Where Angels Walk - Story Of The Week - May 8, 2009
Writer Author Joan Wester Anderson
Christian Column
:
Angels
- Fiction No
Hello, angel friends. You are the best! Lots of you sent get-well cards and notes to JoAnn Cayce who is recovering from pneumonia, and they just made her day/week/month! I knew all I would have to do is to mention this, and you would respond. JoAnn says she has never received this much mail, and her energy has returned.
--Can you lend your collective goodness now to another need? An eight-year-old boy named Isaac Frank suffered second and third-degree burns a week ago from an explosion on a farm, and has been in Loyola Hospital burn unit. He was sent home this week and apparently no skin grafts will be necessary (people have already been praying) but he is still in a lot of pain, and missed his First Communion. Isaac is a real angel-lover, and his grandmother is a member of our list, and is asking for prayers. She wishes she could carry the pain for him, and we all understand that, so can you ask the angels to bring him some comfort and healing? We'll have an update next time.
And here’s our story:
“My mother, Virginia, and her mother were as close as a mother and daughter could be,” says Barbara Martin of St. Louis, Missouri. “It would be safe to say they were soulmates.” Because Barbara and her mother Virginia were also very close, the three women had a special bond. “I spent a lot of time with my grandmother when I was a little girl,” Barbara recalls. “I remember her singing me her favorite song, ‘The Tennessee Waltz’ as we lay on the living room floor on blankets for sleepovers. She was loving, kind and totally devoted to her family. “
Barbara was sixteen when her beloved grandmother died. She and her mother were both devastated. Virginia was so broken up that it took a long time before she was able to remember her mother with happiness instead of sorrow. Barbara grieved especially hard because her yet-to-be family would never know Gram the way Barbara had.
Time passed, Barbara eventually married and had a family. When she was in her fifties, she needed back surgery. “It was a success, and the best part about it was that, while asleep, I saw my grandmother! She was young, wearing a white dress with a red silk sash around her waist, tied in the back with a big bow. She had beautiful curls in her hair, and was dancing to ‘The Tennessee Waltz.’ I was in awe.” When Barbara awakened from the anesthetic, she immediately told a nurse what she had experienced. The nurse smiled—--no doubt she had heard many such dreams in the recovery room.
Barbara’s mother Virginia, now a widow, insisted that Barbara and her husband come to her house to recover from the surgery, at least for a week or so. Barbara’s grown children came in and out too, so for various reasons Barbara never told her mother about her vision in the recovery room. Just a few weeks later, Virginia’s health began to fail. It started with the pain of shingles, and she also developed diabetes. In less than a month after her own surgery, Barbara was now taking care of her beloved mother.
"Hospice set up a hospital bed for Mama in her bedroom, which made her much more comfortable,” Barbara says. “She stayed awake most of the nights and was alert and talkative. She knew she was getting ready to go to heaven.” Barbara’s husband and children took turns watching Virginia. Checking on her constantly was part of their routine because, at times, she would attempt to get out of bed.
One night about three a.m., Barbara looked in. “Mama had the most angelic look on her face,” Barbara says. Virginia was staring at the ceiling, smiling, and her eyes were twinkling. She turned slightly, saw Barbara looking at her, and motioned with both hands for her daughter to come to the bed. Barbara did, and sat down beside her. “Oh Barbie!” Virginia said, “I saw Grandma. She was a young girl, wearing a white dress and she had a red silk sash around her waist, tied in a big bow in the back. She had beautiful curls too. And she was dancing to ‘The Tennessee Waltz!”
Barbara gasped. The very same dream! But her mother wasn’t dreaming. She was completely lucid---and joyful. Barbara had never told her mother about her own experience. How could Virginia have known?
Virginia died peacefully just nine days later. Today Barbara continues to believe that the three of them will meet again, and spend eternity together. As for now, “I am sure,” she says, “that my mother and grandmother are dancing in heaven to ‘The Tennessee Waltz’.”
Happy Mother’s Day to all.
Editor's Comment:
About the Writer Author
State:
Illinois
Country:
United States
Email:
Joan@JoanWAnderson.com
Website:
www.joanwanderson.com
Profile:
Click here!
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