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The brilliance was like a
blinding sun reflecting on banks of snow. It filled the room
so completely that all shadows departed. Glancing upward, I
observed the chandelier was off. This was not surprising
because I sensed that there was nothing artificial about the
soft white radiance engulfing everything like a cloud
descended from Heaven. The whole house possessed the wonder
and silence of newly fallen snow.
Silvery threads of light streamed through the quiet,
reverent space.
The air pulsed with energetic ripples, as if a flame was
propelling them. The ripples, which flowed in all
directions, took their source from a spot of
hyper-luminescence that was almost blinding. This
resplendence was like a sun, though not fiery. More than
likely, it was a concentration of the same quality of light
filling the room. Its special glory was in its dazzling
brightness and the patterns of silver and gold, which were
laced with opalescent white and sparkles of lavender, blue,
and rose.
I could look toward the center for only a second
before the light caused my eyes to fill with tears. Stunned,
I had to look away, and at that moment I heard sounds
forming into the pattern and cadence of language, although
it was no language I had heard before. As the "words" formed
a meaning in my mind, the message was "Greetings Glenda.”
In this Presence, there was unspeakable Holiness. If
light could sing, it would have been chanting celestial
sounds. If light were fragrant, it would have exuded the
innocence of high, mountain air. I turned to look again, but
the radiance was simply overwhelming. Closing my eyes, I
protected them from the glow and wept at the same time. No
sooner had I escaped within myself than The Presence shot a
beam of energy from itself to a point between my eyebrows.
There was a sensation of pressure, which caused me to open
my eyes and verify. What I saw was a stream of energy
pouring in. Returning to the comfort of my inner vision, I
watched as a picture was being etched into my mind.
It took about five seconds for the rendering to be
completed. The vision was implanted in my optic nerve –
immutable – and available for me to view whenever I chose.
Mesmerized by its beauty, I gazed in rapture upon the
vision of Jesus Christ, which was complete,
three-dimensional, and holographic. Majestically, he stood
on a hilltop overlooking a green river valley, towering
above grazing sheep, while a billowing cloud on the horizon
was forming the shape of a lion.
I clutched my chest and took a deep breath. Was I
still in the realm of ordinary life? If so, was I in my own
home or transported to another time and place?
When my awareness finally externalized, I found that
the radiant Presence had gone and objective reality
conformed to normal expectations. Nevertheless, I knew that
something about me would never be the same again. That
intuition proved to be true, for everything in my life would
change after that Holy Moment.
The splendid light would be forever etched on my soul
or perhaps united with my heart in a single, enduring beat.
Within me now, a spark of light had been awakened which
would become the doorway to greatly expanded awareness and
life. I could not imagine how far it would reach, but one
thing was certain. I would be painting the portrait that had
been foretold in dreams and visions.
Although I was a professional artist and usually
welcomed the spirit of creative challenge, the many months
of being called to paint a portrait of Jesus had filled me
with great reservation rather than excitement. Now, all my
objections were laid to rest, for I had seen his face.
Forty days would pass before I would be secure enough
about the meaning of this miracle to actually begin
painting. Each morning I eagerly rekindled the vision
through reverent acknowledgment and meditation. I would
study its every nuance, and inhale it into my being like the
breath of life. As the days passed, the vision became more
complete and the presence of Jesus grew more alive. This
alone distinguished it from my experience with visual
inspiration and dreams, which usually diminished through
repeated recollection.
At first, the sensation was like that of peering
through a clear window and greeting a friend looking back
from the outside. The beautiful eyes engaging my devotion
would eventually dissolve the “glass” boundary between us
and magnetically draw me into his world. As that happened,
his presence was correspondingly more compelling and
dynamic. I perceived that I had entered a world of sensory
richness as vivid and complete as an epic dream, but the
“dream” was in a state more wakeful than any I had ever
known. Suddenly I had taken a quantum leap into a realm of
cosmic and infinite possibility!
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