Heavy fog shrouded the mountaintop. I stood there, my feet just inches from the edge, peering down below. The forest was barely visible through the mist, the treetops swayed with the howling wind.
Suddenly, someone came from behind and covered my eyes.
Terrified, I froze. “Please, let me see!” I begged.
“It’s okay, my child,” a woman whispered. “Be calm and you will see what is before you.” Her voice was soft. Melodic. Otherworldly. It instantly calmed me. I couldn’t see her, yet somehow, almost involuntarily, I trusted her.
I took a deep breath, then another. Ever so slowly, my muscles relaxed. Then the woman gently pulled her hands away from my eyes. It was like I had supernatural vision. Everything was beautiful! The fog had disappeared.
The sky was now a vivid sapphire. Golden rays washed over the forest. I turned around…and that’s when I saw her wings.
She was an angel. Statuesque and beautiful, with long, flowing wheat-colored hair. I’d never felt so safe, so protected.
I woke with a jolt. What a dream! I thought. I’d always had a big faith but what was that all about?
Puzzled, I got ready for work. Lately I’d been putting in extra hours at a ceramics factory to save for my upcoming wedding. I called my fiancé, Jeffrey, before I left and told him about the dream. “What do you think it means?”
“Maybe God just wants to remind you that he and his angels are always with you,” Jeffrey said.
That sounded good to me. By the time I got to work, I’d pushed the dream out of my mind. We had a busy day ahead making molds. Carefully, I lined up the levers on my machine–if they weren’t even, the boiling ceramic liquid would overflow.
I crouched down and got eye-level to make sure the levers were perfectly aligned. I pressed start.
Bam! The scorching liquid exploded, shooting straight into my eyes. “Help!” I screamed. “It burns!”
My boss rushed me to the hospital. With every passing second, the ceramic cooled, sealing my eyes shut. In the ER I shook uncontrollably from the shock. “Please don’t let me go blind!” I begged the doctor. I thought of my wedding…my life…
The doctor ordered me a sedative. “I know it’s hard,” he said, “but just try to stay calm.”
Calm. All at once I remembered those words: “Be calm and you will see what is before you.” The angel’s heavenly voice echoed in my mind. And, as if I was standing back on that mountain, my entire body relaxed into the dreamscape. I felt safe, totally protected. I turned down the sedative.
Little by little, the doctor removed the ceramic, revealing slivers of sight. Soon I could see completely.
“There seems to be no permanent damage,” the doctor said. “You’ve got great luck.” But two months later, as I walked down the aisle toward Jeffrey on our wedding day, I knew it was much more than that.
