|
A HEAVENLY SOUND
by Linda |
|
| |
It was exciting to see my entire family converging on Ryan's
Steak House one Sunday afternoon to celebrate my
mother's 71st birthday. As we all came together, parents,
children and grandchildren, the employees were kind
enough to arrange the tables so that we could all sit
together. My dad, now in a wheelchair, took his place at the
head of the table with mom by his side, like it has been for
the last forty-nine years.
| |
We feasted on an all-you-can eat menu, talked, and laughed,
as little Nicole and Derek chose plain white spaghetti
noodles, olives, and ice cream as their meal, as John's fiancé'
made sure he was careful to eat soft foods after his recent
wisdom tooth removal, and as Michael and Carrie, young
love, still share their plate of food.
It's not always so easy getting everyone together, with the
Grandchildren in college and with working schedules, but,
for Mom, I can get any of them to go just about anywhere. I
watched my dear Mom, as she watched her family with
pride. She always did seem the happiest when she was
feeding her hungry troops.
| |
After most of us had finished our meals, and some of us were
still nibbling on desert, the most wonderful thing
happened. Suddenly, without any announcement, three
beautiful ladies in their Sunday best, of whom we had never
met, appeared standing next to mom. And with their heads
leaning together, in the most beautiful angelic three-part
harmony they started singing, "Happy Birthday." Not only
did they sing Happy Birthday, but they sang "Happy
Birthday Dear Dolores." They knew mom's name! It touched
her heart so, that she cried all the while they were singing.
| |
When they finished singing, in total amazement, I took one
of the ladies hands and told her how beautiful they sounded
and just how thankful I was. Then with the same sweet
harmonious voice that just sang Happy Birthday to my
mom, like a bird she sang, "Praise Jesus." The three of them
gathered together and headed for the door, and as I turned
around to see them leave, they were gone.
| |
We all sat there in awe, when I realized that when I arranged
the party, I had never told any of the employees mom's
name. Several mystery-filled moments passed, before my
nephew John revealed that the ladies had overheard us
saying happy birthday to Mom and then asked him her
name. We laughed, because we had never seen them
talking, but we were even more surprised to find out that
the ladies were not employees of Ryan's restaurant at all.
| |
No, they weren't employees. I believe they were angels.
Angels that God had sent to sing Happy Birthday to a
woman who has unselfishly sacrificed and cared for a
husband and family for 49 years. A woman who continues
to put everyone before herself and displays the kind of
unconditional love that God hoped for in a Mom. The voices
and song of these beautiful angels singing made Mom cry
tears of joy and helped us to make her birthday one that she
will always hold dear to her heart.
| |
Mom still cries when she talks about their gift, and as I sit
here writing it down, I'm crying too. I wonder if they know
just how much their singing meant to mom and to me, and
just how much they touched the hearts of three generations
one sunny afternoon in the little suburb of Taylor, Michigan.
Thank you ladies for your heavenly sound, and God Bless
You All.
| | | |
Linda Ferris
| |
| |
| |
|
FACT OR FICTION
by Shirley |
|
| |
Before You read this story I want to explain that I can't give
you next week's Lottery numbers, LOL or find the ring you
lost twenty years ago. It just doesn't work like that, at least
not for me. For me it's very unpredictable, I never know
when or why. I've been told that I should make an effort to
get control of the strange "powers" but I've found these
strange happenings to be very unsettling and down right
scary so "I think not!"
| |
In 1981 my oldest son (Gary) was in his senior year of high
school, and my younger son (Kevin) was a freshman. The
three of us had decided to take an evening class at a high
school about twenty miles from our home. The plan was for
Gary to drive. He would drop us off for our class and go on
to his class in the next building.
| |
About two weeks before the class was to start I had a
dream, a premonition, what ever you want to call it. I called
it pretty darn scary! In my dream Gary had hit another car,
Kevin, who always rode in the front with his brother' was
thrown through the windshield. I had to find some way to
remove Kevin from that car !
| |
I worried about it for two weeks, I didn't want to scare the
boys and I didn't want them to think their mother was
insane so I couldn't tell them the truth. Well at the last
minute I lied, I told Kevin that I couldn't afford the classes
for all three of us so I was going to let Gary go this semester
and he and I would go the next. Kevin agreed to my plan so
I felt pretty safe. Gary did not get hurt in my dream, so I
was not worried about him.
| |
In the dream the accident happened on 21 highway or
"Blood Alley" as it had come to be known. I made Gary
promise me he would not go near highway 21. I gave him
the route I wanted him to take. He left for his class and I sat
down to wait. An hour had passed and I hadn't heard
anything so my fear had lifted. Suddenly the phone rang, I
jumped up to answer it, The lady on the phone told me my
son had been in and accident but he wasn't hurt. I asked
where and she replied, "In front of the VFW hall. "
| |
I said, "I don't know where the VFW hall is on 21."
| |
She said, " oh he's not on 21, he's on Miller Road."
| |
He had taken the route he had promised me he would
take...
| |
When I got to the scene Gary was standing in the road
directing traffic, looking no worse for the wear. His car was
a mangled mess, from the looks of it he was lucky to be
alive. I asked about the other driver and his car. Gary said
the driver was fine but his car was also totaled. (It had been
towed to the junkyard when I arrived).
| |
When we got home Gary explained to me how the accident
had happened. He said "The car just pulled out in front of
me, there was no way I could stop so I just stood on the
brake to lessen the impact as much as possible and held the
wheel straight so I would take the hit head on. The other
alternative was to swerve and if I did that my car might
have rolled into the four lane highway and more people
than just me would have been killed."
| |
I was never more proud of him than at that moment.
| |
As we followed the tow truck, towing his car I told Gary
about my dream and how scared I had been. I told him that
the dream didn't make much sense because in my dream I
saw the car and it was brown with beige interior, I saw
school books fly off the seat and into the floor and in my
dream someone was bouncing all over the inside of the car.
He laughed and made the twilight Zone sound, saying "Too
weird Mom".
| |
The next morning after breakfast, we drove to the junk yard
to see the other car. It was a mangled mess. As we
approached the car I noticed the color was a dark brown,
when I looked inside the interior was beige and there on the
floor were the school books I had seen so clearly in my
premonition.
| |
When I called the other boy's Mom to see how he was doing
she said "He's fine just bruised from head to foot. "He
bounced all over the front seat of that car".
| |
| |
Shirley Greer
| |
| |
| |
|
GRANDMA'S THIMBLE
by Diane |
|
| |
I marvel at the way God knows when to send a special gift
of encouragement our way at just the right time! It might be
in a dream, a lost letter, a memory, something found that
we've forgotten about, or something in His Word, during a
devotional that really speaks to us.
| |
My grandmother was from a town in the thumb area of
Michigan. And summer after summer I enjoyed staying with
my grandparents as a young child. I was from the City and
loved the small town they lived in. People knew everyone,
their kids, their pets, their ancestors. The bond with them
continued to grow as I grew and they got older.
| |
Grandma was always using her hands for something
exciting...she would make little sandwiches and we'd have
tea parties, plant flowers and carefully tend them. She'd knit
afghans for her grandchildren as well as making beautiful
quilts for each one. I remember the small thimble she would
use while doing her needle work. Placing her thimble on her
finger she'd remark, "I wouldn't want to sew without one".
| |
A few years ago when Grandma left this earth for her new
residence in Heaven, I bid farewell to a loving Grandmother.
How quickly our lives can change. We had just had tea
together a couple of months earlier, on her 91st birthday. I
missed her very much, but I noticed it mostly on my
birthdays, because there was no card from Grandma. She'd
never forgotten my birthday!
| |
On one particular birthday when I was feeling a little low
and a lot older, something happened to make me feel like
she was sharing that special day with me. I was arranging
some colorful pillows that she had made, and suddenly I felt
something inside one pillow, it was small and hard. I moved
the object to a seam that I carefully opened, and to my
delight out came a tiny silver thimble!
| |
How happy I was to find something that had been a part of
her. Not realizing it had fallen off her finger, I pictured her
sewing it in that little pillow that I just í "happened" to fluff,
to place on my bedspread that day. I carefully laid the
thimble along side the others I've collected over the years,
where I could continue to see the gift God chose to reveal to
me. What a precious memory of a very special lady who
somehow, I knew, was laughing in delight at sewing her
thimble inside my pillow. I heated the tea kettle and made
some tea, using my best china, as Grandma always did, and
enjoyed my tea and Grandma's thimble. What a wonderful
birthday that was!
| | |
Diane Dean White
Copyright 2001
| | | | Diane Dean White
Diane is a writer and lives in South Carolina with her husband Stephen. They are the parents of three grown children and two grand-gals. Diane is a former newspaper reporter and writer of donor appeal funding. She has had a number of stories featured on various websites and you may read more of her work by going to her webpage at: http:www.heartwarmers4u.com/members?thelamb212
| |
| |
|
MOM IS STILL WATCHING OVER ME
by Cheryl |
|
| |
Breast cancer is very strong in my genetics. I discovered it
1991 at thirty-seven years of age. No big deal. With the
LORD'S help, I went through surgery, chemotherapy and
radiation therapy. Although I begged my Mom to be tested,
it was not done until too late. I live in California and could
only give phone advice to my Illinois based Mom.
Meanwhile, my mom's younger sister also succumbed to
breast cancer in 1993. Mom died in 1994.
| |
I have been an insulin dependent diabetic since one year of
age. (I am forty six now.) So doctor visits and all sorts of
tests is a way of life to me. Well, genetics reared its ugly
head this year. The other breast was under attack. It didn't
seem possible. Nine years with a cancer free body, it just did
not seem possible. Having been there before, I knew what
to expect. But I was now nine years older. The diabetes had
done things to my heart and kidneys. There was greater risk
this time since the cancer did not show itself until stage two.
| |
This time the doctors decided to do chemotherapy first.
Basically, the same medication as before. No problem, I
thought. During the next nineteen weeks my body went
through hell. I lost all appetite for food of any sort; hard for
a diabetic who has to keep her food intake up to balance the
insulin. So basically, I ate fruit juice, watermelon or
cantaloupe, (good thing it was almost summertime) and
soup.
| |
When it came time for the surgery, I needed two units of
blood. I guess the poor eating lowered the red blood count
too low. Only by adding the blood could the surgery be
done. But it was done and although the hospital stay was
awful (They really do not know how to medically treat
diabetics.) One day the blood sugar was way too high and
the next day too low. But of course my opinion of what to
do was never listened to. She's the patient! What does she
know? (40+ years of real life experience does not count.) The
test results showed the cancer had been stopped.
| |
So no more breast cancer to worry about, no breasts for that
matter. And the bone scan showed the other organs had not
been affected. So only radiation treatment left, I thought.
This is where my angel, Mom, comes in.
| |
The night before my oncologist appointment, Mom came to
me in a dream. She knew I was a fighter, but this was going
to hit me hard. In the dream Mom told me that I would have
to have more chemo.
| |
I woke that morning and steeled myself for the news. I
think the doctor was surprised when he told me that I would
have to have more Chemo. I think I even surprised myself. I
guess having mom tell me the news during the night in the
dream, truly prepared me. I think it also helped just to have
her there with me again and know that together with God,
Mom was still watching over me. With my history and my
family's, they had to go one step farther and try the newest
medication. After that I would have to undergo radiation.
When I am finished, it will be nine months of misery. But
then it's OVER.
| |
During the first chemo, when mom was still alive, way back
in 1991 I used to tell Mom about how hard it was, the
vomiting, low blood sugar due to no appetite, diarrhea,
stomach aches. I especially told her I was tired of being the
"strong" one. My older sister and younger brother never got
sick, only me. I guess the LORD used Mom to give me the
strength that I needed.
| |
The second chemo is going better than the first, but this
medication has its own special side effects. The only thing I
have to say about it all is this - I'M STILL STANDING AFTER
ALL THESE YEARS! And I am so grateful to have had Mom
communicate with me from Heaven!
| | | |
Cheryl
| |
| |
| |
|
WHERE WE'RE GONNA FLY
by Pamela |
|
| |
One day while sitting on the porch, Tegan came out and
pulled up a chair and sat down beside me. She said in her
most grown up voice, "Maw-Maw", "Let's talk".
| |
I said, "Okay, Tegan", "What shall we talk about?"
| |
She said, "Let's talk about God, Maw-Maw".
| |
I said, "What about God, Tegan?"
| |
She replied, "Maw-Maw", "I just REALLY love God." "Now",
"Let's play hide and sink". (She always says sink instead of
seek)
| |
Another time we had a similar conversation about her Great
Grandma who had recently gone to heaven. Children
always seem to bring up the important things, talk about
them, and then with simple faith just get on with life. We can
learn a lot from children.
| | | |
(The Song...inspired by Tegan)
Where We're Gonna Fly! | |
| |
Grandma, please tell me about that beautiful place | |
Where nobody's fighting and I can see Jesus face | |
Will Great-Granny be there where we'll never die? | |
Will we be together where we're gonna fly? | | | |
(chorus) Up where the sun shines, no clouds in the sky | |
Where trouble can't find me and there's no reason to cry | |
Just like an eagle soaring on high | |
There's a brand new tomorrow...where I'm gonna fly. | | | |
You came by to see me, just like you said | |
You brought me a flower, a rose colored red | |
Don't look so sad, girl, this isn't good-bye | |
Someday you'll see me where I'm gonna fly. | | | |
Up where the sun shines, no clouds in the sky | |
Where trouble can't find us and there's no reason to cry | |
Just like an eagle soaring on high | |
We'll be together...where we're gonna fly | | |
Pamela R. Blaine
c June, 1997
| | | |
My husband and I live in West Virginia. We have 4 children
and four grandchildren. I play the piano and I'm part of the
worship team in my church. I love to write songs and
stories. You can see some of these on my webpages
(http://members.aol.com/mblaine/pamy/PamyPlace.html)
| |
| |
| |
|
| |
