[When our Angels and Spirit Guides speak to us.]

At the age of fifty, I finally married my life-long partner. Then just a year and three months after I was married, something happened. He had a heart attack.

After many exhausting days at the hospital, my teenage daughter and I simply existed in a daze. How could this have happened? Why did it happen? I needed answers. My husband was in a coma. A stroke followed the heart attack.

I felt like the victim. I was a good person. Why did this happen to me? What if he should die? What do I do? I was angry with my God. Was this a test? Was this a test of my faith or my strength? What was I to do? Why did I think this was about me? The time spent in the hospital and the time spent at home all came together. Time was not a realistic concept. I was living in a capsule that was sent out to space and then brought back by a force that seemed unknown. So, I turned to prayer once again. Why was it that when things went wrong, then.... I’d pray? Oh, how my daughter and I prayed!

And then, it happened. This is my story. I call it my own little miracle.

It was about a week later in the middle of the night that I think I was touched by an angel. As I knelt beside my bed, I called upon the spirits and all my angels and I asked my God to heal my husband. As I was kneeling in prayer, the spirit of God touched my head. My daughter and I were the only two in the house. She was fast asleep. I was scared. I was praying. I was fearful because I didn’t know what was going to happen to my husband. Then I felt silence and peace flow into my room. I felt someone laid his or her hands upon my head as to reassure or bless me. I actually felt a presence in the room. I turned on the light and saw no one. I thought maybe my daughter put her hands on my head to comfort me. She was asleep in the other room. I was alone in the room. I looked at the clock and it read... five A.M. I suddenly knew at that moment, that my husband was now going to be better. Don’t ask me how I knew. It was like someone sent me a message. I felt that I was receiving a long distance telephone call in my head. I immediately woke up my daughter, told her of my encounter, and reassured her that my husband was going to be fine. She was confused and thought that I had had a dream. So we prayed together. Now it was a prayer of thanks.

We went to the hospital with a different attitude.

It was a feeling of calmness. The first thing the nurse told me was that my husband was out of danger. He had come out of his coma at five A.M. in the morning. I was overwhelmed by this news, yet part of me wasn’t surprised.

Did an angel touch me? What can I say about the power of prayer? This was my close encounter of the third kind. I believe that I was touched by an angel, a spirit, or maybe by the hand of God. I now realize that the power of prayer is so strong, that we should never take it for granted. The power of prayer is real. It is our link to God.

Prayer has become essential in my life. I frequently say the “Thank you” prayer. I had felt like the victim, and selfishly thought that this “was” about me. I now realized that it was about me, about my spirituality. I have learned to put my ego aside and put others first.

I pray when things are going right now. And when life’s challenges happen, I can cope a lot better because I know there is a reason for that challenge and I know that my God will see me through it. I call my awakening, my close encounter of the third kind. I know that my challenge was to make me aware of my God and his presence. I learned through prayer that fear no longer is a factor in my life. I am stronger. I am more humble. Through the power of prayer, I am striving to become a better person.

Every day, we have a close encounter of the third kind. Our angels touch us. Our spirit guides speak to us, and our God is there for us. I have learned to be more appreciative and more thankful. Yes, our own personal God is there for us, whoever she/he may be. My close encounter was my wake up call. I was not developing spiritually. In the last eight years, since my close encounter, I have changed. I have been studying and I have been learning. I choose to be a life long learner. I have so much to learn. I found out that through my close encounter that all I have to do is listen. Listen to my higher being, and pray. Every one of us can have a close encounter with God. It’s not hard to do. We just have to pray, and then listen.

Sherry Hardin is a middle school teacher of reading. She has a Master’s degree and chooses to be a life long learner. She is a member of the Christian Metaphysical Chapel in New Port Richey, and she studies with Pastor Rev. Joanne Smith.