The Night Jesus Walked Into My Nightmare — Mayana Frederickson's Testimony

Some testimonies stop you cold. This is one of them.

In Episode 204 of the Recovering Reality Podcast, Erik sits down with his wife, Mayana, for the very first time, over 200 episodes in, to share one of the most powerful supernatural encounters you will ever hear. A story of tormenting nightmares, paralyzing fear, and the night Jesus Himself showed up and changed everything.

If you have ever felt tormented, trapped, or like the darkness is winning, this one is for you.

Growing Up Knowing About God, But Not Knowing Him

Mayana grew up in Brazil surrounded by faith, but it was a faith wrapped in fear. Her grandmother prayed faithfully every day; devoted, consistent, powerful. But the message Mayana absorbed was that God was watching, waiting to catch her doing something wrong.

"I always had this sense of being watched," Mayana shares. "But not in a bad sense, like I knew somebody was with me."

Even before she gave her life to Christ, there were moments at the beach, sitting alone, where she felt something, a presence she couldn't fully explain. God was there, even when she didn't know how to articulate it.

But alongside those moments of quiet presence came something far darker: tormenting nightmares and episodes of sleep paralysis that haunted her for years.

Tormented by Nightmares: A Battle She Fought Alone

Long before Mayana came to faith in Jesus Christ, she was fighting a battle in the night. Recurring nightmares. Sleep paralysis. A terrifying figure, a large, bald man, who appeared in her dreams and represented pure fear.

Growing up in Brazil, Mayana had experienced real trauma. Guns held to her head. A home invasion. Real fear that left deep wounds, the enemy was all too happy to exploit.

"The enemy, he's just a sore loser and throws cheap shots," Erik explains. "If someone has a hurt leg, he's going to sit there and kick him in the leg. That's how he operates."

To cope, Mayana slept with a Catholic rosary on her wrist. When the sleep paralysis would come, she would grip the cross and pray, the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, whatever she knew. And every single time, it would lift.

Even then, God's power was at work. Even then, He was answering the cry of her heart.

The Night Jesus Walked Into Her Nightmare

After moving to San Diego, a Brazilian friend led Mayana to Christ. She began attending church, joining small groups, and growing in her faith. But she was living alone, her roommate had just moved out to get married, in an apartment in Ocean Beach, a neighborhood thick with New Age spirituality.

And the nightmares came back.

One night, Mayana was asleep when she felt it, the familiar grip of sleep paralysis. And there, in her room, she saw him. The figure from her dreams. Visible. Real. Standing in her bedroom.

"I am frozen," Mayana recalls. "You can't move, you can't talk, you can see it. But all that you can do is in your mind, which is pray, call the name of Jesus."

And that is exactly what she did.

"He was there, standing, looking at me. And all of a sudden, at the same place that he was, it was like Jesus just came. And it was like this huge light invaded the same place that he was."

Jesus appeared. In the natural. Visibly. He stretched His hands toward her head and audibly spoke one word:

"Ask."

In an instant, the torment was gone. The figure was gone. And in its place, light, peace, and the presence of Jesus Christ.

Mayana has never had that nightmare again.

What Mayana Did Next, and What Her Pastor Said

After the encounter, Mayana called her pastor and friends. But instead of focusing on Jesus, she found herself fixating on the darkness, the fear, the figure, the paralysis.

Her pastor stopped her.

"Mayana. You just encountered Jesus. And you are thinking about the negative part of it. You just saw Jesus."

That reframe changed everything. The encounter wasn't about the enemy. It was about Jesus showing up. Jesus delivering. Jesus saying, "Ask." 

"The ask thing is to this day that ask me," Mayana shares. "Ask me, ask, just ask me."

That one word became the foundation of her relationship with God. She reminds Him of it regularly.

"He reminds me, do you remember your yes? And I remind Him, do you remember you told me to ask? And it just became that funny thing between Jesus and I."

Faith That Comes Through the Fire

One of the most powerful threads running through this entire conversation is the idea that real faith, the kind that holds something genuinely powerful, is forged in trials, not handed out freely.

"If you want to live in a faith that is real and genuine, where you've endured and persevered, and you hold something very real and powerful, if you see someone walking in that, you know for sure they've gone through the fire," Erik says.

Both Erik and Mayana were introduced to Jesus not through a polished church service or a carefully scripted prayer, but through an encounter with His power. His power breaking through their darkest moments. His power responding to the cry of a desperate heart.

That is the foundation of everything they do at Recovering Reality.

What About You?

Maybe you're not dealing with nightmares. Maybe it's something else entirely — a loved one you've been crying out for, a situation that feels impossible, an addiction that you can't beat, a darkness that won't let up.

Mayana's word for you is simple and profound:

"There is nothing special that we can do to encounter God. It's about our hearts. When we cry out to him in honesty and sincerity, it's not a prayer we need to pray or a recipe we need to follow. It's a cry from the heart."

God is not looking for the perfect formula. He is responding to the honest cry of a desperate heart.

"God, there's no other answer but you. I need you."

That's when He says, yes. That's exactly it. It's Me.

Mayana's Prayer for You

At the close of the episode, Mayana prayed and prophesied over every listener. Here is what she declared:

"This next season is going to be a season where you are going to cry out to the Lord like you have never cried before. A season where you are going to be so hungry for the Lord. I pray for many encounters. I pray that you will hear the whisper of His voice in the middle of the night, calling you, come spend time with Me. I pray for a growth of intimacy and relationship with the Holy Spirit to be birthed in a powerful way. And that you know that God is so in love with you."

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Listen to the Full Episode

- Listen on Spotify HERE

- Listen on Apple Podcasts HERE

Work With Erik & Mayana

If this episode stirred something in you and you're ready to walk into real freedom, Erik and Mayana offer one-on-one coaching and mentorship using a proven five-step framework to freedom in Christ.

Erik's Coaching → 
Mayana's Women's Coaching → 
 
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📸 Mayana's Instagram: @recoveringrealitywomen