The Night I Dreamed My Family Was in Danger — All I Could Say Was "Please"

My mom and someone I love like a sibling were riding in the same car. I was on a video call with them, just watching their screen.

Then the ground in front of the car started splitting open.

At first it looked like a small crack. Then it spread — the road tore open like a sinkhole, and something like lava started rising underneath. And somehow, the crack kept moving toward the car.

The car was backing away. I was just watching it happen on a screen.

There was nothing I could do. I couldn't get in the car. I couldn't drive it away myself. All I could do was watch.

So I kept saying it, over and over.

Please. Please get away. Please…

And somewhere in there, I realized I was praying.

I wasn't thinking about how to pray

Normally, even while I'm praying, my mind keeps interrupting itself. Am I asking for too much? Is this a selfish prayer? Am I even doing this right?

But in the dream, none of that showed up.

There was only fear — the plain, physical fear of someone I love being in danger. And what came out of my mouth was just as plain.

Please.
Please get away.
Please…

That was the whole prayer.

Do dreams actually mean something?

I know how this goes in Korea — you have a strange dream, and the first thing everyone does is ask what it means. Good omen, bad omen, someone always has a theory.

I don't think that instinct is only a Korean thing, either. People everywhere have been trying to read meaning into dreams for a very long time — some treat them as glimpses of the future, some as a window into their own mind, some as something more spiritual.

So for a moment, I wondered the same thing. Did this mean something?

Honestly, I don't know. It might have meant nothing at all — just some things I've been worrying about lately, tangled up into a strange scene. I don't think it was some kind of warning about what's coming.

But one detail stayed with me anyway: the first thing I did in that dream was pray.

Someone in that dream is waiting on real news right now

Here's the part that made it stick with me more than it probably should have.

The person in that dream — someone I love like a sibling — has recently had some hopeful news about a pregnancy, and we're waiting to hear more tomorrow.

That's likely why the dream stayed in my head all morning.

I don't want to turn a dream into a reason to worry. If anything, I'm hoping for good news, and there's nothing to do but wait like normal.

But that's the strange thing about caring about someone. Even the smallest things start weighing on you. You want good things for them. You want nothing to go wrong. And if there's anything you can do, you want to do it.

Except sometimes, there's nothing you can do.

And that's usually when I end up praying.

It's the same with my mom

I worry about my mom more than I probably let on. Something happens, and my first thought is whether she's okay — even over things that don't really call for it.

And in the dream, it was the same pattern. I wasn't worried about myself. I was worried about the people on the other side of that screen.

I couldn't do anything. So I prayed.

Thinking about it, that might be the most honest reason I ever pray. Something I can't fix myself. Something I can't change no matter how hard I try. Someone I love, and the fear that something might happen to them.

That's when I say it.

Please.

Maybe that's just what prayer is, sometimes

I've spent a lot of time thinking about prayer — why it doesn't always work the way I want it to, what actually counts as a "good" prayer.

But in that dream, none of that mattered. I wasn't thinking about whether I was praying correctly. I wasn't checking if I had enough faith. I wasn't reaching for a Bible verse to say it right.

I just wanted someone to be safe. So I asked for that.

Maybe prayer doesn't need to be eloquent. Sometimes it's not a long, careful prayer — it's just:

"God, please."

That's the whole thing.

There are moments when you don't know what to say, or you can't even put into words what you're actually asking for. And maybe just handing that fear over to God — without dressing it up — counts as prayer too.

I still don't know what the dream meant

Honestly, I still don't know what that dream was about. It might have meant nothing. Just some worries, rearranged into a strange scene while I slept.

But the image stayed with me all day anyway — the ground splitting open, the car pulling back, and me, unable to do anything but say the same thing again and again.

Please. Please get away.

Tomorrow, I'll probably hear the news. I'm hoping it's good. And I hope my mom, and everyone I love, stays safe and well — because I can't protect all of them myself. I can't make everything go the way I want it to.

So today, I'm praying again. Not shouting this time, like I was in the dream. Just quietly.

God,
there isn't much I can do.
So please take care of the people I'm worried about.

That's the only prayer I have today.