Ask and You Shall Receive

Today I received a gift...another reminder that we are not alone. My ex-husband sent me a picture. I cried the second I saw it, because I recognized who sent it. Yes, it came from his cell phone, but there was another energy involved. An angel named Katherine heard my question today and sent me an answer.

The question came after I received a message from a facebook friend who just lost her husband two days ago. I was stunned. He was only 44 and left behind three teenage children. I immediately thought about my own father and his death just before Easter. All morning I had been reaching out spiritually to him, reflecting on life and death and what it meant to be reborn. I felt helpless to take away this woman's pain. What do you say to someone going through such a tragedy? Still, I wanted to give her something that may bring comfort, if not today, in the near future. I wrote about how I felt my dad and others who had passed on; that they send messages and let me know they are always around. "His energy has not left you," I wrote.

When I typed those words, I wished that I had a way to prove it. "What can I do for her and her family to ensure their belief that he is still with them?" I asked the question out loud, but I had no idea who I was asking.

Close to two decades ago, my friends lost their little girl. Only 9 months old, she died of a rare disease that slowly stopped her tiny heart. For some reason I felt very connected to that little baby. She was truly an old soul whose eyes spoke for her. So many people came to help the family mourn, but again, what can you say to a family that has lost a loved one, especially a child? At the time, I was just beginning to write, so I started to think about what a little girl would say to her parents about being in heaven. A poem came to my hand very quickly, as if she was dictating it to me. I put it on parchment paper and tied a ribbon around it. The day of the funeral, I went to a nursery and picked up a small tree. I attached the poem to one of its leafless limbs and left it at the house so it would be there when they arrived back from the cemetery.

The family loved the tree and planted it in their backyard. The first year it bloomed, I got a call to say that it was lovely with white flowers and one tiny pink blossom. They believed it was their little girl giving them a message that she was okay. It made me happy that they had some comfort and that I could help them in some small way.

In these last 18 years or so, I only got to see the tree once, but I have heard from baby Katherine countless times. Today's picture was no different. She, in no uncertain terms, is letting me know that there is proof. Her tree, now tall and majestic is as beautiful as she would have been. The message she and others send me is clear, "There is not death. There is only rebirth and new life in a different form. We are in all you do and see. Look for the signs, because we are sending them always."

This goes out to my new facebook friend: Katherine has a message for you.

Katherine’s Tree

This is my tree; I leave it to you,
It will grow strong, as I will now do.

You see, on Earthly plains I could not thrive,
But in Heaven’s domain, I come alive!

As my tree’s branches thicken and soar,
Know that I am growing like never before.

Feed my tree as you would have fed me,
And the wonders of God you will now see.

While the leaves of my tree begin to unfold,
God will be shaping my new mold.

He has a plan for him and I,
He wanted me here. He’s telling me why.

So as my tree’s limbs reach for above,
Know that I’m basking in glorious love.
And as my tree’s leaves see their last fall,
Remember, we’ll meet again when You hear God’s call.

Written by Donna Martini