I wrote this story as a teenager, during the years of my new birth, when Abba first began to call me away with images of beauty that held spiritual concepts, and endeared His heart to mine. This story was taken from my book, Visions of Celestial Love.
Why Lord? With every step I take my feet embrace the soft, wood-brown earth beneath. Please answer me. This place is beautiful Lord, this forest is…enchanting.
The tall slender trees are spaced out so that they all stand comfortably apart from one another. The soil that feeds this forest is dark brown and beaded with white balls. It is soft, dry, and oily at the same time. I move the earth around in my hands and bring a pleasant handful to my nose. Sniffing it, I smell pine leaves with spring rain. I breathe it in and let out a long leisurely, “Ahhh.”
The tall trees canopy this forest, dappling my face with sunlight and shadows as I walk. Everything is quiet and still here. Nothing but the faint, low whisper of the wind through the trees and my own quiet breath and footsteps stir this forest. It’s wonderful, Lord. I smile with my heart, enjoying the slow-paced peace that surrounds me. I feel as if the world I am visiting is alive—but I do not fully believe it yet. I feel a divine Personality here.
I see up ahead a long bowl of water darkening the soil that outlines it. The water is clear, with a marine color, like the aqua band on my wrist. I walk, without thinking, toward the center of the pool. I see large, silver-color rocks; some have moss on their sides.
My right foot touches the water first, entering it, causing a dance of ripples. Nothing has ever felt so gentle to my skin, to my soul before. Water of life. The wooden bracelet on my left ankle gets a taste of this sweet water as I continue on. The wet earth that my feet embrace is a texture indescribable. It feels as if I were walking on wet silk. My toes wiggle and dig, covering themselves in sheer glee.
As the cool, enjoyable water reaches my elbow, I smile, and continue enjoying the fluid music it makes as I move through it.
Now I am completely covered, soaking in life. A bright yellow fish swims by me and stops for a moment to look into my maple, tea-colored eyes. I smile in the water, and the yellow fish with wide, blue eyes passes by. He swam so gracefully and freely, like drifting kelp.
The sand underneath the water is white like pearls, and the sunlight plays at the bottom of the water like silk in the sky. A large shark swims past me and I lift my hands to feel the bottom of his belly. Then a slender hammerhead swims past me.
A rose-pink jelly fish moves to the top of the water. As I near the center of the pool and look up, I too begin to rise. I drift up like a feather in the wind. My body moves in light and soft waves. My hair is dry as soon as it leaves the graceful waters. All of me is dry, except the bottom of my feet, which still stand on the water.
Only by faith can these things be achieved. I walk on, causing more streaming ripples that reflect the yellow sun to bowl out until they reach the end. My feet and body feel the warmth when I touch the familiar dry soil again, and I feel as if I have greeted a longtime friend. Bending down by the pool I cup my hands and bring the water to my face. After splashing my face with the water, I noticed the skin on my face was softer.
Why am I here? I whisper to the Lord. I enjoyed the land, but my heart knew not the purpose of my being here. My quiet spirit knew, but never spoke. Up ahead was a patch of eye-catching, yellow flowers grouped together. They were as bright as lemons, and as rich as sunflower petals.
I walked near, but stood back in awe as the flowers began to drift to the sky, dancing around in fanciful circles. They danced with one another, playing in the sky. Oh, how can my words describe to you such beauty? The appearance of them was like yellow glazed glass with fire inside. Moving along they floated, some in the sun and some in the shade.
Do you hear that? my soul whispers. I turn to see glowing butterflies equally as dazzling fly towards the petals. They blended in with them, so that I couldn’t discern what was petal and what was butterfly.
Spring grass scattered over the ground like the flowers, but most of the forest floor was earth and trees. I began to near a silver-colored rock and I slid down it before trotting again. Fluidly moving mist rested in this area of the forest and it sounded like celtic music to the ears. As the light mist thickened, I saw before me a rose, stretching up to the branches of the trees. The setting sun’s light colored the mist a warm, milk-orange and I started to climb up the rose using the thorns. They were like a ladder to me, and each one dulled itself, as if I were meant to climb this rose.
When my hand first touched the petals, peace fell over my body like a waterfall over rocks, soothing, and warming me more than any hot spring ever could. The extravagant patterns of the cream-peach texture amazed me. The petals at the center were smaller but all the more soft. I crawled to the center, feeling as if I were touching mist, touching oil, laying in silk, and moving in milk. My arms stretched out and my legs moved—feeling, moving, enjoying, and cherishing such a bed that wafted aromas from Heaven’s springs, from Heaven’s kitchen. Nothing has ever felt this good before.
The petals conformed to the shape of my body and enveloped me inside. I hugged a big petal and it felt like I was hugging a fluffy, white cloud. Not even water was as gentle as this. Each petal formed a hill, all of them together created a waving pattern. I soaked in the petals, becoming one with them and they with me, until my eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep, entering a world undefined.
After an ample night’s rest, I leisurely awoke to find the flower glowing as if the sun was inside. My cheek pressed against a petal as my eyes fluttered.
I had lost myself in the night. I had lost my fleshly nature—I lost every degrading lie I’d believed about myself. My spirit spoke to me as the flower lowered itself slightly and tilted so that I slid off. I watched the flower straighten again, but as I gazed at the soft petals I had just lain on, I realized there was a petal in my heart—a petal of peace, a petal of comfort.
Thank You, Lord, I told Him, smiling with closed eyes, I know why You sent me here.
My human eyes opened but my spiritual eyes saw now.
“When I read Visions of Celestial Love, it is as if I am brought down to my knees to worship. What the Holy Spirit has done in and through Ashley, He is doing also in me. What a wonderful experience. It is very rich. Thank you for sharing the treasure.”—Riko Suci Alam, CEO of Ligar Jaya and owner of Clove Garden hotel in Bandung Indonesia.
Top photo by Jill Wellington from Pexels
