This notebook was given to me by one of three women who showed up at my side as I sat on the bench in the mountain. Who were they?Someone once said, and I found it quoted on the Internet this morning, "Treat another man's faith gently; it is all he has to believe in." Athen Alus.
Yesterday, as I sat on a park bench in severe back pain, three women came up to me. One of them said, "I had a dream, and I saw YOU sitting here on this bench in this place. I didn't know what I would find when I came looking for you, but here you are - just as I saw in my dream."
She didn't know I was in pain, but she knew she had something to offer me, and she had FAITH in her belief to come and do what she could.
She didn't know that the moment she touched me in greeting, the severe back spasms disappeared!
But, I digress. There's more. Much more.
There were two other young women with her. Woman #2 had a piece of paper that had a list of words in scribbled form. The third young woman sat beside me and said she was "scared' to be doing this in such faith. (Later, I discovered she is also a Registered Nurse.)
They introduced themselves (several times) and came very close to apologizing many times. I'm sorry that I cannot remember their names, nor did I get any information from them, although for that I'm quite puzzled.
Understand that I'm not sitting all alone on a park bench! We were in a little town called Estey's Park high in the Colorado Mountains where an American Indian celebration was going on. Because the mountain pass was closed just up the road due to bad weather, all the diverted traffic was adding to the already packed tourist town where a weekend celebration going on.
Traffic was at a standstill, and there was no place to park anywhere. After finding a handicapped spot (thanks, Denise) several blocks from where hubby wanted to browse the stores along the street, we walked to the packed sidewalks of tourists and shops.
I'm sure it was from having been driving through the mountains for several hours, then getting out of the car into a snowy, chilling, wind that made my 'bad' back go into spasms such as I have rarely suffered.
I had no choice but to sit on one of many sidewalk benches and insist that hubby walk on and come back to get me. He didn't really want to, but I assured him I'd be right there when he came back. (I didn't tell him how badly my back hurt, or he would have never left my side.)
I couldn't sit up straight. I couldn't lean forward, nor could I find any relief when I stretched and leaned back. The pain was so bad, I was sweating in the bone-chilling wind. I was not sure what I was going to do.
Then this young lady maybe in her early 30's with long blond hair came up to me and looked puzzling at me.
I said, "Do I know you?" Thinking maybe she was a nurse I had worked with briefly.
She answered,"I'm on a treasure hunt." She had a hopeful smile and a friendly look in her eyes as she introduced her two friends.
"Oh, are you geocaching?" I asked.
"No not that," she answered in a mysterious tone of voice.
I'll try to keep this short, although I'd like to go into every detail of the next few minutes, so I can remember it for as long as I live.
Lady #1 said she dreamed that she would find a woman with blond hair sitting on a bench in front of a red awning, and two dogs would be there. She explained how she saw my silhouette, and it was my face she saw. (I have blond highlights now, for those who know me with dark brown hair.)
The bench, the red awning, two dogs walking by, and my face were all just as she had seem them in her dream. (There were also two dog bowls of water on the sidewalk outside the store where I was sitting. But, apparently two dogs were going past me when she saw me sitting there.)
(I, on the other hand, believe that in a parallel world, my beloved Sheba and Ching-Ching are watching over me. But, that's MY faith.)
So, she knew she had to talk to me.
I think she asked if she could help me. I told her I was sitting there because my back hurt too badly to walk.
She asked if they could pray for my back.
"Only if you get done before my husband gets back" I responded.
Completely misunderstanding why I said that, she responded by saying she understood my concern of a "nonbeliever".
I never had a chance to tell her it was because I knew if he came back and saw three women kneeling in prayer in front of me on that busy sidewalk, he would rush over and say,"What's wrong? What's wrong?" And be very worried and upset!!!!
But, before they could continue, I saw Jim coming my way with a questioning look on his face. I did something I have never done. I SIGNED in sign language with a circle around my mouth meaning, "We are talking." (At least that's what Jim does when I'm talking on the phone, and he wants to know who I'm talking to.)
He immediately felt at ease for my safety. But, lady #1 had seen me 'signing' at someone and searched the crowd of people until she saw him looking at me. She SIGNED back at him asking his name. (She thought he was deaf. She knew sign language.)
Jim immediately went to her and explained that he had taught his handicapped son sign language of sorts and that his signing is really very rusty (and that he can hear quite well).
The 'signing' experience set us all at ease, including Jim which is rather unusual. He is normally very cautious about personal things. And, while he is not a 'non-believer', he doesn't place a lot of faith and trust in religious groups. But, he is far from being a 'non-believer!"
He felt right at ease with the women, telling them more in a few seconds than he ever does with anyone! Before I knew it, he was part of the circle of us holding hands in a prayer-circle (in the middle of the noise, busy, sidewalk) asking God to help him find a good job in just the non-profit area that he wants. (Ok. Where's my faith? I had assumed he would go back shopping and leave me with these kind women. And, this prayer was not for my healing.)
I haven't mentioned the "list" yet. They had come up with some words that were suppose to 'apply' to me. Here they are as I recall them...
Rose
Two Dogs
Chronics illness - stomach problems
New York
Going in circles
The letter "R"
(Cobalt) blue
As I said a few postings back, I'm not here to judge. I'm telling my story. Something I'm not afraid to do.
After prayer with Jim that he agreed to, he stepped aside to let us continue in whatever we were doing before he got there.
I tried to explain the list and its meaning. (Although I didn't need to list to know the women were part of a purpose I couldn't explain. I was sitting there free of pain!!!!)
I told them I had called off work yesterday because of stomach pain (not my back), and I was born in New York City. My stomach has been a chronic illness since I was a small child! I couldn't explain the meaning of our two dogs much because I still cry when I try to talk about Sheba. But, I knew!!! Jim had explained that we gave out 55 roses at our wedding, and my photography business in Ohio was called EnglishRose Photography. I feel like I'm going in circles with my job. I don't know what the letter "R" could mean.
Woman #1 had on a cobalt blue coat (that I tried fruitlessly to find after they left), but she thought the cobalt blue would apply to me in some way.
I'm thinking the "R" might have more meaning than RN. I was a "licensed practical" nurse, and now I'm a 'registered' nurse.
With my permission, they knelt in front of me on that busy sidewalk that soon became hushed and silent as they prayed for my back to heal and for my life to find its purpose and meaning.
"Her husband says she has an angel on her shoulder. May she be surrounded by angels, and may her husband see those angels," they prayed.
Afterwards, woman #1 asked if I felt healing during the prayer. "Sometimes it takes a second prayer," she offered.
I don't believe she ever did understand when I told her that my extreme pain lifted like a "jolt' when she first touched my shoulder.
I think she left me knowing that her mission was fulfilled, but I still wonder if she really knew the bigger picture of her purpose for me. She and her two believers were going on the faith they had, and I'm glad I was there to fulfill the purpose of that faith - and mine!
No. My back nor my stomach are healed. But, I've not had any spasms, and can enjoy regular activities of daily living as we like to chart in nursing. After that experience yesterday, Jim and I walked to several stores and back to the car in complete comfort!
I'm thankful today that I was part of something we can't explain, but must believe in faith was meant to be.
This morning, my cat, Ceasar, reminded me of that parallel world or universe when he was outside the window of the patio door looking in. He could see me inside, but couldn't figure out how he could see me and not be with me. I quickly took a picture of him looking in, but not looking at me. He's looking for something he doesn't understand.
And, neither do I. I just know that it exists, and I was very close to it.
While some call parallel worlds "a dark fantasy or fiction", I believe it could be a universe that is separated from us by a "single quantum event", and sometimes we fold back on ourselves and are touched by that event in time and space.
Some call it God, Faith, Nature, the Universe, and much more. I hope we treat it all very gently because it is all we have to believe in.
Take Care on the Journey,
Your friend in life,
~Linda
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