An Angel's Whisper

When I was thirteen years old, a neighbor friend and I were taken to a popular swimming hole, called Permastone Lake. The lake with a crowded beach on three sides was active with children and their families, radio's blasting, kids screaming in delight, running to chase each other, then jumping into the shallow water just below their knees.

The most popular play things were farther to the center of the lake, the Tarzan swing, high diving boards, and floating rafts, most could be accessed by the narrow pier.That's how I would go to the slide, over and over again...almost near the end of the pier there was a ladder, to go down into the water and swim just a few feet to the latter of the tall slide.

I thought it was so much fun, slide down, hit the water, go straight down and then the pressure would just shoot you back up to the top. From there all I had to do was swim a few strokes to shallow water. And I was back on the sandy shore once again.

In the mean time my friend, Gail had been sitting on our blanket just watching ...I asked her "why don't you come and give it a try, its real fun?"

"No" she said " I don't know how to swim." ..."Oh, thats no problem ", I said, "I can help you cross over to the ladder, and then, all you have to do is slide down, and you'll pop right up out of the water, then you can do the dog paddle till you can feel the bottom." "It will be real easy to do"

Well, after thinking about it for awhile, Gail agreed to give it a try. I thought she would, she didn't want to be called a chicken anyway.

As I led the way out to the ladder, Gail was lagging behind, I kept calling to her to hurry up. It was getting to be around lunch time, so most of the kids passing us to our left were in a hurry. Some of them were pushing people out of the way, most of them landing in the cold lake.

"How deep is the water over here ?" Gail asked.
"I don't know ," looking around, on the ladder I could see a red mark with the number 12 or 15 on it.... I didn't mention it to her though.

So, there we were, me in the water and Gail sitting on the pier, clearly not to sure about what she wanted to do..."The water looks so black, and its a lot colder too," she said, while she stuck one foot in.
"Oh, come on, it will just take a second and we'll be back on the shore on the blanket, you'll see."

Gail slowly lowered herself into the water, sometimes she would act like she just couldn't get in, cause it was too cold. "Hurry up, grab my arm and I'll swim us over to the ladder." Finally Gail hurled herself my way grabbing me by my shoulder and my neck, no way could I swim...both of us were under water, she started kicking and climbing all over me to get to the top. Opening my eyes all I could see is a green haze and an occasional foot or arm swinging by my face... I knew I had to do something,

"I prayed Lord please give me the strength to help her,"then it came to me, I grabbed a hold of her waist and with all my might, I hurled her towards the piers ladder...as she left my arms, I could feel myself being pulled under like a magnet, I managed to gulp some air before sinking like a rock to the very bottom of that lake.

I couldn't believe it, I was standing there... I felt my feet on the sandy bottom of the freezing water. With my eyes wide open, facing the black underside of the pier, not knowing what to do. I felt sure Gail would call for help, so someone would find me...and then again maybe not. I felt as if I were screaming at the top of my lungs inside my own head...so I prayed again, this time for me.

" Lord please help me...please Jesus", I was petrified with fear, as I repeated my plea, over and over. After what felt like an eternity, all my senses were calm, I felt an eerie kind of peace come over me, the water surrounding my body felt warm, as if I were being cradled in someones arms. As I looking down at my feet , almost not believing my own eyes, I could see that I was standing in a circle of light....not a blinding kind of yellow light...it was white. My body was encased in a soft white light that felt like love of the purest form. I looked up and could see the sun coming through the top of the water, straight to were I stood.

It was so quite...so calming...I never felt like that before. Then I heard it, a voice calling my name, it said it over and over till I thought to myself...

"What?"...The voice said, " Mary, you can (stressing the can) swim, remember?"..."Oh,yea, I can"...feeling a little silly

... raising my arms up, it took little effort as I drifted up, closer and closer to the top, I felt light as a feather. I held out my hand to grasp the ladder, waisting no time, my feet landed on that old wooden pier, now hot as a griddle.

Filled with a renewed spirit, I tried to contain the excitement I felt , thanking God all the while, till I found my way back to the blanket on shore.

Wouldn't you know my friend Gail was sitting there tightly wrapped in her towel, still shivering, . She had no idea where I was, and I couldn't bring myself to tell her, till much later.

The voice that saved my life, was my Guardian Angel. One of the worst and most wonderful experience of my life, happened at the bottom of a lake. I'll never forget the fear, I'll always remember who I can count on. It wasn't my time to go, but I know that if it were, it would have been a tender passing.

I hope to tell this story to my grandchildren, so they will know I'm not afraid, and neither should they be afraid for me.