A Treasury of Miracles for Women by Karen Kingsbury Read Free Book Online Page B

the young woman seated across from him.
    “When did you first become afraid?” he asked.
    “I was a little girl, I guess. I don't really remember.”
    The chaplain nodded. “Did you ever have an accident involving water?”
    Bonnie thought back. Then she remembered. “Yes! Actually, I don't know if it was an accident or what it was. I was nearly three years old and I couldn't swim and my par ents say I fell into my grandparents' fishpond. I don't re member any of the details.”
    A knowing look came across the chaplain's face. “Bon nie,” he said, “I believe if we could help you remember what happened back when you were a little girl, we could understand the problem you have with water.”
    Over a series of counseling appointments, the chaplain helped Bonnie drift back through her memory to the day when she had been two-and-a-half and had visited her grandparents' house that Easter Sunday.
    Eventually, she was able to describe the scene.
    “I was in the backyard,” she said, her eyes glazed over from concentration. “I can see it. There was a big fishpond in the middle of the yard and I walked toward it. Inside were the biggest goldfish I'd ever seen. I wasn't supposed to touch them. Mom and Dad both told me not to touch them. But I wanted so badly to see how they felt, to pet them just once.
    “So I leaned over and then all of a sudden I fell into the water.”
    Bonnie screamed and covered her eyes, the memory vividly real.
    “It's okay, Bonnie,” the chaplain said calmly. “What happened next?”
    “I couldn't get out; I was thrashing about and swallowing water. My head was submerged and no one could hear my screams. I was drowning.”
    Suddenly Bonnie gasped. “That's what happened! I re member everything now.”
    The chaplain leaned forward in his chair. “Go on, Bon nie. What happened then?”
    “I was sinking and my arms and legs weren't trying to fight the water anymore. Then suddenly there was a man there above me dressed all in white. He reached into the water and put his hands under my arms. Then he lifted me up and set me down on the walkway.”
    “Where did he go then?” the chaplain asked, confused by the young woman's story. Where had the man come from and why was he dressed completely in white?
    Bonnie paused a moment, searching the long-ago scene that was unfolding before her eyes. “He disappeared. He just set me down and disappeared.”
    Bonnie's eyes came back into focus and she stared at the chaplain. “That's impossible, isn't it, Pastor?”
    “What does your father say about the event?”
    “Well, he says they were in the front yard of my grand parents' house and heard me screaming. They ran to me and I was standing in the middle of the walkway, dripping wet. They never knew how I got there or how I'd fallen in.”
    “Was there anything else?”
    Bonnie thought a moment, then she remembered. “Yes! My parents both remember that there were no wet footprints leading from the pond to where I was standing when they found me. There was no water anywhere on the walkway except right underneath me.” Bonnie thought a moment.
    “But there must have been some footprints,” she con tinued. “Otherwise how did that man in white get me from the pond to the place where he put me down? You don't think … ?”
    The chaplain smiled kindly and settled back into his chair once more. “I'm not sure I can explain it fully, Bon nie, but I do know this. The Bible says God protects us with guardian angels. Your rescuer was dressed all in white and left no footprints on the walkway.
    “We'll never know exactly who he was, but in my opin ion God saved your life that afternoon. And a certain guardian angel returned to heaven with wings wet from the water of a goldfish pond.”

A Dream Come True
    W hen Angie Bauer became pregnant with her fourth child, she and her husband allowed themselves to dream. They had been blessed with three healthy sons: Sean, seven; Bo, five; and Wesley, who had just