Jesus, take the wheel…

Saturday, March 24, 2012, is the day that changed my life forever.

I had taken Zachary and William shopping to pick out new beds.  It was time for William to transition to a toddler bed, and I was moving him and Zachary into the same room.  While checking out at Babies “R” Us that afternoon, I noticed a storm brewing out the front windows of the store.  The sky darkened suddenly and began to look ominous as rain began to fall.

As I loaded the kids into the car, William began shouting, “Save me!  Save me!”  I laughed and joked with Zachary about William having watched too many episodes of the Wonder Pets on TV.  I even stopped to post the joke on Facebook.  I headed across the parking lot to Target and we rushed in to shop for Zachary’s summer wardrobe.  When it was time to check out, I noticed that the lines were really long (as they usually are at Target), and I began to get very thirsty.  I searched out a bottle of water, which was odd for me since I’m not a water drinker, and began to feel a bit disoriented.  I thought, I must be getting really dehydrated or something.

We checked out eventually and made it to the car as the storm continued.  I hopped onto I-485, and, as I rounded the curved bridge to merge onto I-77, I noticed that the sun was shining very brightly on one side of the car, but on the other side of the car it looked as though the bottom was going to drop out.  I began thinking about my poor vision in the rain due to a bad run-in with Lasik surgery in the past (we won’t go there), and I began to worry that it was going to storm like it had a year ago when my brand new car was severely damaged in a hail storm.  I stopped and prayed: “Lord, please just get us home safely.  My babies are in the car and are depending on me.”

All of a sudden, I gradually started to feel as though I was being lifted from my seat.  Then I felt as though the car was lifting.  I didn’t seem to be driving the car anymore at all, in fact, and I didn’t feel as though I was in control any longer.  I thought, “Is someone else driving the car?  Am I delusional?  I don’t seem to be in my body anymore.  Wait, am I dead and I’m watching it all somehow?  Was I in an accident and don’t remember it or is one about to happen??”  I started vibrating a little and felt lifted even further.  I tried to pull myself back down but couldn’t.  At that very moment, Zachary and I both noticed the most VIBRANT double rainbow out of the driver’s side windows, on the sunny side of the car.  I fumbled with my cell phone trying to get a picture of the rainbow because I was sure that I was witnessing something miraculous, but I worried about crashing the car, too!  Zachary told me to give him the phone so that he could take the picture.  And he did.  And it was beautiful.

After a few seconds, I finally seemed to rest back in my seat and “come to.”  Things began to feel normal again.  Zachary and I discussed the awesomeness of the double rainbow.  It was absolutely stunning!  I finally got to our exit and we made our way home.  As we neared the house, William spoke out from the back seat for the first time and said, “I tired, Mama.”  In my stupor, I repeated what he said like I always do, saying “You’re tired?”  “Yes, I tired,” he said.  I asked if he was ready to go to sleep, and he said “Yes.”  He told me that he was tired several more times down that stretch of road.  The significance of what he said didn’t hit me until later.

We arrived safely at home and neither Zach nor I seemed to be able to get out of the car.  I felt so HEAVY and TIRED.  I turned around and looked at Zachary, and he appeared to be in a stupor.  And then it hit me – he had felt it, too!  I asked Zachary if he had just felt what I did, and he said, “Yes!” with a huge goofy grin on his face.  He told me that he felt really heavy.  He told me that he couldn’t feel his legs, and I realized that I couldn’t really, either.  But, we also felt very light somehow.  And every part about it felt so GOOD.  I realized in that moment that I had just experienced God and the Holy Spirit in a way that I have never known.  Zachary and I felt as though we were buzzing, electrified somehow.  Almost drunk with delight.

Awesome.  Incredible.  Amazing.  Wonderful.  These were the words that we spoke, sometimes in unison.  I started crying.  We grinned at each other when we said the same words, as though we were in each other’s heads.  Zachary appeared to be in a daze and his nystagmus (back and forth movement of his eyes caused by albinism) seemed to have stopped.

After a time of reflection, we both came to the same awesome realization: we had just experienced God’s Almighty power.  We agreed that there was no other explanation.  We both realized that we needed to get out of the car and go in the house and tell Seth and Keaton about our experience, but we worried that they would think that we had completely lost our minds.  But, we had just experienced the same things independently, so we weren’t crazy, right?!  The feelings that we had felt were real and the proof was in the double rainbow!!

We eventually got out of the car and walked unsteadily to the house, noting that our bodies, especially our legs, felt very heavy.  Like weights.  But it still felt good somehow.  We went in the house and gathered up Seth and Keaton to tell our story.  Zachary and I tried desperately to put into words the miracle that we had just experienced, but our words didn’t seem adequate.  For the next few minutes, Zachary and I discussed the events further, slowly gathering up all the details.  Zachary had also thought at one point that he was dead, somehow watching himself from the outside.  Then he realized, like me, that wasn’t the case.  It WAS real.  And it was amazing!

While we are recounting our story, William began to speak out.  He mentioned having seen the rainbow with purple, pink and yellow colors.  And then I began to wonder if William had experienced any of the feelings that Zachary and I had, when it hit me:  He most definitely did!  That’s why he told me he was so tired in the car!  William had felt it, too, and that was the only way his 2-year-old brain knew how to explain it!

As we delved deeper into our feelings, Zachary dropped a bombshell.  He told us that he had seen angels in his room.  Not just any angels, but Nana (Daddy’s wife, Jeanne) and Granddaddy Bill.  He told us that an angel had come toward him recently and told him not to be afraid.  The angel told Zachary that he was in fact him, only older.  The angel was wearing a robe and had wings.  Zachary said that he felt a windy draft and was cold at the time the angel had appeared.  And then, Zachary went on to tell us that he had seen angels multiple times in the form of those who have died before us.  Wait, what?  Yes, Zachary said he had seen angels that had identified themselves as our ancestors.  Whoa, I thought… this is getting out of control!

After eating supper that night, I gave William a bath and he didn’t want to get out of the bathtub when we were finished.  Now, he had done that before, but that night I was exhausted and just let him stay in the tub, even after the water was gone.  In fact, I had tried taking him out of the tub and he just climbed back in by himself.  Rather than force him out like I normally would to get everyone ready for bed, I let him stay in the tub to see where all of this would lead.  I sat in the floor of the bathroom and decided that the day had already been strange enough, so maybe something else was supposed to happen, and I definitely didn’t want to miss it or stop it from happening!

William played with his cars for a few more minutes and eventually climbed out of the tub of his own free will.  He walked downstairs behind me and climbed on my bed for me to diaper him and put his pajamas on, as is our normal routine.  William became agitated while on the bed, however, and I didn’t really know what to make of it.  He gave a little shiver, and told me that he was cold.  “I cold, Mama,” he said.  I hovered over him and wrapped him in my arms to warm him up.  Then William said, “Shower man.”  I replied, “Shower man?,”  and William confirmed, “Yes, shower man.”  I said, “Who was in the shower, William?”  and William said, “William was in the shower.”  I glanced at Seth and thought, “Wait, is he talking about himself or had Granddaddy Bill come to visit him too?!”

William became still then and let me put his diaper on.  But, when I tried to put his pajamas on, he became very playful.  I asked him, “What are you doing, William?” to which he replied, “I dancing.” as he walked and hopped about the bed.  Taking a chance, I asked, “Are you dancing with an angel?” to which he responded with an emphatic “YES.”  “Holy cow. Are you serious?” I thought.  Was he really seeing Granddaddy Bill, too??

March 24th, 2012, was not the only time that William has behaved that way.  William had another episode of “playing with angels” just this past Saturday night, April 21, 2012.  William refused to put his pajamas on again and began dancing and jumping around the living room in a frenzy.  I took the chance and asked, “William, are the angels here again?” and he said “YES!”  So, I let him dance, hop, jump, bounce and sing around the living room for about thirty minutes.  While doing this, William said, “Bible told me to.”  Not once, but twice.  He then took all of the pillows from the couch and built a fort around the couch, closing himself in.  Now, I have no explanation for what he was doing and will not even begin to try to come up with one here, but suffice it to say that I BELIEVE in angels and the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Yes, after experiencing the amazing events of March 24, 2012, April 21, 2012, and hearing and seeing all of the incredible recent revelations from my children about angels on Earth, I can say without a single doubt that, YES, I most definitely believe in angels!