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It's Okay Hon
I've known Ted and Ethel Bernhart for more than twenty
years. Ethel catered our wedding in 1990, then I didn't see her again until
the summer of 1994. I ran into her at a gas station one day. It was then I
learned that Ted had been killed in an automobile accident in 1992. I asked
Ethel if he had spoken to her since his death. She wasn't surprised at my
question nor was I at her answer. Ethel said that sometimes when she's
feeling down, she feels Ted's comforting hand upon her shoulder. "It's as if
he's saying: 'It's okay Hon'" she explained.
This Warmth Around My Arms
On the first of December, 1977, the doctors had
diagnosed Lavinia West's father's illness as liver cancer. He, knowing his
time was short, asked to be taken home to die. Lavinia stayed with him to
look after him. They were able to sit and have a number of long talks prior
to his death.
However, Lavinia had never shared the same type of
closeness with her father as she had had with her mother. After his death,
she was troubled because she was never positive where her father was
spiritually.
"I was sure about my mother, but my dad, I wasn't. It
was a few months after he died, I wondered why I can pray for mom but not
for dad. I went up to receive Communion (Sacrament) and was wondering about
it. I was kneeling at the Communion railing and about to have Communion when
almost ... It was like somebody put their arm around me and I knew right
away that it was my dad, because he was great, he would always put his arm
around you. I knew right at the Communion rail ... this warmth around my
arms and I could feel his presence there. I knew that my dad was okay. I
knew that he was in heaven, that things were fine. I also knew as I sat
there, don't turn around, because he's not there. I just felt this real
comfort. Ever since then, I've never had a problem. I always knew where my
dad was, and that everything was fine. I can always remember the warmth of
his arms around me."
Stories by
Ellie Braun-Haley from her book, A Little Door, A Little Light.
Available at
http://www.eaglecreek.org/doorpdf.html, also available at evrcanada.com,
and at
http://alittledoor.inframind.net/ellie-braun-haley.html |
