I believe in God the Father, maker of Heaven and Earth. And I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son who is my Savior.

This past September we began having odd things happen around our home. Our eldest son asked if I was coming into his room at night to check on him. He said he wouldn't hear anything but would sense someone come in and stand near his bed. He said he always felt calm and never had the urge to sit up in bed to see if anyone was there. He would just open his eyes, look at his bedside clock and go back to sleep. This happened at least twice a week for several weeks before he mentioned it to me.

Our eldest daughter was hearing her name called by her older brother when he wasn't at home. This happened twice. Her nightly shower was also interrupted, three times, by a loud knock at the bathroom door that came in raps of three. Each time she would exit the shower, dripping wet, to see who needed the bathroom so badly. There was never anyone there and our youngest two were always asleep as it was late in the evening. I never heard these knocks even though I was just next door in my room. I reasoned with her that the pipes are old and maybe they were knocking. She told me that the second time it occurred she stuck her head out of the shower and when the second knock, of three, came she saw the door to the bathroom move with the raps.

My husband experienced what he described as a bright flash of light like someone taking a picture but more of a "golden" color. He was walking down our pitch black hallway toward our bedroom and as he reached for our doorknob, a bright flash of light hit him in his right eye and, in his words, "whizzed past my head." When he turned to look down the hall, there was nothing but pitch black. I will never forget the look on his face that night as he came into the room immediately afterward. I knew something had happened. He was spooked and befuddled.

This past October, I had the notion to look up what our Father has to say concerning spirits in the Bible. I placed my Bible on the bed in my room one morning and finished getting dressed for the day. I reached for some perfume and knocked over a small picture of Jesus I have on my dresser. As I picked up the picture and gazed at Christ's face, I was overcome with an insistent urge and said out loud that I felt I needed to pray. I got down on my knees (not my usual way of prayer) and just began talking to the Lord. I said that I didn't know what to pray at that moment but knew that I must. So I said the Lord's Prayer in a slow and meaningful manner. I noticed I was really paying attention to the words of the prayer, not hurrying through in a monotone as one does in a church congregation.

When I was done, I stood and picked up my Bible. I was flipping through to the index when a folded piece of paper caught my eye. I pulled it out. It was a printout from one of the last services we had attended some years back, I assumed. I really didn't remember the paper in the least so began reading it. It was a daily devotional with questions for each day of the week such as, "What does God want for your life?," "How can we serve others?," etc. Following each question was a Bible verse to look up and read what God says concerning these questions. It was Thursday morning so I scrolled down to the Thursday devotional. The question for that day: "What does God want you to pray about?" The verse???? You got it! Matthew 6:9-15. I found the verse and read aloud the Lord's Prayer that only moments before I had knelt and prayed.

Since this experience, the odd things happening around our home have stopped completely.

Julie
Respond to john@beyondreligion.com

Posted 1-19-04