Signs and Visions

Speaking of signs.........

My Grandma died in October 1966.  We moved into her house in June 1967.  She had designed that house and stayed there until her death.

A month or so later, (we slept in her bedroom), I woke up in the middle of the night and she was standing at the foot of our bed, with her house dress and apron on and she was smiling.  

I was so happy to see her and I nudged my husband to wake him up.

"Gary.  Gary!  Grandma's here.  Wake up!", but the minute he opened his eyes and I looked back at Grandma, she was gone.

My son Mark swore he could smell her perfume, upstairs in his bedroom.

On New Year's Eve that year, we went out and my sister Susie was baby sitting.  She was sitting in our living room.  She heard something and thought it was one of the kids sneaking down from upstairs.  She turned and looked into the dining room and saw someone slip through the door into the kitchen.  She thought she saw the tail end of one of the girls, in their nightgown.

Susie got up and walked to the other side of the living room to go into the kitchen and scare the girls.  When she got into the kitchen, no one was there.  So she did the "circuit".  Through the kitchen, into the dining room, into the living room.  No one.

Then she crept upstairs and checked the kids bedrooms.  They all were fast asleep.

We figured it was Grandma, just checking to make sure we were all right.

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My best friend Arlene, loved Lady Bugs.  If she found one in the house, she'd carry it outside and blow it off her finger, so it could "fly away home."

She fought ovarian cancer for four and a half years.  A long time to "survive" that kind of cancer.  She kept going through all the awful chemo treatments, surgeries and radiation--just to "get more years with the grand kids."

Her grand daughter Amanda was engaged.  They were going to be married in Florida, but changed the location. They were going to be married at Arlene's daughter's home, so it would be easier for Grandma to attend.  Arlene was able to go shopping with them for the wedding dress and figured she would be strong enough to attend the wedding.

She fought on and on, but didn't make it and died five months before the wedding.

The day of the outdoor wedding, the photographer was there early to take pre-wedding photos of the bride.  Amanda was standing by a Magnolia Tree Arlene had given her daughter when she was first married.

They adjusted Amanda's veil and just then the photographer noticed something.  A Lady Bug was caught in the veil.  The photographer didn't know of the significance so went to brush the Lady Bug away.

Arlene's daughter yelled, "Stop!"  Then went over to Amanda, took the Lady Bug gently off her veil, and she and Amanda held it up to the breeze and said, "Fly away home."

We all felt that Arlene HAD made it to her grand daughter's wedding after all.

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When my Mother went into the hospital, the first time she had ever been in a hospital, and "they" were running all sorts of painful tests, trying to come up with a diagnosis, she was laying in bed, with her back turned toward the door.

She was frightened and exhausted.  All of a sudden she felt the weight of some one's hand on her right shoulder.  She thought it was a nurse or the doctor.  Just as she went to turn, she heard her Father's voice say, "I'm here, Dorathy.  Everything is going to be all right."  Her Father had died the year before.

She turned quickly to see him, but she said, "No one was there.  I KNOW I felt the weight of a hand on my shoulder and I KNOW I heard Papa's voice."

That whole next year, while she was off and on sick and the last week when she knew she was dying, she was not the least bit afraid.  Still making jokes and smiling, right up to her last hour.

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I have never told anyone this, but when I was 12 years old, after supper one nice summer night, I ran out the back door and walked across the driveway, headed out to the cow barn to see the new kittens.  All of a sudden, I stopped and for some unknown reason, turned and looked to the western sky.  There was a bank of clouds and Jesus was standing in them.  He had on a purple robe, with His hands stretched toward me, palms open and extended.  

Something like this, only just the upper half of Him and in purple.

I wasn't scared, I just stood and stared for what seemed like a long time, but probably only a few seconds.  Then I ran back into the house and kitchen to tell Mother.  She was standing at the west facing kitchen sink, washing supper dishes.

"Mother?  I just saw Jesus standing in the clouds and He was smiling at me."

She glanced up and looked out the window and said, "Oh.  That was nice, Honey."

Like it was an everyday occurrence or something!

I can still see that vision as if it happened 10 minutes ago, except now, I am standing off a bit, looking at my young self, while she looks at Jesus in the clouds.

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I was about 45 and had to have a D&C.  I was scared witless!  I was waking up and I could hear my Mother singing, "How Great Thou Art", so I started singing with her and laughing.  I was so happy to hear her voice.

Just then, a nurse came up to me and said, "Well, you sure are happy."

I tried to open my eyes and focus on her--there were two of her.

"Huh?" I said.

"I said, you sure are happy.  You're singing at the top of your lungs and laughing and laughing.  We all are getting a kick out of you!"

I was in the recovery room with a lot of other patients and I guess I was causing quite a stir.

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After I had my last hip replacement, that first night, when I was in a lot of pain, I had drifted off and I saw Fred sitting in the chair beside my bed.  He had died five months earlier.  We were talking and I was laughing out loud at something (can't remember what) he had said.

Just then, a nurse came into the room, turned on a side light and said, "Who are you talking too and what's so funny?"

I opened my eyes and said, "What?"

She said, "We heard you talking and laughing and wondered what's so funny in here?"

I said, "Oh, Fred and I were just talking."

She said, "Fred?  You don't have anyone staying with you tonight.  There's no one in here."

I put my right arm out and pointed over to the chair and then turned my head to see him.

"Oh.  I thought my husband was sitting in that chair.  No.  I must have been dreaming.  He's been dead for five months now."

"It's probably the pain meds giving you hallucinations."

"Yeah, probably," I said.

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Last April when I was in hospital for my A Fib, I had to have a cardio version.  They put you in Twilight Sleep with Versed or Fentanyl and then zap your heart back into normal sinus rhythm.  I have had both drugs before for oral surgery and when I had the shots put in my back at the pain clinic so I wasn't a bit afraid, but....I did mention that my Fred had died when they put him under with Fentanyl to insert a ventilator.

They assured me that it wouldn't happen to me, but I said, "Well, we just never know do we?  But, I'm not afraid a bit.  Whatever happens is okay with me.  I'm ready to go--so if I do, don't feel bad."

They laughed.

"Shoot me up--byeeeeee."

A second later, (probably 15 minutes), I heard the nurse say, "Well, you're back and you're laughing.  What's so funny?"

I didn't tell her, but just before I heard her voice, I was following Jesus, trying to catch up with Him.  Just before I got to Him, He stopped and turned, put His hands up as if to stop me and smiled, then turned and kept walking.

"Oh," I said to her.  "I'm just feeling great and happy."

"Well, you should feel great.  Your heart is back in normal sinus rhythm and you can go home tomorrow morning!"

That wasn't why I was smiling and laughing.  I saw Him and He smiled and let me know I was to stay here.

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What is so weird about all of these things?  Raised in a Christian home and NONE of us believe in signs or the presence of passed loved ones.  I especially believe that when a soul gets to Heaven, it is so wonderful there, that soul has no interest in what is happening back here in this world.  They have passed through "the door", as if giving birth to the next part of their "life".  IF souls are capable of visiting us, it is because they are not at rest as yet, and are kind of stuck between here and there.  My sister and I have NEVER "seen" our Mother.

Visions of seeing Jesus I can believe in.  He can do anything!

And yet, I saw my Grandma standing at the foot of that bed, as plain as day.  My sister saw "something" as plain as day.  My Mother heard her Father's voice, as plain as day.  I saw Fred sitting in that chair, as plain as day.

Because I don't believe in these sorts of things, it just makes it harder to admit these have happened. I want to know!  Are they real?  Was it the drugs? Why would souls of passed loved ones come back as a bug or a butterfly!  I don't believe in reincarnation and if it were true, the passed soul would come back as a person, right?

We just don't know, do we?  My head aches from trying to figure out something that is unfigureoutable!

At least very time it happened to me, I was happy and laughing.