Thursday, May 11, 2017

A very present help in trouble

This is a new anecdote I've added to the bottom of a post from 5 years ago:


Even more important is what happened when, a few years after my own accident, another drunk driver plowed into the car of one of my dearest friends. Unlike me, she didn't survive. After a few weeks in a coma, she, along with her unborn child, went away. Less than a week after the funeral, however, she came back. I was awakened in the night to behold Barbara standing at the foot of my bed. She said nothing. She just stood there–beautiful, brightly luminous, intensely real. Her transfigured, triumphant presence, which lasted only a few moments, cheered me greatly.

Then, one afternoon, several weeks after that, I was typing in my study, wholly focused on my work. Suddenly I sensed someone else in the room. The presence seemed to be located up, behind, and to my left. I understood immediately, I know not how, that it was Barbara. Unlike the first time, when I saw her and heard nothing, this time I heard her and saw nothing. She insisted that I visit her distraught husband as soon as possible. Overwhelmed by this urgent communication, I immediately picked up the phone. D. Allison, Night Comes,(Eerdmans, 2016), 14.

1 comment:

  1. The addition is reminiscent of Sheldon VanAuken's experiences ("A Severe Mercy) following his wife's death. In the one incident, he even talked with her. The other was a feeling of her presence as he walked up a hill although he didn't see or hear her.

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