A mysterious voice

Vicki, six, and Donna, nine, were sisters who were almost inseparable. One of their favourite ways to spend a day was visiting their neighbor, Judi Sharp, and the girls did so as often as possible. The young sisters looked up to twenty-two-year-old Judi, and in many ways tried to be like her.

"Can we go for a walk with you?" one of the girls would say whenever Judi walked around the block.

"Sure." Judi would smile and wave for them to join her. Judi lived at home with her parents, and for years she had enjoyed watching Vicki and Donna grow, and visiting with them. She thought of them almost as younger sisters.

One day Judi needed to drive to Kmart to pick up a few items. Vicki and Donna were visiting and begged to go along.

"Please, Judi," Donna whined. "We're bored and we want to come, too. Please?"

"Yeah, Judi, we'll be good. Come on, let us come."

Judi smiled but shook her head. "No, girls. Not today. I'm only going to the store real fast. I'll pick up the things I need and be right back."

"Judi!" the girls cried in unison.

"The answer's no," she said. "I'm not doing any shopping today, anyway."

But as Judi looked for the car keys and got ready to leave, the girls continued to plead with her. Finally Judi relented.

"Okay you can come along but only if you stay in the car while I run inside," she said firmly. "And you need to ask your mother."

The girls were thrilled with Judi's offer and readily agreed to stay in the car while she picked up the things she needed. Quickly they dashed home, and once they had permission from their mother, they hurried back to Judi's house.

"Is it okay with your mom?" Judi asked as the girls ran up to where she waited by her car.

Vicki and Donna nodded and climbed happily into the backseat of Judi's car. Judi started for the store, but almost as soon as she began driving, the girls began whining again.

"Oh, come on, Judi," they said. "Let us go inside with you. Just this once. We won't bother you. Come on!"

Judi sighed, frustrated that she had agreed to let the girls come with her. "I said no. We made a deal that you'd stay in the car and that's final."

Although the girls continued to try to convince Judi to let them come with her into the store, she remained firm.

"Absolutely not," she said as she parked the car in the Kmart parking lot. "Now stay here. Don't move and I'll be right back."

In less than ten minutes Judi had purchased the things she needed and was returning to the car when she realized the girls were not inside.

"This makes me so mad," she muttered to herself. She knew that the girls were playing a joke on her and were probably hiding near the front of the store somewhere. But she had wanted this to be a quick trip. Now she was frustrated that she would have to spend time looking for the girls, especially after she had ordered them to remain in the car.

"I'll teach them," she thought to herself. She decided to screech out of the parking space as fast as she could so that the girls would think she was leaving them.

"That'll show them what I think about their tricks."

Judi slipped the key into the ignition and revved up the engine. She put the car into first gear; since there were no cars parked in front of her, she planned to drive quickly forward to catch the girls' attention and then speed out of the lot. Then she'd circle back and pick up the girls. After that they would be sure not to do something like this again.

Just as she moved her foot off the brake to begin to go forward, she heard a distinct voice from the back of the car.

"Put the car in reverse," she heard the voice say. "Go backward!"

Immediately Judi obeyed, not knowing why or who had spoken the words, but being unable to deny the voice's power. As she backed up five feet, she suddenly saw Vicki and Donna in front of the car crouched low and giggling. They had been hiding by the front grill of the car the entire time.

A wave of nausea washed over Judi, and she felt her body grow weak. Had she sped forward as she'd planned, she would have run over the girls and killed them both.

Unaware of the danger they had been in, the girls came skipping and giggling toward the car and climbed inside.

"Tricked you, didn't we?" Vicki asked.

Judi slipped the car into park once again and turned around. She was shaking. "That wasn't funny, girls. I told you to stay in the car until I got back."

The girls' faces fell. "Sorry," Donna said softly. "We were just trying to play a joke on you."

Judi was silent the rest of the way home, choosing not to tell the girls about what had nearly happened. Instead, when she got home, she thanked God for the mysterious voice that had caused her to drive in the opposite direction.

"I know I would have killed those girls if I'd driven straight ahead," Judi has said since then. "Wherever the voice came from it was definitely a miracle. If I'd hit those girls, I don't think I could have ever recovered."

From: ANGELS, MIRACLES AND ANSWERED PRAYERS. (It must have been a miracle – Everyday lives touched by miracles) Vol 1. Kelsey Tyler. Angel encounters in everyday life and everyday lives touched by miracles. Pag. 49-52, Guideposts. New York 1994.

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