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THE FAITH OF A CHILD
by Maxine Wright |
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During a storm my daughter did not have power so her
family all came over to stay with us. Even though we had
power, the children were still very excited about the white
stuff and they were hard to contain in the house. One flake
of snow in the south will energizes children more than
batteries energizes the pink bunny.
| | We had a wonderful hectic day despite all the
inconveniences and that night my 5-year-old
granddaughter, Jessica, shared a most unusual story with
me.
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I was tucking Jessica in bed and we were talking about
angels. We had just finished watching Touched by an
Angel, and I guess that was on her mind. She told me that
she believed in angels and I agreed with her. Then she
related to me what had happened to her the night before in
her room when the power went out at her house.
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Jessica said, "MiMi, last night I was in bed and I woke up
and it was very dark in my room. I started to go to Mommy
and I could not see anything. So, I looked up and said,
'Jesus, I need your hand to take me to my Mommy. So,
Jesus took my hand and he led me to her."
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Well, I was speechless and I just managed to say that was
sweet of Jesus. She matter-of-factly said, "Oh MiMi, that is
how Jesus is; he is a very sweet man." I gave her a big hug
and finished tucking her into bed. As I walked out of the
room, I prayed, "Father, give me Jessica's faith to always
reach for your hand."
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Maxine Wright
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A MESSAGE IN THE RAINBOWS
by Diane |
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My mother and father died a month apart. Shortly after their
deaths, my two brothers (David and Donnie) and I were out
at mom and dad's home in the country, trying to figure out
what to sell to help pay for the funerals. It was a dilapidated
old house, with an old shed where my dad spent a lot of
time in the warm weather months.
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As we stood outside in discussion (about what I don't
remember, but it was about Mother and Dad) suddenly it
began POURING! I mean it came down so fast we were
soaked before we could get 5 feet to the shed and get
inside. We got in, laughing, because we were all wet, and
stood there and watched it absolutely pour for about 5
minutes. Then, as abruptly as it began, it stopped; and the
sun came out, bright as could be.
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As we walked out of the shed, we looked up into the sky
and there were two of the brightest rainbows I had ever
seen! One was right over top of the other one. It was
absolutely gorgeous.
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My one brother, Don (who claims he is an atheist) said,
"See, that's Ma and Dad telling us it's okay now. They are
together and happy. No pain."
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I stood there with tears in my eyes, and I sneaked a
sideways glance at both brothers and they had tears too.
We stood there for a few minutes just looking at the
rainbows, then they were gone.
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| | EDITOR'S (ELLIE) NOTE
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Many of us who have lost a loved one have had unusual
events take place in our lives following the death. These
events generally ease our pain and remind us that indeed,
death is not forever.
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I remember praying for a hug from my son five years after
his death. I was asking for a dream where I could get the
opportunity to feel the strength and warmth of my son's
arms folding me in close to him. I wanted to feel his height
and his nearness and I begged God to please allow me a
dream where I could be reminded of him. I did get the
dream that week, the first dream of my son in five years.
Only he was not the six foot two inch tall young man that
had left me at the age of 17 years, instead he was a little
boy, of perhaps seven or eight years. He said something to
me in the dream that I have never heard any child say. I did
not get my hug but the words he said are with me still, "But
mom Death is not forever." I hold on to those words, a
promise to me of more. But that shall come later!
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Since all of these happenings I have met a most beautiful
lady from Australia. She too lost a child. Her son James
was also killed in a car accident (as was my son Jason).
James has returned a number of times to various family
members.
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Maggie writes here about some of those times.
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MAGGIE REMEMBERS |
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| | THE HUG
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I have had a dream of James where he was here in our
lounge room. I called out to Mil, "Oh my God! James is
alive, we have identified the wrong person!" I ran out and
started laughing and hugging him. I cuddled him, putting
my head on his shoulder and I felt his arms around me. I
could feel the soft material of his favorite blue work shirt.
When I woke up I could still feel the warmth of him and it felt
incredibly real. It was the greatest "hug" I have ever
received, just so full of love.
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| | ANGEL PLUMBER
| | The most surprising and seemingly incredible incident was
when we had a leak where the hose joined the washing
machine in the laundry. It had been leaking for almost a
year, not a lot, just enough to irritate. Mil kept on trying to
find out exactly where it was coming from, but he could
never fix it. This was happening before we lost James and I
used to have to put an old towel down on the floor every
time I did the washing. It would only stop if we remembered
to turn the main tap off after each wash. One day I just got
so fed up with it, I asked James if there was any way he
could do something about it. Yes, you've guessed it; it
unexplainably stopped almost immediately! This happened
about a year ago and it still never leaks.
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| | LOOK AT YOUR MOTHER, JAMES
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Just recently I was laying in bed one night, wide awake,
when suddenly a vision appeared before me. It was just a
pale mass and very slowly it turned into my mother's face. It
was as if she was no more than 8 inches away from me. I
was so excited and kept on thinking, "Oh please, don't let it
fade away" but after a few minutes it sort of went back to
being just a mass again. Before I could become too
disappointed it changed again and this time it was James'
face. I could see him in every detail, it really was him, and I
reached out to touch him. All around him was dark but his
face was glowing.
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A few days later I was telling my sister about this incident
and she told me on that day she was dusting her furniture
and she had picked up some framed photos of both James
and I. She placed mine face up and put the one of James
face down on top of mine. Because I have been very ill with
breast cancer and having a severe reaction to the
chemotherapy treatment she said, "Take a look at your
mother, James." Well, he certainly DID!
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THE BUTTERFLY, THE PROMISE
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I would also like to add that whenever I am feeling the
lowest, whenever I feel as if I can't go on, that I can't take the
sorrow and grief any more, sure enough without fail
something happens. My granddaughters will unexpectedly
call for no reason, his best friend or another good buddy
will ring up, or I hear a song on the radio that has special
significance to me just at the exact moment I turn it on. On
one particular day when I was very down and so depressed
and sad, I stepped outside and a beautiful Monarch
butterfly suddenly appeared and circled right over my head
before taking off over a neighbor's fence. I had not seen
one for years and I have never seen one since, as they are
very rare in this part of Sydney.
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| | MAGGIE CONCLUDES
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I just know that God, my very own Angels and James are
watching over me, urging me on. I believe they know when I
need them the most, and isn't that just so wonderful and
miraculous? This whole experience has taught me just
how loved we all are by God and that we must have faith
that He is taking such good care of every part of our lives.
Even in tragedy, sorrow and grief, something joyous is
allowed to occur.
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Maggie
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WINGS |
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A 4-year-old told his mother, "I don't want to go to heaven."
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In amazement, she said, "Why?"
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"Because I couldn't watch TV or play games or do my Ninja
moves," he said.
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"You can do whatever you want in heaven," his mother
said.
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Not convinced, the 4-year-old said, "How with them stupid
wings flapping all the time?"
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This story was used with permission from Grace Witwer
Housholder. To receive the delightful weekly "Funny Kids"
e-mail column send a blank message to:
funnykids-subscribe@onelist.com
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Rita says." To this day, when I share this story of God's
blessing I still cry and I know without a doubt that God
performed this miracle for me, there's no doubt."
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| SENT TO FILL IN HIS PLACE!
by Rita |
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When my oldest was only 6 months old I became
accidentally pregnant again. I wasn't ready as I was young
and had a terrible delivery with the first one. It was a pretty
miserable nine months until my second was born and my
mother was very mad at me for becoming pregnant again
so soon even though my husband was very supportive.
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While I was pregnant my beloved father almost died of a
heart attack so it was a trying time. When my second,
another boy, was born he was like a cookie cutter of my
dad. Everything had turned out wonderful.
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Well on the day my newborn was three months old my
beloved father suddenly died of a blood clot from the heart
attack. I was devastated.
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To this day, I know God sent me that baby to save me
through the grief of my father's dying. It saved my sanity. My
dad was only 53 and left my mom and my sister who was
only 12. I was ten years older.
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This child, Jeffrey, has grown up and is a dead ringer for my
father, looks, temperament, etc. I just can't tell you that I
thank God always for giving him to me as I know it was the
plan. I knew it immediately after my father died that it had all
happened that way for a reason.
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Rita Schneider
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A CLOSE CALL
by Erica |
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On Monday January third I was supposed to go pay our
rent. I puttered around all day. Finally my husband arrived
home just as a storm was starting in. I thought I would wait
out the storm before going but after about thirty minutes
decided I should get going before the rental office closed.
So I started out.
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I got nervous about half way to the rental place. The clouds
were the beautiful sea green and I knew from living in NE
that that beauty held danger. So I hurried along my way.
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When I pulled into the rental office I heard a siren. I thought
it was a fire truck or ambulance and went in and paid my
rent. It was about then I heard someone laughing about the
tornado sirens. She was saying how they should really get
that siren fixed since it goes off at the drop of a hat. All I
knew is a voice was telling me to get the heck out of there.
The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up as I
grabbed my receipt and ran out of the office. I drove like a
mad woman to get home. I was honking my horn and
blazing past people.
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The radio station I listen to went dead and the air had a
deadly calm to it. I got home and saw my 18-month-old son
standing at our glass door and knew why I was sent home
by the voice.
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I grabbed my family and put them in the closet while my
husband watched the sky outside. I missed the tornado by
160 seconds in town and it went right by the house shortly
after I got home. We only got strong wind and hail but it was
close enough for me. I broke down and cried thanking my
angel for giving me the sign to get my family to safety.
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| | Erica Yarbrough
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