Hi, Doves!

This will probably sound really weird to some of you, and it's really eerie and ironic to me, too!

Richard is a Native American, and was raised with their beliefs in folklore/superstition.  For instance, before he was Born Again, he had a belief that if he saw a hawk, the Lord, through the hawk, was letting him know that things were going to be OK, or was letting him know something important was in the works.  He also believed that seeing cardinals meant "good luck".  On the flip side of the coin, he believed that an owl seen during the daytime meant something bad was going to happen.  He isn't superstitious any more, and I never was, but we also know that the Lord speaks to us often through His nature.

For instance, in 2000, I had a VERY precious sister in Christ, who suddenly became ill, seemingly out of nowhere!  We had daily seen cardinals in our yard, always a male AND female.  The morning of her death, I awoke with a STRONG feeling that she was going to die that day.  I had gotten up for work, and was standing at the kitchen sink running my coffee water, looking out the window.  Standing on the ground, looking at me, was only the male cardinal.  He cocked his head from side to side, staring right at me the whole time.  I told him, "I know, little friend, I know."  I found out within the hour that Cheyrl had indeed died that morning!

The month before Richard's recent heart problems, and subsequent surgery, every single day on the way to work with my GF, Judy, she and I saw one to two hawks on the electrical lines.  I was teasing her about that being God's way of letting me know that things were going to be OK with Richard & I (I was thinking it was about our finances, though, since our finances were at a REAL low point).

Richard went into the hospital with heart pains on January 19, 2006.  His surgery was scheduled for Monday morning.  The whole time, leading up to then, I was absolutely petrified of losing him, praying incessantly for the Lord not to want him more than I did.  Every time I lay down to sleep, my mind began whirring with thoughts of his death, and how I would live without him in my life (yes, I know where that sort of mind numbing fear comes from!), and couldn't sleep as a result!  Sunday night, Richard called me from CCU, and told me that the Lord told him to tell me (the Lord OFTEN talks to me through Richard) to grab my Bible, crawl into bed, and begin reading the Psalms, and that within minutes, I would be asleep.  Sure enough, I did exactly that!  I opened them at random, and the very first verse I opened it up to was this:

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones. (Psalm 116:15)

I began crying, and praying that the Lord would reconsider, and not take Richard Home, because I need him.  He is the other part of my body... my better half, as it were... and my soulmate!

This morning, when talking to Richard on the phone, he told me that on the way to the hospital last Wednesday, on that bright, sunlit day, he saw an owl!  And he also told me that on Sunday night when his nurse was in his room, he broke down and wept, telling her that he felt he may not make it through this surgery (it's his second bypass), and that he was afraid the Lord was going to take him Home, and that I couldn't deal with it.

I truly feel that the Lord may have initially been planning to take Richard, but all praise be to Him, all our prayers, and His deep love for His children, made Him reconsider, for which I am eternally grateful!  Thank You, precious Father!!!

YSIC!

Peggy

www.his-forever.com