I Felt Their Pure Joy

My first child, Jen, was born perfectly healthy after 8 1/2 hours of induced labor. The doctors and nurses cleaned her and wrapped her up in a blanket before handing her to me for the first time.  As I gazed on her little red face and long fingers, I suddenly felt the presence of other people in the room over my left shoulder. I looked over my shoulder, but there was no one there. I turned back to my newborn baby, and sensed or "saw" them again. I "looked" at them with my heart -- feeling for them inwardly -- and distinctly felt three children in front, two boys and a girl, and behind them in a row were more adult-like individuals. The feeling of their presence was so strong, I turned and looked over my shoulder again at the place I knew they were standing, but could see nothing.  I turned back to my baby, and felt them again, as clearly as before.

I concentrated on the boys and girl in the front row, and a tingle went up my spine as I realized that these were my children who were yet to be born. I felt their pure joy at our daughter's birth. They were so happy for her, and for us, and I could feel their eagerness to join our family, too. Yet, at the same time, I knew they were already part of our family--that we were already committed to each other. I knew in that moment that I had promised them before I was even born that I would be their mother.

The girl stood between the two boys, and I focused on the way her spirit felt. I heard words in my mind as I gazed at her, "My name is Rebekah," and I knew she had just told me her name. She had long blond hair.

The next four and a half years were very taxing--I gave birth to two boys and a girl. We named our second daughter "Rebekah."  I had wanted badly to wait a while in between the pregnancies. I was struggling with post-partum depression, and felt that I couldn't handle anymore. But when I considered using birth control, I felt such a strong sense of discord that I knew it wasn't what God wanted me to do. So we took our "chances" until the fourth pregnancy, when I finally felt I could rest for a time.

We still aren't sure who the others were standing behind our two boys and a girl at Jen's birth. I suspect some have now come to our family (we've had three more girls since), and some were Jen's friends, as well as some ancestors--family members who had been to earth and gone home already.  Regardless, I know my other children and many other friends and relatives in the heavenly realms came to rejoice with us at the moment our first daughter was born.

Rebekah is a teenager now, with long natural blond hair, the only blond out of five girls.

--Katherine

email:  shinze@juno.com
USPS mail:  P.O. Box 31086, Mesa AZ, 85275-1086 
phone: 480/898-3009