Someone Stopped Me

 

So, it was 2005. A beautiful Autumn day. My Mom was visiting me for a week from North Carolina. She lives in a very small township in North Carolina called Otto. Near Franklin. There are no nice shopping malls there. No good name brand stores to shop, No nice boutiques, and there is really pretty much nothing else going on in Otto. They have a cemetery and a garbage dump with a free standing little shack for free stuff others are throwing away. So that's the big doin's in Otto. The free shack! Oh yes, and the weekly Bingo at all the churches in town!

When my Mom comes to visit me in St. Petersburg, FL it's like she's rearing to go to all the wonderful shops both here and in Tampa. She can finally find things she loves again.

So, we were headed out to the downtown boutiques on the beautiful streets of downtown St. Pete, we were both so excited to have the day together and we literally wore ourselves out shopping from one store to another! We were heavy laden with packages and box's and could not wait to get home to get off our feet!

I got up on the I-275 ramp from downtown and headed towards my exit at 22nd Ave No. I came to a stop at the light, because as usual, I always got the red light. Mom and I were talking away and laughing from the day's sweet deals we purchased.

The light turned green.

I just sat there. I didn't move the car.

I don't really understand why.

A whole 30 seconds went by.

I still just sat there.

As if I were being held there!

My Mom looked at me and said what are you waiting for Teri, Come on the light is green! She sounded upset. 

I looked at her and said, "that's so weird, I have no idea why"....

And that is when we both saw a Semi Tractor trailer run the red light doing 60 miles per hour right before our eyes!

We both froze as we looked at each other.

We would have both been instantly killed had I moved forward when the light changed. We would not have stood a chance.

It was divine intervention that kept me from moving the car forward. I cannot explain it. It was a spiritual experience to say the least! I could not have moved my foot to the gas had I wanted too! Someone clearly prevented it from happening.

I believe the LORD will watch over us who love HIM.

This was an amazing testimony of that!

It was a GOOD day!



The Human Arrival

So, know matter how I try to forget or deny these remembrance experiences, they are still so strong and ingrained within me, they are clear and fervent in my life. They are so clear from my beginning here as a child and I share them with you to remind you also of your beginning. Try to remember.....

Perhaps you can.

We are all walking each other HOME, but we need to remember, this is NOT our Home here on Earth, if you are called by GOD!

 

I was an infant when I had my second recollection of being here. I was in a buggy being pushed down the street by my mother. I was aware there were sounds of cars and older children, it was like seeing it as an adult. I saw the trees and the houses. But my focus was mainly on the buggy I was in. I to this day remember the odd smell of it. The plastic and the blankets, the spilled milk, the dark material all over it, covering it. The smell of the cigarettes, and the bed head odors from others.  I was inquisitive and drinking it all in. It was uncomfortable. I remember not liking it all. 

Then my focus was broken by a woman who bent down to attend me somehow. She was young with beautiful green eyes. Auburn brown hair and bad teeth. I noticed the teeth on everyone I saw. I was aware I had none!  They were frightening. I distinctively remember her bad breath. Or older faces with horrifying make up on them. It was frightening. It was so unnatural.  There was no where for me to go to be away from cigarettes and sights and sounds. The cigarettes odor filled the entire buggy! It made me very uncomfortable, I would kick and squirm trying to get away from it but I had no power to change what I was experiencing. My mind was keen but my body was not yet in charge of my movements. The lady smiled and handled me to move me and cover me. I drank it all in. I understood explicitly what was happening but I could not communicate it to her. I so wanted to make changes in my condition. I clearly remember the warmth in my diapers. I knew what caused it but this is how it was here.  Odors were of special interest to me. I had issues with these odors. I would grow to smell everything before I ate it and I was always looking for what I previously knew but it wasn't here, anywhere.

I also made sure as I grew up I would look for ways to get away from uncomfortable odors, and faces.

 

Why was I here, I remember thinking. Then I would hear the voice. HE would assure me, I accepted HIS assurance whole heartedly and went on. But why? Where is here? It was cool and beautiful as well as frightening all in the same thought. Everything was so different! The voice did not always answer all my questions. And there were many. It's as if I were here to experience the journey and then make decisions on my own about how I would interact with them. I remember not wanting to do this really.

I later came to find that this woman who attended me was my Mother. She smoked almost constantly and this is why her breath was so horrible on top of the fact her teeth were so rotten.

I saw the source of odors. I still do to this day. My sense of smell

has always been above normal.

I knew this somehow. I didn't like it then and I still do not!

 

I had advanced thoughts and reason but was just a small frail child, unable to communicate my thinking. It was frustrating and made me uncomfortable constantly to be out of control of my circumstances.

I remembered that I knew it would be this way, but could not remember why I knew that!

For the rest of my life/experience I was learning the ways of the people I was associated with.

It all seemed so odd. Things didn't seem to go as I knew they should. I felt very different, yet more and more I was fitting in.

When I felt I was fitting in I would slip past many months until the awareness would come back to me that I didn't want to be here, I had made a commitment though and I knew it somehow. What was really happening here? I would go in and out of understanding as I grew older.

I remember my Father figure and he was often unconcerned with me. He also was a smoker, the smell was on him. Seemed busy but would take a few moments to acknowledge me from time to time. I have no endearing thoughts from childhood of him. But I knew he was there. There was also another "child", an older one. She was delightful and kind. I would watch her interact and I would copy or follow her ways and align with her as  if she were a teacher. She was my older sister.

Years went by and there was a boy, a brother, he was very special.

I could now communicate with them all well and had opinions about what I was seeing. I voiced them all as best I could.

I remember wanting to experience everything, as if I knew there was a specific reason to be here. But, what was everything?

I clearly remember standing at the front glass, screen door window with my little brother, I was about three years old and he was two now. I said to him as we both gazed out the front door glass window, lower level, "Oh look at that beautiful little girl coming towards us", his reply shocked me, he said, "she's not pretty", I argued, "her long hair is so pretty", he retorted, "I don't like it". It was right then and there I knew for certain we did not all think alike or see things the same. I wonder to this day if we were communicating via telepathy or actually speaking to one another out loud? My sister and I agreed on many things but there was a difference between us all. I knew my brother was a male some how, He was not the same as the sister and I. Now however, I was certain, our thinking was separate and individual. This was a mile stone in my life. I remember it like it was last night. Men and woman did not see things in the same way.

I began testing my little brother. I would ask him to bite his finger nails because they tasted so good, and he would not accommodate me. He said that was silly, but I found an enjoyment biting mine and I liked the smell of my fingers. Then I would question him in other ways as if I were trying to assess the different thinking to make sense to me.

I also clearly remember after having had to listen to loud traumatic fights between my parents and dealing with odd feelings and emotions, experiencing more siblings and having tasted Ice cream and different foods and many other remembered experiences, even playing with the sweet puppy and seeing all the differences between human and animals, the colors of the sky and the world around me. 

So, I called upon the voice I would speak with from time to time, and asked HIM to let me come home now as I was ready to leave.

 I remember clearly telling the voice, "I have experienced everything here now, and I understand why I came. So, "NOW" I am ready to leave". I was very firm in my telling HIM how I felt. I believed I had an option at the time to request to come Home! I will never forget how "The Voice" spoke to me in a warm, loving, supportive way that day as HE answered me. Oh how I yearned to hear HIM speak to me! But, HIS reply was "there was much to learn yet". I replied to HIM, what more could there possibly be? I have seen the trees and the people and the communities the animals and the ways of this world. HE loving asked me to continue. I never did disagree with HIM. To this day, I still follow HIS lead. I didn't want to stay. I wanted to go home with HIM then, but this was not a current option. I was only around five years old when I asked HIM if I could come home.

I laugh now as I understand HIS answer to me, I am in my 60's.

I thought at five I had experienced enough here!

There is a reason why we must all come to understand, it isn't about just this life. There is so much more to know, but we can hardly handle what we have all already been given here! So the journey goes on, so we can come to know and understand HIS will for us here.

 

I know this all sounds strange to the reader at first, but I'm certain I am not the only one with these profound memories from the early arrival days. I have come to know that we all go through the transitions here in the land of the living exactly the same way as I did. Some of us remember it well and others of us never remember the process of arriving at all while adjusting to the new situation we find ourselves in, called LIFE. We all have different situations. Some of us hear the voice of GOD early on as HE leads us through the journey, others of us do not and perhaps will not. I have always wondered if it is because early on in the initial experience they felt as I did and wanted to leave, maybe even sooner, but HE kept us here for experience and training. Some may have gotten angry and aggressive towards HIM? They lost their way from a young experience of anger.

I have always known I was to help, teach and support while here.

I have come across some who are also awake and aware.

But they are few. It's a big picture to see, Life as we know it.

I have also always known we are spiritual beings transitioning into the world of the flesh and human experience.

This is the Land of the Living.

I even remember my first horrifying experience. I was trying to hold my head up as a newborn. I remember the pain involved, I focused on one issue in the transition process at a time. Holding my head up took constant work as there were no muscles tight enough to remain in control. My head would fall to right and left and back and forward as I would concentrate on the muscle group in my neck to take control.  I remember the workout process and was unhappy with it. I also knew instinctively I had to follow through. I would go through times where I would loose remembrance, and find myself slipping into routine with my siblings and parents

They never seemed to see what I was experiencing. They were unaware of who they were. I felt unheard and misunderstood.

So I would face challenge after challenge and try to commune with the voice I was always aware of throughout the entire process of ageing.

We are never alone here and we are all here together, until our time has been fulfilled. I pray you can relate and understand. This is my journey remembered.

 Feel free to share your journey with me.

We truly are all walking each other HOME!

 

 

The Key

So, here we go again. It's April, 2016. It's only been a few days since our last key experience. And the key thief is at it again. You can't make this stuff up. It's simply ridiculous how keys in this home simply disappear!

When we purchased the home in March of 2016, (last month) we were handed a ring of at least ten keys at the closing. I laughed and shared with my fiancé, these people have a real "key issue" here!

I thought nothing about it after that. They were such an awesome couple. I figured they just wanted a lot of keys?

Well, this week has been my second visit to the key maker thus far!

I can hardly believe that with all the keys given to us I have had to make 3 more house keys already! If you haven't read the

"Key Thief"  in my blog, you should, as that was last weeks post!

 

So, yesterday I asked my son if he would please go to the mailbox to get the mail? I'm still busy painting and unpacking this new home. It's only less than a block away to get the mail from the box. He said he was glad to get the mail for me and off he went.

About four minutes later he came back with the mail and the mail key, which is on it's own key holder and he plopped the mail and key down and said politely with a smile, here's your mail Mom.

Off he went to his room and I grabbed the key chain and put it back on my purse key holder.

That was the last time I saw the mail key!

 

I didn't realize then but the next day when I went to get the mail the key was gone! Just disappeared! It was not on my Key fob.

We have turned the house upside down for hours looking for the key! It's not here! Where can it be? How is it missing from my purse when we are the only ones here all day?

I called my fiancé at work immediately and asked him if he had taken my key to get the mail and didn't tell me about it? He said, "no", I have my mail key here with me on my chain!

I explained we are again missing a key! This is getting old I thought! I'm out $15.00 dollars from the last three keys I had made and now I'm getting mad. (I know I didn't have to spend that much on keys but I had to have the fancy ones!)

So, off I go again to the key kiosk to get another key made! Funny thing is I went to the same one I went to before but this time they didn't have the size key for my mail box I needed. I was so bummed out by that. This means I'm on the hunt for the right size key now. I'm so frustrated by this key caper I'm ready to cry.

As we were leaving the store my fiancé noticed a little box by the front door of the store. It was an automated keymaker box! Shocked to see that there, as I had never noticed it before, I looked into the keys offered and there it was! My size key! We had one made to my amazement in under two minutes and off we went towards home. I couldn't wait to get to the mail box to try it out!

It worked!

I have my key again.

Where the original brass key went, I have no idea.

How it got out of my purse is a mystery to me!

I rebuked the energy that steals key's and were moving on with our lives. It's so strange this issue we have had. I'm praying I don't have to deal with the key thief again!

It's those little things that make you mad at the drop of a hat. I guess the LORD is teaching me to handle these capers a bit better!

I'd still like to know how they disappear though? That will be a lesson for another day I'm sure!

It Came To Me Again Today

 

 

 

I remember being very young. Under two years old. A time when I spoke with my mind. I used my eyes to communicate. It was effortless. But not many understood this.

Maybe just for a moment they would focus on me. They would seem to understand. Then they would move on. As if they had awoken from sleep state. I didn't understand.

I was here. I had a mission. It was known to me then.

I understood that!

 

I spoke with one who always answered me clearly. I knew the voice well. Very well. The voice was male. It was my total comfort.

When I questioned things HE guided me. HE was always with me. Always close. The things HE shared with me were simple.

I felt as I grew HE would show me this and that. HE never left me alone for a moment. I could feel HIS presence. As if we were in communion. A sacred and special place, a time of learning to be here. Every touch, smell and taste, everything I would feel even at that young age, I was making decisions.

 

I clearly remember one morning. This remembrance was more keen to me than any of the others I experienced in my life. As if I could go back to this one point in time in my life and know for sure I truly experienced all of this! I had experienced chocolate custard for the first time. It was an amazing taste to me. A custard that was cold and yet smooth and wonderfully pleasing. I was still very young at this point.

I said to HIM then, well, now, this is it then isn't it?

I have experienced all there is now.

Nothing could be better than this?

I felt HIS warm understanding as I spoke.

HE answered me. "No, Teri, there is so much more"!

I replied to HIM, but I don't want to stay any longer now. And how could there be more I thought? More than this? More than all I have already come to know? I have known love of Mother, Father, brothers and sisters. Food, drink, all the sweet tastes over this time here. Tears of pain and joy. Smells, colors and feelings. I restated to HIM, "I am done now". I'm ready to leave! Again, HE said, very firmly "no, This is another beginning".

This is a beginning, I questioned? I didn't want more, HE kindly demanded in his tone I should know more. Suddenly, trusting HIS authority I no longer questioned HIM.  

Gradually, the remembrance of these conversations and anointed times faded somewhat.

 

Years passed, and I would revisit these moments of complete awareness of HIM and our wonderful moments of truth and knowing. Words were never spoken. It was all through thought.

I didn't question it. It was familiar and normal for me. Comforting and encouraging.

Then life would continue and it seemed I would simply "forget" these times. But each time HE came back and awareness was with me again, It was as it always had been. Like nothing had changed. Even though it truly had.

I used to try to write my thoughts about all this, but things would happen so bizarre here on this side of knowing that I would lose heart.

I find such gratefulness in knowing and being here. It is a privilege. There is much here to know and accomplish yet many are not given to study and learning. Distractions are many and they are made specifically to distract us. 

We are on a spiritual journey. It seems to be disguised as "Life". But there is a reason each of us are here.

I have found the answer. Have you?

It's more than being awake and aware. So much more.

There is only one way. I hope you remember. I hope you find HIM. You already know HIM. HE's waiting for you to remember.

Your story is not much different than mine. We are all truly walking each other home! Home to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.



The Flood

 

So, it was a very rainy summer here in Florida in 2015. I spent most of the 23 days of straight rain praying for it to stop. Wondering why it hadn't all along the way? After so many people had flooding and loss of finances through horrible conditions due to all the rain, my heart just broke.

Where were the answers? What was going on here?

The steady rain turned everyday people into victims!

 

The news was so hard to watch as picture after picture on the television showed what devastation came with rivers over flowing and sewer systems backing up due to the wet conditions.

Peoples cars no longer could get them to safety. The waters were much to deep. Roads were coming apart, pot holes were everywhere and driving was now unsafe! Kids couldn't get to school. Power was out in thousands of homes. Animals were having a hard time in the fields staying free from drowning. Fish were swimming on my front street. That was very strange indeed!

 It was starting to hit my neighborhood now just as it had the ones I had watched on T.V.  The over flowing rivers were causing such damage. With one more day of rain, I thought, we won't be getting out of this neighborhood at all without a boat and the house will flood for sure.

 Like so many others we will be prisoners of the rain!

I now understood very clearly how Mother nature had control of the state. After all, Florida is already a peninsular. I wondered if it was going to rearrange itself right here and now?

 

Day by day I watched the lake we live on (Park Lake) creep closer and closer to the back door. First the deck on the lake was covered with water, then the chairs were under water, then the table was under water, then the entire lawn disappeared from sight. The Fire pit in the back yard was under water. Fish were swimming feet from my back door, the turtles were laying in what small yard I had left. When was it going to end?

I threw myself on the floor and started to pray, Please GOD, help us NOW!

 

Then the reprieve came. The rain finally stopped!

23 total days here in Pasco county. It had taken it's toll. Why did this have to happen?

I wondered, Why had so many had to loose all they had to the deep waters of 23 days of straight rain?

 

The meteorologists said it was a freak thing. They hadn't seen this coming. It lasted far too long.

Why is it that when the weather acts this way we never really are prepared for it?

Pasco county found out way to late after the fact that nothing was handled well in the situation. We were ill prepared for this type of weather and NOW we would make many new changes for how to rethink how things should be handled, should we ever have to deal with this again in the future.

Our state was declared a state of emergency!

 

I wondered about the spiritual aspect of it all.

Is there a connection with the weather and the Powers that be?

Were we all being warned? Was it a wake up call? What were we to see spiritually from all this? 

I happen to believe all things are connected in this life!

 

Then I was reminded that we have been in an 8 year time of retrogrades and many negative things, teaching us lessons and coming to an end. It all started in 2008. And here we are now gearing up to the end of 2015, making way for the releases and the new hope of 2016! The year of completion.

Perhaps this was actually an ushering out of all the past? A flood of change was on the way. A beginning to a new day. A turn of celestial events!

Then It all made sense.

The universe truly does connect with us spiritually.   

What is to come is clearly now set to move forward. Old things have been cleansed from us, ways of thinking and living and being. (That is if we are awake to it.  Yes, it will happen anyway to all of us as we are all moving in the same direction here on the earth, but we do not all see clearly what is happening to us).  New understandings and spiritual growth are on the way to us.  2015 was beginning to be cleansed from us and 2016 was starting it's way to us. Like we were starting to shed 2015 like an old skin and prepare for the new skin that will take us into 2016.

It's a new day coming, a long awaited for, new day!

 

Now the rains made sense, it was as if we were seeing what was happening to us all in the spiritual realm. The flood had come and now the new would take shape.

The forecasted influences of the spiritual world we live in but cannot see with our naked eye were making itself known to us. But we had to understand this. This is what is always happening right under our noses and yet if we are not in tune, we do not see.

GOD never leaves us clueless, HE just asks us to pay attention. To ask, seek and knock.

To be in touch with our inner reality.

 

So as I contemplate all this before me in this life, the life I have been chosen to live, I now see why we go through things we cant control. It's just not all about us individually. It's about all of us as humans and what we walk through while we are here in the land of the living!

 

Floods will always bring fresh new ground. It's their nature.

Change is always hard, but I do welcome it.

 Goodbye 2015.

Hello 2016, the year of completions.

What might lie ahead?

 

 

 

A Sunday to Remember!

So, this Sunday was like none other.
It was 1978.
 

Unknown to me, Divine intervention was on the menu today.
 

I woke up and got my day going as I always had.
I was so excited thinking about this up coming week as I would finally head out tomorrow for my very first interview into the Dental field. I was to see a local DDS about an amazing new career I had applied for. I knew my life was about to change forever once I enter the working world and started this new job....I had to pass the interview though first.

 

So today,  I would spend my Sunday watching the children playing in the front yard. I would focus on family. Just enjoying my two boy's. The joy of life. Running here and running there. I was watching them yelling and laughing with one another without a care in the world. They were so adorable. Brothers loving each other and having a wonderful time. I sat watching them thinking with my new job coming up days like this may be few and far between, I knew I needed to take in the joys of Motherhood today with no other concerns on my mind. It will be hard to be away from the children but I need to help with mounting bills and accept the responsibilities of becoming a working parent.
I had sat watching them for a very long time.
 

So, I got up to pour myself another cup of coffee in the kitchen so I could sit a bit longer. Just then, I heard a loud sound outside and I turned back for a second to see a huge orange church bus go past the living room window. As it did I noticed the name on the bus in that instant, I got my coffee and came back to my chair in the living room to watch the boys outside and enjoy them for just a bit more before I started my Sunday chores.

 

I didn't see them in the front yard anymore. I thought to myself, they must have gone to the back yard. So I got up and went to the kitchen window and I looked outback. It was so quite.
Where were the those children?

I went back to the front window and looked out again.

That's strange, I thought, where the heck did they run off to so quickly, I was away from the window for two minutes literally.
I felt the boys were too young to leave the front yard without me and they knew to stay where I could see them at all times.
But where were they?

I threw my slippers on and went out front. I yelled to the boys, but they were no where in sight. My heart started pounding! GOD where are the children I thought? I walked around the house, I yelled for them again. Nothing!

Then as I stood there in the back yard fear gripped my heart!

Had they been taken on that bus? No way, how could something like that happen? No! That's crazy thinking. My boys would never get on a strange bus! I kept shouting for the boys. I walked to the end of the street, I didn't see them anywhere. I called for them over and over. I was really getting fearful and somewhat angry! With each shout, my mind ran faster and faster. My heart started pounding with fear! Would my boys have gotten on that bus? What bus driver would take two small boys without their parents consent?
Where the heck are they? GOD help me!

Why would a church bus take my boy's without a signed permission slip, this kept running through my mind? What kind of bus driver would let strange children get on his bus? What was the name on that bus again I thought to myself?

With that I ran into the house and grabbed my car keys, and off I went! I was so mad thinking how could someone pick up children they don't even know? Why would they do something like that?      I drove so fast I was shocked I wasn't pulled over by the police! I had tears in my eyes hoping I was going to the right place?

I was at the church in five minutes. I parked the car out front and ran up the stairs of the huge church and into the main hallway!

With that I yelled very loud in the hall, Jason & Joshua are you here?

I yelled again loudly as I headed for the first closed door. My anger was off the charts? I was so afraid something had happened to them! Please GOD let them be here!

A sweet beautiful blonde haired woman came out into the hall just then and said, May I help you? What's going on?

I said I think someone driving one of your buses took my children! My two young boys! Are they here?

She asked me how old they were, what they were wearing, and what area of town I lived in.

I told her they were 5 and 3 years old and we lived in the central city.

She smiled and said, "Oh yes, No problem, My name is Joann, I remember them, I drive that bus".  I did pick up 2 small boy's who were standing at the bus stop. They're so adorable, What are their names she said ,while she was still smiling at me?
 

What! What! I was so mad, I said to her, "How could you"?

What kind of an idiot are you? I was furious with this smiling woman, I yelled at her again and said, "why would you pick up two small boys you don't even know, that don't belong to your church, and ride them away from their home"? How could you do such a thing with such young boys? I told her, I was worried out of my mind! What's wrong with you lady? What kind of a church are you running here? I only left the window for two minutes to get coffee and they were gone! You should be ashamed of yourself! I was sick with worry! We have our own church! They weren't standing at your bus stop, they were just out of their front yard!

Thank GOD I saw your bus and knew where they may have been taken!

"Get my children for me NOW", I demanded in a very strong tone!
Other doors in the hallway were opening as others heard me yelling at this terrible woman! I found I had made a scene. Oh great I thought to myself! All I could think about was getting out of that church!

 

With that, the woman went and got Jason and Joshua and I grabbed their little hands and marched them off to the car.
The poor woman looked shocked!

It was then I realized I was out in public in my old brown nightgown and slippers! Oh my word!
No bra, no slip and for heavens sake you could almost see through this old nighty! E-Gad!

I hadn't even combed my long hair yet this morning, It must look like a rats nest! Oh my word, I thought to myself as I was walking towards the car, I must look and sound like a full blown witch to that lady!

I didn't care! I found my babies, that's all I cared about!

 

All the way home I reprimanded the boys for doing such a terrible  thing leaving home like that!

I explained how dangerous it was for them to get in a car or bus with strangers without Mommy and Daddy's permission.

I was crying with tears of joy that I had found my boys safe, but I was still so mad and afraid for them!
I thought I might send a letter to the Head of that church and report that crazy lady.

 

Once home we all settled into our normal routines after many hugs and kisses and my cold cup of coffee and enjoyed the rest of the day.

 

Monday finally came and off I went into the working world for my new career interview. I was so excited. I spent all morning getting ready for the big day. I wanted to have my best foot forward and look amazing for this job interview. I was so excited!

Off I went.

I entered the office and signed in and took my seat. I waited patiently for my turn. There were almost twelve other women waiting for an interview along with me. I was feeling as if my balloon of hope was deflating. How could I stand a chance getting this job with so many others also applying.

I thought to myself, well, it's in the LORDS hands. I'm not going to worry about it.

 

My name was finally called and I was escorted down a long hall and into a room to have another seat. I was told Mrs. Cheneville would be right in to speak with me.

So, I waited a bit more and then the door opened.

To my surprise there in front of me was that woman!

The woman whom I had screamed at in the hallway of the church! The woman who picked up my children! Who I had called an idiot!OH MY WORD!

She is the one doing my interview!
Oh No!

Oh, I'm never going to get this job, Oh, I wish I could run! This is a total disaster I thought to myself!

With that, she smiled so sweetly at me and said, Oh dear, you're the woman from yesterday with the boys from the bus!
Oh my!

"Yes", I said as I looked down towards the floor. I said in a very soft humbled voice , I'm so sorry for acting as I did, I was just so afraid!

She smiled and said, I was up all night feeling so bad about what I had done to that woman in the brown nightie. She said I thought your boys were a part of the church. They ran up to the bus as soon as it stopped and jumped on in and took a seat as if they always had done it. She said she hadn't had my area route for a while and wasn't sure who belonged on the bus or not actually. Then she apologized profusely to me.
 

We both laughed. She said, I came to see your point however. We will be much  more careful in the future with who we pick up for church!

With that she said, Oh and by the way, You're hired!

She said my resume was exactly what she had been looking for and since our encounter at the church she was sure I was the person for the job. She said, I know you'll do the right thing in any circumstance!

 

I spent the next 18 years in this career and rose to the top of my field. She became my closest and dearest friend even to this day.

You just can't make this stuff up.

Truth is always stranger than fiction!



The Fervent Prayers of Many

So, Yesterday I was in serious pain, after I sprained my ankle doing yard word. I had fallen over a tree stump in the yard and scraped my leg and ankle on the darn thing as I fell backwards onto my back and shoulder. Hard! My ankle instantly swelled to a huge nob! My neck was hurting and my thigh where I landed squarely on the tree stump. OUCH! I crawled along the grass into the house on my hands and knees and my son Jason helped me into a wheelchair he resurrected from the garage for me. My foot had swollen so large it literally felt as if it were going to explode. The bleeding areas were so swollen I actually wondered if the darn ankle was going to pop open? The pain was just so severe I could hardly believe a small sprain could present this much discomfort. I wondered if it might be more than a sprain? .

I immediately had Jason prepare the couch for me with pillows and blankets. We immediately elevated the leg. I was so grateful this hadn't happened to me while I was home alone! I can't imagine having to crawl from couch to freezer on my knees hurting this bad! Yikes, my prayers immediately went out to those who suffer something like this all alone! I felt so blessed to have Jason there with me. I was crying from the pain but not being alone was such a blessing!

I was crying as I tried to transfer from the wheelchair to the couch. Screaming actually.

Jason made an ice pack for me as I yelled where to find the zip lock bags and towel.

Putting the ice pack on this ankle was like torture to it.

I laid there trying to assess my situation.

I decided I was going to live! LOL. But it was going to be uncomfortable for a few days.

 

I had Jason prepare dinner with me yelling instructions from the couch. It was really hysterical actually. I found something funny about everything he did. Men in the kitchen! It's a trip.

 

Three hours passed with me on the couch and I needed to get up to head to the restroom. Jason got the old crutches from the garage and off I went screaming the entire way.

I thought to myself maybe I should head off to the Emergency Room?

 

I didn't want to go to the ER for an x-ray as I knew it would be painful somehow. Never the less

I had Kevin who was now home from work call my Humana plan to prepare me to go to the emergency room. It took me till about 9:00pm to submit to going for x-rays now as the pain was so severe I couldn't take it another second.  I thought I may have really fractured something.

Kevin made all the calls for me and I got my clearance from Humana and was preparing to go. But, then I became so sleepy,  It just came on me. It was like all the Advil I had taken just kicked in  all at once and I could not keep my eyes open.  I couldn't fathom getting up and heading to the ER. 

 

Just then I tried to move off the couch just a tad, and a horrific charley horse hit this already distraught foot of mine. I must have awoken the neighbors I screamed so loud.

Both Kevin and Jason almost started crying they were so afraid for me in my pain. I know I was scaring them but I was in pain. They wanted to help me but clearly couldn't. The charley horse travelled up my leg as I was screaming so loud it sounded like I was being murdered. I really did try to stop screaming, but the pain in this swollen foot was just off the charts.

The swelling was now throbbing along with the charley horse! 

 Kevin grabbed my whole leg and the warmth of his hands started to ease the pain of my leg from the charley horse and ankle. He pushed the toes on my left foot back slowly, the heat from his hand and the light pressure on my toes caused  the charley horse to ease up a bit.  I could breath again! I finally stopped screaming. I was so worn out after this experience I  asked to be wheeled into bed to lay down for a few moments.

Off to bed I went, so we elevated my leg once again with pillows. It really felt good to lay down.  The throbbing finally stopped all together. I decided I could not go to the ER now,  I was worn out from all the screaming. I'd have to wait till the morning, I really needed to sleep right now! 

 

 As I was falling asleep my son Jason yelled into me from his room, "Mom, I'm praying for you", and I smiled and yelled back to him, "Thank you!" I need it! Then I fell asleep.

 I woke up at 3:33am and I got up to go to the restroom. I was looking for the wheelchair and the crutches when I realized, my foot did not hurt at all!! It was completly fine! I walked in disbelief to the restroom by myself , no crutches, no wheel chair! I was  being careful not to wake anyone in the house. I was really amazed that I had no pain at all. I could feel that my ankle was still swollen but I could put all my weight on it! The foot was actually still very swollen, but I had NO PAIN!

 

I had posted this incident on Face book after it happened and so many people were praying for me. They had shared loving, kind thoughts and advise for me. I really appreciated it all. As I walked into the restroom  last night I realized the prayers of all the people had been heard! I was healed.

Jason's prayer had worked a miracle on me!

His words were the last words I heard as I fell off to sleep.

Miracles are still happening! We just have to believe. It took this silly accident to remind me of so many blessings I endure everyday. When we ask for prayer, we should expect a miracle.

I got mine last night!

I thank all those here for their part in their prayers for me.

I am blessed to have praying friends!

<3

A Kiss From Above

 

So, it was 1977 and I was at a weekly home church meeting in Clearwater Florida with my family and some very dear friends.

My children, two boys, were very young. Three and five year olds.

They loved getting together with all their friends and were

in one of the other rooms in the large house with all the other children playing, coloring and watching videos.

 

We adults had been at the meeting for a couple of hours and had been singing and jamming on worship songs. It was a really wonderful fun filled time, as I so enjoyed singing and hanging out together with everybody.

 

As we all stood up to pray before the close of the meeting I remember that one of the pastors had said we would all give thanks for all that we had been blessed with in this life thus far.

 

I was immediately overwhelmed with a feeling of thanksgiving.

My life was beyond blessed I thought to myself. I had so much to be thankful for how does one begin to express this to such a great God I wondered?

I closed my eyes and prayed along with the rest of the gang and entered into a wonderful peaceful place spiritually.

There was an abundance of serenity. It was like floating. It really felt warm and wonderful. Safe and loving.

We all started singing very softly as it was evident that I was not the only person in the room feeling very connected with the Holy Spirit.

I felt as if I could just cry it was so peaceful. I whispered inwardly to the LORD how very grateful I was for HIS love and great care of me and my family.

Then something really bizarre and odd happened. I felt a touch on my face on my left cheek, almost like a kiss.

Yes, it was exactly like a kiss. Like a Daddy would give his little girl. It was amazing. It was so powerfully felt I started to cry and spoke right out loud in the meeting and said, "I felt a kiss on my face".

Everyone smiled, we all opened our eyes slowly. Others said they had felt a very similar experience at times when the spirit was overwhelming as it was tonight.

I was deeply moved. That had never happened before that nor since that time again.

How wonderful it is to experience  love like that from the Father.

I will always be grateful for the memory of that day.

The Morgue

So, It was 1976. I had been with a group of friends from church and we had been doing a musical Jam all morning with the band.

 It was a very hot summer day and we had just finished our jam.

I was packing up to get ready to head for home. The church was about 3 miles from my house, I stood out on the street in front of the church next to my car saying my good bye's to everyone when another friend pulled up in a van. I didn't know him well, but I'd seen him at church before. He was a tall dark haired guy that was always hanging around and helping people. He got out and came over near where we were all standing and said that a young married couple from another church in town had just lost their child to a drowning accident in South St. Petersburg, in their back yard pool.

He was crying and had asked for prayer for the family.

The father of this young child was a very close friend of his and he was just shocked that this had happened. 

I was so crushed to hear this news. I thought of all the sweet friends I had and how I loved their children! I could relate to what this guy was feeling. I was moved in my Spirit. Even though I didn't know the young couple, I could not help but feel their pain. I asked how old the baby was and my friend said about 2 1/2 years old. A little boy. Pain just gripped me in a way that actually surprised me. I felt so bad for these two young parents, and for this broken man standing in front of us. I had little boys. I was just speechless.

After we all prayed for comfort for this man and his friends, we all exchanged phone numbers with the man to call and pray with him and to stay in touch about the funeral that would be upcoming.  So we all got back in our cars. I said my goodbyes and headed home. The entire drive home I just keep thinking about the young family. What could I do to help ease their pain. I thought to myself, I'll pray for them all day. Maybe I can make them a meal or two? I'll seek GOD for answers for them, so they don't blame themselves and live in torture the rest of their lives.

 

I got home and shared the news with my husband and kids. We all prayed for the young couple. I looked at my beautiful young sons praying earnestly for this baby boy and this situation and my heart just broke. They were so precious.

After dinner that night I got the Bible out and read for about an hour. I read that GOD could raise from the dead, I had read this many times before but today those words came alive for me.

HE is the same GOD today that HE was then so what would the difference be if I believed HIM today for a miracle as they did back then? It was obvious to me that this was my answer!

 

I called my friend who had come in the van to the church and asked, where did they take the boy after he died? He mentioned that he had heard the coroner had taken him to Bayfront Medical Center in downtown St. Petersburg. I asked what the child's name was. He revealed it to me. (I won't mention it here to protect this young couple). 

I shared with him that I was going to the Hospital morgue to raise the child from the dead! I was feeling led to go. My friend was stunned, he asked me how I was going to do this? I said I believe in miracles and I'm asking GOD for one now! I'm going to do it just like they did back in biblical days.

We prayed together again.

I hung up the phone.

I got in my car in pure faith and said to my husband, I'm going to follow the instruction in the Bible to a "T" and call upon the name of the LORD to save this baby boy and bring him back from the dead. Just as had been done in the Bible!

That really shocked him, but he said he believed that faith in action could do just about anything!  I agreed.

My husband prayed for me and said he would stay home with the children. So nothing would hinder me.

Off I went, alone, to Bayfont Medical Center. Full of Faith!

Towards the Morgue.

 

When I got there, I saw this massive large Hospital building, It looked bigger than it ever did before! I parked my car in the street parking. I went into the building with amazing faith, I had prayed all the way there.  I felt as if I were being guided. I did not feel like I was alone! I headed straight down stairs looking for the morgue.

I couldn't find it. I searched the entire floor for a sign leading to it. Then all of a sudden I saw a tall, thin older man, a janitor, moping the floor at the end of a long hall, he was humming some tune, I walked up to him and asked him where I might find the morgue.

He smiled at me and then looking straight into my eyes,

 his eyes got real big and he said to me "Why is a pretty young girl like you looking for the morgue"? I explained my sad story to him briefly and said I felt as if the LORD would guide and instruct me once I found the little boy. He looked at me in utter amazement and replied again with a big smile on his face, "well now, who am I to get in the way of the LORDS plans"?

He said, you know I could get in a lot of trouble for this?

But I believe you're story, I do think the LORD has sent you.

With that he said "Follow me".

And so I did.

We went down in the elevator to another floor. Then as we were headed down the long shiny clean hall he turned and looked at me and said "Have you ever seen a dead body before"? I said "no".

He asked me if I had ever been in a morgue before? I said "no".

He said you are one brave little girl to come here all alone. I replied, I wasn't alone at all and I simply had no fear, I trust the LORD completely. HE is with me, of that I am sure or I would not be doing this!

 I am a bit concerned as to what a dead sweet baby boy will look like however I mentioned.

He said, don't worry honey, he will just look as if he is sleeping, that's all.

Finally, after a long walk we came to the door. A huge stainless steel door with a brass sign, "M O R G U E".

 

The older man tuned to look at me and asked me again, "are you sure you want to go in there"? I said I was never more sure of anything in my life.

Do you want me to go in with you, he asked? I said, no, Thank you, I'll be fine. He said what are you going to do when you find the little boy? I said I'm going to pray and breath life back into him like they did in the bible! GOD will do the rest!

With that he nodded at me as if to say O.K., and told me not to stay to long as it was very cold in there. I said, O.K. I won't. Then he took a key from the ring of keys on his chain hanging by his pocket and he unlocked the door. He then opened the huge door for me and in I went. He looked at me again and said, "you sure  bout this honey"? I just smiled back at him he seemed to understand my smile, he then said, I'll just be out here in the hall then, waiting on you. I replied, O.K., and walked inside. The doors closed behind me. They made a loud bang as they closed. It was very cold.

Here I was, alone in the morgue. It was huge, It was all stainless steel and very clean. It had an odd smell, but not a bad one. Just real different, like you would expect death to smell like, I guess.

I looked around the huge room. It was well lit. There were steel beds protruding like shelves from the walls in the room. There were many bodies all draped in white linens. Maybe about 7 bodies. I walked from one side of the room to the next. But they were all adult bodies. There were no little bodies wrapped in the morgue. No infant sized bodies anywhere. I was so upset. I stood in the center of the room turning each way over and over again. I checked each bed. No little boy! 

I cried out loud to the LORD and said,

"Here I am LORD, where is he"?

I stood in the middle of the morgue taking in all the sterile sights.

I waited for  an answer. I felt I heard GOD say to me,

"Teri, he is not here".

Then silence!

I just stood there.

Then I asked GOD again, where is he?

I felt the LORD tell me,

"he has already been taken to the funeral home Teri".

I ran out of the morgue, and I saw the janitor at the end of the hall. He stopped what he was doing and with wide eyes asked me, "what happened"? I said the boy isn't there!

He's already been taken to the funeral home.

The Janitor said well, I can't help you with that. So I thanked the janitor and I asked him where could I find out which funeral home  they had taken him too? He replied, they would know that at the upstairs desk for the morgue. I asked him where that would be, which floor?  He asked me not to mention that I had gone inside the morgue. I promised him I would not say a word about it, he then told me how to get to the desk upstairs.

I ran up the stairs from the Morgue and found the desk. I inquired at the desk about the arrangements for the little boy. The older lady at the desk said his body was taken that morning to a Funeral home in Tampa, Florida.

I asked which one? She finally told me, but, only after a long conversation I had had with her to convince her to please help me!

 

I drove towards home. I had no idea where the funeral home was in Tampa. I didn't know that city at all at the time. I knew I would get lost if I drove their alone. I had never been to Tampa alone before.

Doubts were creeping in.

If the child was taken there in the early morning, chances were the autopsy or preparation for the funeral would already have been preformed, I thought. I just cried out to GOD, why had I been so late? Why hadn't I gone to the morgue yesterday, or earlier in this morning? I started crying.

I was so upset. I so wanted to raise that child from the dead for that young family. My heart just broke.

 

I drove home and shared my whole experience with the my family.

I called the friend that had told me about the child's death and explained that I was unsuccessful in my attempts to raise the boy from the dead because he wasn't there!

 He replied to me, through his tears and crying, you were not unsuccessful. You were very successful actually. He said, I could not have done what you just did. I don't think anyone of us could have. We were all praying for you and your amazing faith.

The LORD wanted that boy home for whatever reason, otherwise I believe you would have raised that child today!

This is why he wasn't there Teri. Had he been there, you would have had your miracle!

 

To this day I look back on that experience and wonder if that sweet boy would have been there would I have raised his body through faith from the dead. I do truly believe it would have happened.

I also believe that janitor was more than just a janitor, he was part of the divine appointment to allow me to exercise my faith that day.

I will always be blessed from this sad experience and someday I look forward to meeting that little boy face to face.

 

  

The Uninvited LOUD Music

So, I was cleaning the house this morning, Tuesday April 7th, 2015 at 8:40am, and after I had put a load of clothes in the washer and one in the dryer I started to head to the kitchen to wash my dishes. 

I had woken up this morning with a horrible stabbing behind my right eye. It really hurt and it kept throbbing as I was doing my house work. I was trying to ignore it as much as I could but it was really beginning to be bothersome.

I thought, oh well, I better get these few dishes done so I can go put my head on the pillow for a moment and rest my eye.

It always takes a moment for the water to get hot, so I started  wiping down the counter waiting for the water to heat up in the sink. GOD forbid I should waste a moment, right! 

I was unaware that the next few moments would be epic in my day.

 

I was standing in front of the window in the kitchen and I was watching the birds on a neighbors dock as I started to wash the popcorn bowls in the now hot water, from the night before. I finished the first one and laid it in the drainer and as I picked up the second bowl, I heard music playing in the house. I heard a very loud song being played in my living room, which is directly behind me as I stood in the kitchen. The song was getting louder, so loud it sounded as though it was coming from a huge speaker.

I thought to myself, we don't have a huge speaker in the living room, so where is that coming from? 

I knew my phone was in the bedroom, so I knew something was wrong here. The T.V. was off and the lap top was closed!

Where is this music coming from?

I had never heard this song before and I was trying to place it from something or somewhere, but with no luck. It wasn't the type of music I would ever choose to listen to. It had words but I was baffled at the loudness of it and I didn't pay much attention to what the words were.

It got louder still and it frightened me, it got so loud it was unreal!

 I dropped the popcorn bowl in the sink and finally spun around to see where this loud music was coming from!

As I turned to confront the music, I shut the water off in the sink and instantly the music stopped. I approached the front room and I looked out the front window to see if it could have been a car stereo going by, but there was no car. If there would have been a car I would still hear the music after shutting off the water!

But the music stopped at the exact moment I shut the water off!

 

I walked into the living room and stood there for a moment.

The hair on the back of my neck was standing straight up and I felt as if there was a lighting bolt going through me.

I felt electrified somehow.  

I spoke openly and said out loud in the living room,

Lord JESUS, what was that?  

I just stood still. Waiting for a reply. I heard no reply.

I felt a bit of fear, so I quickly rebuked the feeling and went to the bedroom to get my phone to call my room mate and explain what was happening in case something more began to happen.

 

After I shared what had just taken place I hung the phone up.

I went back into the living room and waited a moment more.

 Still nothing. My eye hurt so bad I thought I would have to go lay down and close it immediately. It was just pounding.

What was happening here?

I instantly went back to the kitchen to do the dishes.

There was no music.

I'm not sure what had caused the loud music. It was a country type of tune. Very odd. Nothing I had ever heard before and in a man's voice. The words were superfluous. They didn't mean anything to me of what I could remember. But now I cannot for the life of me even remember one word I heard. It was so sudden and strange.

 

Often odd things happen, but why? That's always my question.

Perhaps it will come to me in another form or situation.

Or is it that I need to literally "Face the music" about something?

I'm in prayer for an answer.

Our GOD is the GOD of humor actually!