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THE VISIT
by Dee |
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My Grandmother had a son, Charlie, who died from
pneumonia when he was eighteen months old. The
Doctors told her that the best thing to do would be to get
pregnant again right away. She disagreed, telling them
that she felt if she had a boy, she would expect him to take
Charlie's place.
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At the time of his death, my mother was seven, I have
heard her tell this story many times.
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My Grandmother had become ill, and refused to go to the
Doctor. (Something that is common for her, even to this
day). One night, after she went to bed, she heard a child's
voice saying "Momma". She got up to check on my
mother and uncle and found them sound asleep. She
returned to bed, but once again heard a child calling
"Momma". Grandmother then got up, thinking that some
child had gotten out of their house and was lost outside in
the cold.
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She walked around the outside of the house, and found
nothing, so she returned to bed. Shortly after that, she
heard again, "Momma". This time, she sat up in her bed
and there, at the foot of the bed was Charlie. She reached
for him, but he told her no and that she had to promise to
go to the Doctor first thing the next morning. Once she
promised, she reached out to him again. Once again, he
told her no and that he had to go back, and with that, he
was gone.
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The next morning, my grandmother went to the Doctor,
he told her that if she had waited until noon, he wouldn't
have been able to do anything for her. Not even realizing
it, she had miscarried twins. She had a major infection
throughout her body and it would have killed her if not
for a visit from an angel.
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Dee
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I KNOW WHERE MY MOTHER IS!
by Phylis |
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It was a Saturday morning in mid November when my
Mother called and wanted me to take her Christmas
Shopping. I had my five and a half year old granddaughter
Ashley. She was spending the weekend with her Pappa
and I. I did not hesitate in answering my Mother. I asked
her when she wanted me to pick her up and she said I am
ready to go NOW.
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You see, my Mother had liver cancer and only had a few
weeks to live. She lived in front of me on a seven and a
half acre lot in the country.
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When we got to the mall my granddaughter pushed Mom
around in the wheel chair and I pushed the buggies from
store to store. I kept asking Mom if she was getting tired
and she would always reply "No," I'm having the time of
my life and I am not going home until I finish all of my
Christmas shopping". We left home at 10:00 a.m. and
didn't return home until 5 p.m. It was like she was on a
journey to finish what she wanted to do; and she was.
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One week later on December first she was getting so weak
she moved into our home so I could take care of her. She
knew her time was growing near. She had taken one
double dose of chemotherapy and it made her extremely
ill. The doctors had told her the chemo would only
prolong her life by four to six months. After the first dose
she refused to take anymore. She stated "The sickness was
not worth six months of life because she was going to die
anyway so why prolong the agony by being bed ridden".
She lost all of her beautiful hair with dignity. She was a
beautiful sixty nine year old that looked forty-nine.
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On December 12th she came to the dinner table and sat
with us but couldn't eat. It was the twelfth anniversary of
my husband and I. She said her stomach was burning too
bad and excused herself and went back to her room. I felt
something was not right this particular night. I slept in
the same room with her every night and we would hold
hands and she would try to talk to me. This night she was
very weak and all she wanted to do was to hold my hand.
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That night she slipped into a coma. She kept moaning and
I was unaware of what was happening to her. I couldn't
get her to take her medicine because her teeth were
clenched. I called out for my husband to help me get the
medicine in her mouth but to no avail. I immediately
called Hospice (they are a wonderful organization). When
they arrived they said she was going fast.
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Her eyes were fixed, one eye open and one eye closed and
yellow. Her feet and hands were cold. They told me to call
the family so I immediately called my brother and her
sisters and grandchildren.
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By the time everyone got there it was morning and they
all stayed with me. At 2:07 p.m. my Mother, still in a
coma, raised her hands to the ceiling and said "Yes, Jack. I
am ready." She put her hands back down on the bed. (Jack
was her deceased husband).
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When she held her hands up it was like Angels and Jesus
were in the room. I felt their presence. Every one that was
in her room gasped when she said those words. Seven
minutes later she turned her little head over on her
pillow and passed away.
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When the hearse came, my husband sent my cousin and I
to her house to get her clothes (my brother and I had
made prior funeral arrangements) and when I returned
she was gone and so was the Funeral director and the
hearse. I was terribly upset.
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At the funeral home I learned that my husband had
planned for me not to be there when they took my
Mother out of our home. What I didn't know was he
would not allow them to put her on the stretcher to take
her out. My husband carried my Mother out of our home.
When he was asked why he did this, his answer was "My
wife would have wanted it this way." If I could have
loved him anymore than I already did, it was at that time.
It touched my heart so.
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If there was any person in that room when she died that
was not a believer in Jesus Christ, they would have
believed then. When my Mother reached to the ceiling it
was like she saw the Angels coming to get her. One of her
Angels was Jack. I feel in my heart they did. It was
beautiful. The Angels and God were in that room that day.
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I know where my Mother is and it is a great comfort
knowing she is with Jesus. I have seen one of my
Grandchildren come into this world and I have seen my
Mother leave this world and they are both the most
beautiful experiences because God was there both times.
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The pain of losing her still lingers with me every day. I
loved her so. But, I know she suffers no more and God
needed her more.
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Phylis Cranfield
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A little bit about Phylis:
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I live in Tennessee. I am a homemaker, have a wonderful
husband Paul, three daughters and nine grandchildren. I
love to write poetry.
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Phylis was selected by the International Poet Society as a
semifinalist in their Poetry Contest. Look for "Nature's
Choice" to see it in print.
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ALWAYS CONNECTED
by Marilyn |
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When I was a child, I loved my aunt as she was the one
who raised me. Later, this same aunt got cancer and ended
up in the hospital. I did not know she had cancer or that
she was dying.
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At the moment of her death I saw myself in a vision
sitting in her front room watching TV with her and I was
on the couch and she in a swivel recliner. All of a sudden
her chair swung around until I was looking at her and
directly into her eyes. Her words to me were" so long,
Marilyn, I've got to go now but I want to say good bye and
I love you." And then she disappeared and the chair was
empty and I was alone.
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The ringing of the phone awoke me. It was a family
member calling to tell me that my aunt had just died. I
had no way of knowing just moments before that my aunt
was dying. I believe her spirit came to say good bye. I was
to discover later that she had actually died at the same
time as I saw her disappear out of the chair. I have never
forgotten the experience.
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Marilyn
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DO YOU BELIEVE IN ANGELS?
by RoseMary |
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I was having a discussion with our priest. I told him there
are times when I was a "doubting Thomas," and
wondered if there were really angels. He just looked at me
from the corner of his eye!
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Several days later, I was fixing supper. I was preparing
cabbage rolls at the stove. I had a large pot of broth on one
burner, and a plate with the leaves and meat near the pot
as I put the cabbage rolls together and dropped them into
the broth.
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While I was working the phone rang. I wiped my hands
on a paper towel and walked across the room to answer
the phone. As I picked up the receiver, the plate that held
the cabbage leaves and meat exploded. I had turned on the
wrong burner. The plate had become hot and the heat had
shattered it.
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With a shaky voice, I said "hello." There was no one
there! I hung up the phone, and went across the room to
assess the damage. The plate had shattered into many,
many pieces. If I had been standing there, I would have
gotten badly cut and burned.
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Later that evening, I called our priest. Without any
preamble, I said, "Father, I believe in Angels!"
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He didn't even ask who was on the phone. He just said, "I
know!"
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RoseMary Salzman
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THE WHITE CROSS AND THE NUMBER SEVEN
by Maria |
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Six years ago, I had just gone through a divorce. I had left
behind my home, my job, my friends and my church.
Everything I owned was gone and my children and I only
had our clothes. Devastated, I turned to a friend whose
family took us in to live with them for a while until we
could get on our feet. Shortly after moving into their
house, I started having some severe medical problems
and was suffering excruciating pain.
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My nights were sleepless. I walked the hall and kitchen at
night crying in agony. I slept on the sofa in the living
room and my children slept on the floor of one of their
children's bedrooms.
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I was going through so much and though I felt alone I
prayed. I have a strong faith in God and I would cry to
Him at night, not understanding why I was going through
the things I was going through.
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I went to my church's healing service where the pastor
and others prayed over me and in a short time, I began
feeling better. Two weeks after moving in, I was employed
again at the same place I was before the marriage. Income
was coming in now, and slowly I began trying to save and
buy things for a "some day" house of my own.
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Months went by and during that time my friend and I
would just take off and go for rides, looking for a piece of
land somewhere or a mobile home for sale. Nothing was
turning up. Then one day, I had this sense of urgency to
go out and look for some land by myself. Upon doing so, I
came to a new subdivision where there were a few mobile
homes, but all were double-wide. There was a number
posted of the owner who was selling the lots.
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Immediately I got excited, and I said a quick prayer, "Lord
if this is meant to be for us, please let it go through." I
returned to my friend's house and made the phone call
and within a couple hours, the owner called me back and
approved me for the lot of land.
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This lot was a wooded lot, no septic tank, no driveway,
nothing but woods. I thought to myself, "It won't be long
now!" I was excited and anxious for what was going to
happen next. But more months went by, my children and
I would take off every weekend, looking, searching for a
mobile home. We went to a place that built homes, but only
got turned down because I needed a second income.
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It was getting close to Easter weekend, again I found
myself just crying out to God, asking Him why He pointed
me in the direction of the lot but then held back further
help. There was this deep sense of abandonment or
perhaps doubt.
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I didn't want to be around anyone, so I took off in my car
and drove to the lot that was now mine. I had little by
little gotten a driveway in, and a septic tank put in, but the
lot was barren from all the trees that were removed. I sat
and sobbed out loud in the car.
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I was talking to God aloud, when I began to feel a presence
so strong. I was trying to wipe my eyes because it felt like
someone was actually right there with me, but yet my eyes
saw no one. Suddenly a peace beyond my comprehension
flowed through me.
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The sky was clear that day, it was Good Friday, around two
in the afternoon. I have this habit of looking up to the sky
when I'm talking to God. That was when I saw the most
amazing sight. I thought I was seeing things. I made sure
my eyes were clear, I rubbed them and looked away and
looked up again to make sure what I was seeing was real.
There was a cross overhead and it was a brilliant white.
And I remember thinking to myself, "Gee that's funny, it
looks a little distorted." There was a bulge towards the
bottom and a bulge towards the top and I couldn't figure it
out. But as my eyes gazed upon the cross, the vision I was
experiencing became more clear.
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What I mistook for bulges were the head and knees of our
Lord. I felt as though He were speaking to me, though not
audibly, and He said, "This is what I have done for you,
how can you doubt me?" And instantly I felt so ashamed
because of the doubtful thoughts that had run through my
mind about the house. I told Him I was sorry and asked
forgiveness for my doubt. He said, "You are forgiven, just
TRUST ME." And just that quick the white cross
disappeared.
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I sat there for a long time with a grateful heart and
somehow I knew everything would be all right. My trust
in the Lord grew very strong that day and continued to
grow each and every day since then.
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Months once again had passed, but I was still very
positive. Things got rough living with my friends and
their kids. It's hard for two families to live together. But I
never got discouraged and frustrated to the point that I
doubted God any longer. In October of that year, we finally
found a double-wide mobile home that fit our financial
needs and our family needs.
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The salesman was a good person and was trying his best to
get us financed. Once again though it seemed there were
obstacles. No finance institution would take us and the
salesman called me at work and told me so, but at the end
of our conversation his last words were "Maria, pray, just
pray!"
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I said, "Done!"
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The next morning he called again to tell me that he got
someone to finance us and we were blessed with our
home in which we still live to this day. And once more,
my faith and trust in God increased.
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Later on in the year, I recall sitting in my car listening to a
pastor on the Christian radio station that I listen to. He
was teaching about the meaning of numbers. The number
that stood out from all the rest was the number seven,
God's perfect number and perfect judgment. He spoke of
this in depth.
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That day, I was driving home from work and as I topped
the hill and turned the corner, I checked my mailbox.
There's a tree that's directly behind my mailbox and
nailed to the tree was a small black piece of plastic with
the number SEVEN on it. My address didn't have a seven
in it, but that seven on the tree meant my lot number was
seven. And for some reason, I began counting the homes
in that subdivision that were all there before mine and to
my surprise my home was the seventh home put up.
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God's amazing! The same God that moved the Red Sea
open for the Israelites, is the same God that shows signs
and wonders to those who will believe in Him today!
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Anytime circumstances appear their worst, I think of that
cross in the sky and I know that God is truly in charge.
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Maria Urso
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UNITED IN PRAYER
by Maria |
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Last year I was told that I had chronic asthmatic bronchitis
and was hospitalized with this condition in October 1999. I
also have a 'litany' of other ailments. Then, in early May,
2000, through biopsy, I was diagnosed with esophageal
stricture, esophageal ulcer, hiatal hernia, gastritis, acid
reflux, and a precancerous condition called Barrett's
esophagus.
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I can't begin to tell you the feelings that overwhelmed me.
Through the intercession of all of my 'prayer warrior's',
we began to pray. I was given a blessing and anointed and
a large number of prayers went up for me from friends,
family and special prayer groups.
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Two weeks ago, another biopsy was performed, and there
is no sign of the esophageal ulcer, it has been healed, but
most importantly, there is no sign of the precancerous
condition. I feel blessed and grateful to God and to all
those who prayed for me.
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Only God knows what we each asked for in our prayer
petitions for my situation. I feel that united with
everyone's faith in our loving God's mercy, I have been
healed.
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Maria Martines
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