossomed in him to teach other people about God. He decided to become a pastor and study at an Adventist school in Bucharest.

The school, however, only had 20 openings for students, and Laurentiu had to score well on an entrance exam to gain admittance.

On the day of the exam, Laurentiu entered the classroom and sat at a big table. He looked down at the sheet of paper in front of him and started the exam.

He placed 21st.

“No problem,” he told his parents. “I’ll try again next year.”

But as the year passed, he grew extremely careless in his spiritual life.

When the time came to take the entrance exam again, he entered the same classroom. He sat at the same big table. He looked down at the piece of paper. But something didn’t feel right. He knew that he wasn’t living a godly life, and his mind went blank. Abruptly, he stood up and walked out of the door, leaving the exam unfinished.

Several years passed, and Laurentiu immigrated to Madrid, Spain, and found a job as a construction worker. He got married and drifted farther and farther away from God.

Everything changed at the age of23 when he met an uncle, an Adventist, also working in Spain. He remembered his first love for God and his desire to teach others about God. He spoke with his wife, and the couple decided to be baptized on the same day.

Two weeks before the big day, Laurentiu began to wonder how to plan his life after the baptism.

“God,” he prayed, “what is your plan for me?”

The next day, he prayed again, “God, what is your plan for me?”

Laurentiu asked God the same question every night. He offered the same prayer on the night after his baptism and the day afterward. He believed God would reply, and he wondered whether God would send someone with the message, “God wants you to do this work.” Or perhaps a pastor would say, “Here is a job for you.” Or maybe the church where he worshipped in Madrid would give him a special project.

Two nights after his baptism, Laurentiu had a dream. In the dream, he entered a familiar-looking classroom. He sat at a big table and looked at a piece of paper. With horror, he realized that he was taking a math exam and hadn’t studied for a year. As he looked at the paper, his mind went blank. Fear turned to panic, and his heart beat wildly.

At that moment, Laurentiu woke up. He usually soundly through the night, nut now his heart was pounding. It was 3 a.m.

“That was just a dream,” he reassured himself. “I’m going back to sleep.”

He had a second dream. This time he stood at the pulpit in his Madrid church. He was talking, smiling, and laughing. People listened with great interest. Laurentiu could not hear what was being said, but he understood that he was teaching his listeners. Peace flowed through his body, and felt happy and relaxed. He sensed God’s presence.

In the morning, Laurentiu dismissed the dreams. That night, he prayed as usual, “God, what is your plan for me?”

Sound asleep, he dreamed that he entered the classroom and sat at the big table. Looking down at the piece of paper, he saw to his dismay that he was taking a Romanian-language exam. He hadn’t studied for a year, and his mind went blank. Panic set in, and his heart pounded.

A moment later, he was seated at another table. Now he was smiling and laughing as he spoke to a group of people. His listeners nodded with interest. Joy filled him, and he sensed God’s presence.

Similar dreams occurred nearly every night after that. The classroom was always the same, but the exam varied. Sometimes he sat at a piano to play. Other times he stood to sing. But always he wasn’t prepared and his mind went blank. He felt miserable.

Then the scene changed to a church, another table, or a crowd of people where he was speaking from a raised platform. He could never hear what he said, but he knew that he was teaching them and that God was present.

After about three months of near-nightly dreams, the thought struck Laurentiu that maybe God was telling him to quit his construction job and pursue his childhood wish to become a pastor.

“But how?” he asked God. “I can’t quit my job. I’m married and have a family to support.”

The dreams kept coming. A year passed. Then two, three, four years. He told his parents and several close friends about the dreams, but they dismissed them as the workings of his subconscious mind.

Eventually, he got used to the dreams. While sleeping, he would wait for the miserable first part to end so he could enjoy the pleasant second part.

Also every evening, Laurentiu kept praying, “God, what is your plan for me?”

After 10 years, Laurentiu finally told his wife about the dreams. But he didn’t say that he had the same dream nearly every night, unsure of how she might respond.

One evening, Laurentiu sat in the Madrid church, listening to a visiting U.S. youth pastor speak at a youth conference of about 250 young people. He felt like the speaker was reading his thoughts. Every time he raised an objection in his mind, the speaker responded from the platform with an answer. Laurentiu broke out in a sweat as he tried to process a million thoughts. His wife nudged him.

“You have to go to the seminary,” she said.

Two days later, she brought up the issue again.

“It’s time,” she said.

That night Laurentiu had the dream again. In the morning, he prayed, “OK, God. It’s time.”

Three months later, Laurentiu and his wife and 9-year-old son moved to Sagunto Adventist College, located 235 miles (380 kilometers) east of Madrid and near the Mediterranean Sea. From the night that he moved, the dreams stopped.

Laurentiu is now immersed in his second year of seminary studies, and he couldn’t be happier.

“Every class that I take and every moment that I have with the teachers is the second part of the dream,” he said. “I don’t miss the first part of the dream. The second part is now the reality of my life every day.

Part of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering in first quarter 2020 will help construct a much-needed building for the seminary where Laurentiu studies at Sagunto Adventist College. Thank you for planning a generous offering to help other pastors realize the dreams that God has for them.