by Thornton, EJ
Books To Believe In
A Division of Thornton Publishing, Inc
Copyright 1998
Cover art by Mark J. Robertson
A Books To Believe In Publication
All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2004 by EJ Thornton
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission, in writing from the publisher.
Proudly Published in the USA by
Books To Believe In
a Division of Thornton Publishing, Inc
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Parker, CO 80134
Phone: (303) 794-8888
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Second Edition: ISBN: 1-932344-76-4
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-90315
First Edition: ISBN: 0-9670242-0-X Copyright 1998
This book is dedicated to God,
my family, my friends
and all our angels...
thanks to their love,
I have everything.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
About the Author
Order Form
When you show hospitality
to strangers, you might just
have entertained angels unawares.
-Hebrews 13:2 (paraphrased)
"If you knew who walked beside you
at all times, you could never
experience fear again."
-A Course in Miracles
Chapter 1
It all started the night I died.
I was in bed asleep, or so I thought.
Then the most wonderful voice in the world whispered, "Dad, get up. It's time to go." That was the voice of my daughter Sheila. She had died tragically of cancer a couple of months before, at the age of thirty-six. I often saw her in my dreams, wonderful, wonderful dreams, vivid and real.
"Sheila!" I whispered and smiled.
"I'm here, too." A man's voice came from behind her. It was a familiar voice. I opened my eyes. I swore I'd seen him somewhere before.
"Who are you?" I asked, still somewhat groggy.
Sheila giggled. They were both very excited.
"My name is George," he replied. I needed more than merely his first name to connect to that one useful memory just out of my reach.
"Okay, what's going on here?" I hesitantly asked Sheila, who grinned from ear to ear, positively giddy.
"It's time for us to be together, Dad."
"I know. I love these dreams. All the pain of your death melts away. It's like you're really here with me," I told her, then I sighed. "But it's hard when I wake up and realize it was just a dream."
"There's a reason for that, Dad," Sheila started to explain, "but time it is different. Dad, you had a heart attack and died peacefully in your sleep. Now we're here to escort you into Heaven." I paused for a moment and looked her in the eyes. Her eyes held steady.
"Okay, I want to wake up now!"
"I'm sorry, Martin, but that's just impossible."
Sheila and George stood over me, lovingly smiling.
"Give me your hand, Dad," Sheila sweetly said, extending her arm to me.
I flailed for a minute to try to wake myself up. I should have been able to feel my heart racing. I tossed myself hard, then harder, but my body stayed still. This was too weird. Eventually, I gave Sheila my hand. She helped me sit up and then stand up.
"Look." George pointed back at the bed. I looked back and I saw myself still lying there, with a strained look on my face.
"I'd really like to wake up now."
"Stubborn as ever," George chuckled, shaking his head.
"I'm sorry, who are you again?"
"I'm George. I was your great-grandfather. I died a few years before you were born. But for all your seventy-two years, I've been your guardian angel and you've been my charge, the one I was assigned to protect and guide."
"I've seen you before," I pointed at him trying hard to place any memory that would make sense.
"Yes, in old photographs."
"And maybe a couple of other places over the years." Sheila nudged him and he smiled slyly.
Shaking that off, I got back to the issue at hand determined to reason my way back to familiar ground. "If I'm dead, who is going to take care of my precious Glory? You know how much she needs me. If I'm dead, who's going to lead the elder's meeting at church in the morning? Then there's Sarah. I promised her a road trip this weekend. I have too much to do. I have to go back." I turned away from them to try and figure out how to get back inside my own skin.
George quickly put his hand on my shoulder, turned me back toward him and looked me straight in the eyes. "Your work will continue, Martin. I merely have to teach you how to do it as an angel. That's all."
I looked straight back into his eyes, with a plea to go back to the world, but all I saw was genuine concern and love. I stared into his eyes and peace fell over me like a waterfall.
"And Mama will be taken care of, by more people and angels than you could ever imagine," Sheila said, putting her hand on my other shoulder.
A beautiful, bright, white light appeared. It came from behind George and encompassed us completely. I stopped protesting. Heaven was calling me and it was my time to go. George turned and led us toward the light. I held Sheila's hand tightly and followed my guides into Heaven.
On the walk through the bright light, scenes of my life surrounded me; important events and turning points. I saw scenes from my childhood. I saw my mother's anguished face right after my father passed away. I saw myself with my brothers, playing hard when we were young and fighting even harder as we grew older. I saw images, both happy and sad. I saw the people from the town where I grew up. I saw the time I was caught stealing a piece of candy by old Mr. Wannabaker. Then I saw the smile on his face, as he cheered me winning the pumpkin-carving contest during the Harvest picnic that same year. There was the widow Dunberry, our next door neighbor, who I'd always helped with household chores. She always patted me on the head, until I outgrew her. There were images from the civil rights marches and riots of the sixties. We broke across many a lunch counter barrier, until we were either served or arrested.
I saw my ordination as a minister. There were images of the people of my congregations and the countless marriages, baptisms and funerals I'd presided over. Among the many faces in my congregation, one stood out, as it always had in my life, that of my lovely bride, Glory. Glory, I called her, because the day she told me she loved me, I knew I'd found the Promised Land! I saw my marriage and the birth of each of my four children, Jeremiah, Sheila, Peter and Sarah. I saw their smiling faces as they grew up. I relived the relationship struggles as t
hey grew into adults. I felt again the death of my mother and the illness and death of my daughter. Finally, I saw the last time I kissed my Glory goodnight on my last night on earth and now here I was.
As we emerged on the other side of the light passage, figures walked toward us. A familiar voice called out my name. She smiled joyously. "Martin, my son. Come to me."
We embraced. The amount of pure love and joy I felt overwhelmed me.
"Mother," was all I could say.
"Son," a strong voice said. I looked up and my father stood right beside me. He'd died when I was twelve. "I'm proud of you, son and the man you have become." He put his hand on my shoulder. His strength and love flowed all through me.
Then George said, "We have a lot to do. You will be back with these lovely angels very soon. But we need to keep going."
"But I just got here. I need more time." I looked at Mother and Dad's faces and they encouraged me to continue on with George. So I went on.
We entered a garden filled with the most spectacular flowers and most beautiful scents I could've imagined. There was perfection in every petal, leaf, and stem. This place was the definition of serenity.
We sat on an intricately carved, curved marble bench. George began to explain my situation. "Martin, you lived a good life, a productive life for God, and you will be rewarded greatly in Heaven. There are choices regarding your future that you need to make soon. I will explain all the options, of course, and using your wisdom and my guidance, we will choose your path for you."
"My path?"
"It will all become clear to you soon, but now we have to go back. It's time to think about your earthly family. They're unaware you're gone. Only a few seconds have actually passed on Earth. We need to help them with this transition. You'll be there and be affecting your loved ones in very profound ways."
"I get to go back and be with them?" I asked eagerly. "I really get to go back and see them all again?"
"You're an angel now, Martin," he told me in a soft, strong voice, "and you're free from the constraints of the physical world. You have new capabilities, although you need to be trained in how to use them. After you choose your path, you'll develop new powers. It all will become clear, very soon. But for now, let's go help the family through this."
I nodded and the instant our eyes met, they locked. When I looked around again, we were back in my bedroom in the world.
Chapter 2
"How did you do that?" I asked, as I tried to regain my bearings.
"It's very simple. As an angel, all you have to do is think of being someplace or with someone and when you desire it, you're there with them. It's one of the best parts of being an angel," George explained.
So there I was. I looked down on my lovely wife, fast asleep, my still, lifeless body was right next to her.
"George, is she going to wake up and find me there, all alone like this?"
"Is that how you want it?"
"I think that would be too hard on her."
"Then, how would you like it to happen?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you could have your way, how would you like to be found? How would you like her to find out you've died?"
"Well, someone should be with her."
"Who would you like it to be?"
It came to me immediately. "Sarah. Sarah is who needs to be with her." My youngest daughter Sarah still lived at home, while she attended college. She was in the room right down the hall.
"Okay then, let's go wake up Sarah and get her to come in here."
"How do we do that?"
"Think back, Martin. I know there were times in your life when you felt compelled to be somewhere and you only understood the reason after you got there?"
"Yes. Lots of times."
"Most of those times, I led you or let some other angel lead you where you needed to go. It happens all the time. That's what an angel does, guides you where you need to be. I'll show you how you do it. First, think about being with Sarah."
So I closed my eyes and when I opened them, we were in Sarah's room. "Whoa!" I said. "That was fast."
"Time and space are different for you now, Martin. The main concept you need to grasp is that time can only go forward. Going backwards in it is impossible. Stopping it is impossible. But you can slow it down as much as you need to to accomplish the task at hand. Sometimes people report that during an accident, it felt like they were going in slow motion." I nodded. "Angels!"
"Okay, but how does that help us wake up Sarah?" I looked down at my sweet sleeping daughter. "How are we going to get her from here to there before her mama wakes up?"
"First, we need to summon Sarah's angel. While our charges are sleeping, if they're completely safe, the angels get to handle other business or visit other people. Wait until you see who this is." George rubbed his hands together quickly and grinned with anticipation. "Emma," he whispered.
If it were still possible, I'd have fainted. Emma was my mother's mother. She looked at me and smiled. "Welcome to Heaven, Baby." She gave me the sweetest kiss on the cheek, just like when she was on earth.
"Grandmama!" I paused while I absorbed what I saw. "How?" She died so many years before Sarah was born.
"I waited for this one, my first grandchild's baby girl. I wanted this one." She looked at Sarah and her face beamed with light and love. "This is going to be hard for her. We knew it was coming, so I tried to prepare her." Then she looked at George. "How are we doing this?"
George paused, then said, "Martin, imagine a beautiful, large, white feather."
I closed my eyes and did just that.
"Open your eyes," George said.
There in my hands was the feather, just the way I imagined it. I almost dropped it. "Settle down, Martin, it's just a feather." George and Grandmama laughed at me.
"Now, go tickle her nose with it," Grandmama instructed.
"Can she see any of this?" I asked.
"Oh no," Grandmama said. "She's really sensitive to what we say to her and our interactions with her, but she's oblivious to us. People rely on their ears for hearing when in reality their souls hear much more reliably, really."
I went over to her and very gently passed the feather under her nose--it twitched and I jumped. Grandmama and George laughed again and looked at each other with an understanding that surpassed me at this point. I did it again. Sarah scratched her nose. I looked at the angels and they nodded that I needed to keep on. I did it again. She rolled over and put her arm up to protect her face from the annoyance.
"Talk to her. Tell her what you want her to do," Grandmama said.
"Sarah," I whispered. "Wake up. Wake up Baby."
"Tell her why," George instructed.
"Sarah, it's Dad. Honey, wake up, your mama needs you. Baby, I died in my sleep tonight," I explained.
"Huh?" She bolted up in bed, shaking and breathing hard. She looked around frantically.
"What did I do wrong?"
"Nothing. You're doing great. Tell her to calm down, then to go check on Glory."
"Shhh, Sarah, shhh," I said. Sarah took a deep breath. She shook her head and looked around again. "Sarah, go check on Mama. Go Baby, she needs you." Sarah got out of bed, put on her robe and walked quietly down the hallway to Glory's bedroom. We all walked there with her.
She knocked quietly on the door, only loud enough to hear if someone was already awake. Silence... She slowly turned the knob and opened the door. It was dark in the room, so she turned on the desk lamp to its first dim setting and walked over to my side of the bed. She could see that I was gone. She gasped for air, but covered her mouth, so that her mama would keep sleeping. Tears welled up in her eyes. She sat down for a moment on the chair by the desk and tried to compose herself, tears rolling down her cheeks. She gathered her strength and took a couple of deep breaths, then went to wake her mother.
Sarah knelt by the side of the bed, took her mama's hand and laid her head on it.
Glory stirred. "Sarah? Sar
ah, honey, what's the matter?" She sat up in bed, all her attention on Sarah. Sarah looked up at her. Glory saw her tears. "What is it, Baby?" She gently wiped her daughter's cheek.
Sarah pointed her head in the direction of my body. Glory put her hand on my shoulder as if to wake me up, because it looked to her like Sarah wanted both of us for her problem. But as she touched my body and looked over, Glory realized what Sarah's problem was. Glory felt my cheek and cried out. Then she looked back at Sarah and took her in her arms. They held each other close and cried.
"What can I do to help them take away this pain?" I asked George.
"By going over and holding them. Wrap your arms around them and tell them how much you'll always love them. Tell them you are close by and that you are just fine. And that you know for a fact that they will be all right because that's what the angels are telling you. Tell them anything else you want. They'll hear you with their souls. Just try it."
I went and knelt by the bed next to Sarah and put my arms around both of them. "I'm right here. I'm still with you. I'm all right. I wish I could comfort you more. I'd do anything to make it stop hurting. It really will be all right." I kissed them both, then moved to where I could watch them better, to see what was going to happen.
Sarah looked up, wiped the tears on her face and tried to comfort her mother. "You know, I bet he's watching us right now, telling us 'quit yer cryin'.'" She sniffed a little and looked around. "Where do you think he is, Mama? You know he's here."
"Yeah, Baby, I know," Glory said through her tears. "I bet he's watching us from the doorway, like always." Sarah looked over right at me. That's exactly where I was.
George created a soft breeze over the desk and the papers ruffled very slightly.
Sarah sighed, "You're right, Mama. You're right." She blew a kiss in the direction of the door. I felt her breath as I caught the kiss in my hand the way I always did.
Sarah held her tight as Glory cried. Sarah tried to comfort her. "He's with Sheila now. They're both in Heaven together."
