A Transfiguring Dream
Illustration
Stories
And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Sometimes we experience God’s presence in ordinary, everyday events like the laughter of a child or an awe-inspiring sunset. And sometimes God is experienced in unexpected life-altering events. Richard (Rick) Allison of rural Baraboo, Wisconsin, experienced God’s active presence in two powerful life-changing events.
Rick said, “My first wife, Jonn (pronounced Joan) Allison, suffered a massive heart attack at age 34, in March of 1988. It began with chest discomfort at home. I insisted we go to the ER in Baraboo, at the hospital where she worked in radiology. She talked me into staying with our two kids, and drove in.
“I later got a call, saying I needed to get there ASAP. I called a friend who said to drop off the kids and get going. When I got there, she'd been med-flighted to St. Mary's in Madison. I called her sister in Oregon, who was a nurse at St. Mary's, and we met there. Jonn was in cardiology undergoing a heart cath. When the doctor came to see us she said the outlook was grim, with 100% blockage in 3, and 75% in the 4th major coronary artery.
“When she came home, she wasn't the same. After a few weeks, she told me a story about that night before I'd arrived. She was shocked seven times total. Jonn said she found herself hovering atop of the room, under the ceiling, looking down at her body with the staff working frantically. She wasn't sure what was happening, but had an idea she had died. She was filled with a sense of total peace and freedom, thinking, ‘I don't know what's happening, but I like it.’
“She heard the attending physician saying, ‘C'mon Jonn, you gotta come back, you gotta fight back!’ But she thought, ‘No, I don't want to.’ Then the doc implored again, ‘You HAVE to fight, we need you here, people need you!’ At that, she said she thought about her five-month-old son, six-year-old daughter, and me and thought, ‘Yeah,’ and DECIDED to come back.
Rick said, “Jonn lived seven more years before succumbing to another heart attack in 1995 at the age of 41. Not real long after she passed, I, by pure happenstance met somebody. I had no inclination to EVER get remarried. I NEVER wanted to experience that pain and loss again, ever. But we clicked. A few months after I'd met her, I was wracked with guilt. Thinking this is wrong, it's too soon; this should NEVER happen!
“Then, one night, Jonn came to me in a dream. But it wasn't a dream, it was nothing I'd ever experienced, it was real, surreal. She told me all these years later it's as clear as ever, ‘Put your mind at ease. This is a good thing. I'm where I'm supposed to be, and this is alright. For you and Mary to be together is a good thing. Everything's alright, put your mind at ease.’”
Rick said, “They say dreams are forgotten soon after they occur, that they are gone in moments. I remember a few lucid dreams over the years, but they are few. But 28 years later, this is as clear as if I'd just bolted upright, as I did that night. I give thanks to God every night for my life's blessings, for giving me two women to love in my life, because I'm convinced Mary and I were placed together.
Sometimes we experience God’s presence in ordinary, everyday events like the laughter of a child or an awe-inspiring sunset. And sometimes God is experienced in unexpected life-altering events. Richard (Rick) Allison of rural Baraboo, Wisconsin, experienced God’s active presence in two powerful life-changing events.
Rick said, “My first wife, Jonn (pronounced Joan) Allison, suffered a massive heart attack at age 34, in March of 1988. It began with chest discomfort at home. I insisted we go to the ER in Baraboo, at the hospital where she worked in radiology. She talked me into staying with our two kids, and drove in.
“I later got a call, saying I needed to get there ASAP. I called a friend who said to drop off the kids and get going. When I got there, she'd been med-flighted to St. Mary's in Madison. I called her sister in Oregon, who was a nurse at St. Mary's, and we met there. Jonn was in cardiology undergoing a heart cath. When the doctor came to see us she said the outlook was grim, with 100% blockage in 3, and 75% in the 4th major coronary artery.
“When she came home, she wasn't the same. After a few weeks, she told me a story about that night before I'd arrived. She was shocked seven times total. Jonn said she found herself hovering atop of the room, under the ceiling, looking down at her body with the staff working frantically. She wasn't sure what was happening, but had an idea she had died. She was filled with a sense of total peace and freedom, thinking, ‘I don't know what's happening, but I like it.’
“She heard the attending physician saying, ‘C'mon Jonn, you gotta come back, you gotta fight back!’ But she thought, ‘No, I don't want to.’ Then the doc implored again, ‘You HAVE to fight, we need you here, people need you!’ At that, she said she thought about her five-month-old son, six-year-old daughter, and me and thought, ‘Yeah,’ and DECIDED to come back.
Rick said, “Jonn lived seven more years before succumbing to another heart attack in 1995 at the age of 41. Not real long after she passed, I, by pure happenstance met somebody. I had no inclination to EVER get remarried. I NEVER wanted to experience that pain and loss again, ever. But we clicked. A few months after I'd met her, I was wracked with guilt. Thinking this is wrong, it's too soon; this should NEVER happen!
“Then, one night, Jonn came to me in a dream. But it wasn't a dream, it was nothing I'd ever experienced, it was real, surreal. She told me all these years later it's as clear as ever, ‘Put your mind at ease. This is a good thing. I'm where I'm supposed to be, and this is alright. For you and Mary to be together is a good thing. Everything's alright, put your mind at ease.’”
Rick said, “They say dreams are forgotten soon after they occur, that they are gone in moments. I remember a few lucid dreams over the years, but they are few. But 28 years later, this is as clear as if I'd just bolted upright, as I did that night. I give thanks to God every night for my life's blessings, for giving me two women to love in my life, because I'm convinced Mary and I were placed together.
