Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be another person, even if for a little while? I believe that I've been that person, if only briefly, but I'm not sure if I was another human or perhaps an angel. Let me explain.
In November 1989, I was a young wife and mother with my first child, an infant daughter. My sister-n-law, Mary, had just delivered only a couple of months before, her first child, a daughter named Emma. Although we didn't live in the same town, our communities were placed next to each other in central Kentucky, so we had many opportunities to visit and share the delights of being new mommys. The commonness of our lives brought us very close together, so close perhaps that God allowed me to help her when she needed it the most.
Early one morning, I had gotten up with my husband and saw him off to work. It was customary for me to turn on the TV and lie down on the couch with my baby, and as she nursed I'd watch a little television. This particular morning, however, I dozed off to sleep instead.
I began to dream that I was walking down the sidewalk and noticed that a house located on my right side had smoke coming from the roof area. Soon I realized that the upstairs of the house was on fire. I saw a baby in a cradle placed inside the main downstairs window, so I quickly ran up to the door and informed the lady that her house was ablaze. She asked me to take her baby to a safe place while she did what she could about the fire, and I did as she asked. As I continued to walk up the road, another lady met me and explained that she was a friend to the mother of the baby. She offered to take the baby for me so that I could go back and help out with the fire. With that, I went back to the burning home and helped move out a few belongings until the fire was too difficult to handle.
As I lay there, still asleep, my mother-in-law called me. She explained that my sister-in-law's house was on fire. And as I sat there, shaken by the news, I was strangely recalling every detail she told to me. Her story was identical to my dream! Mary and I discussed the event later, and we've concluded that I was transported either to another body or perhaps in angelic form to help her in her time of need.
