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Messages From Heaven
Billy’s Cloud
Summer was finally here. The sky was again so
blue, the air I knew was warm as it rustled through the
leaves on the majestic old oak trees. I stood at
the sink gazing out at all that God had given us.
I began to think that I should find strength and comfort
in the knowledge that God is with me. He is
helping me through this most difficult time. Why
was I still in a fog? I was just pretending to be
okay. You know how it goes, saying the right thing
and acting strong for everyone else. But my baby,
my only son was gone. At 18 he had so much
potential. Billy had grown into a thoughtful,
caring and oh yes, a funny guy. Of course, I
wasn’t his only mother. He had 5 older sisters who
also helped him be the fine young man he had become.
Six months have gone by since Billy passed away on a
cold and bitter New Years Eve. We never found out
what happened to him or who had put him under the road
in that culvert. There are so many unanswered
questions. I suppose that is one of the reasons
that I pray for answers, that I always seem to be
looking for signs. Are you okay Billy? Can
you see me? Do you know how much I miss you and
love you? Can you here my prayers, Billy, please
send me a sign. And so it goes on, day after day.
Unexpectedly the phone rang bringing me out of the fog.
It was my husband, Bill. He was asking me if I
remembered calling him several days ago and telling him
to look up at the clouds and see their beauty. I
said, “Yes I remember.” He said, “Well I looked up
and you need to hurry and go out on the porch and look
up, the clouds are beautiful.” I hung up the phone
after I told him that of course I would go look and thanked him for calling. But I was too tired to
go. The fog had settled back in and I just wanted
to stand at the sink with my hands in the soothing warm
water. Then the feeling came over me that I had to
go look. I even argued with myself. No he
wouldn’t know. I can’t go even the short distance
to the porch. Just let me stand here. But I
couldn’t do that after all, I had called him a few days
ago and asked him to look up at the clouds. Now he
had looked and I must look for him. I half drug
myself to the door. It would be okay. I
would look and then I could sit down. I opened the
door and stepped out onto the porch. I was not
prepared for the sight that greeted me. There high
above our house was a magnificent cloud in the shape of
a person. He
 was waving at me with one hand high
in the air and the other hand on his hip. I could
see the blue sky between his legs as he was standing
proud and tall. I started to yell for my daughter,
Angela, to come and see. I was running in circles
because I was so excited I couldn’t remember where the
camera was at. Angela said, “You stay here and
keep looking at the cloud, I will get it.” By the
time she took the picture the part of the cloud that was
the chest, arms, and head had sunk down slightly behind
the lower part of his body. I was so excited to
have seen this cloud. I was so thankful that
Angela was there to take that picture. It was a
blessing from God. I know Billy is okay.
When Bill got home I started to tell him about the
cloud. I wanted him to know that if he hadn’t
called I would have missed it. He looked at me
very strangely and said, “I wanted you to go to the back
porch. I never saw that cloud”. I know that
God had a hand in my seeing that cloud. The back
porch is right off of the kitchen. The front porch
is on the other side of the house off of the living
room. I was so tired and I can’t explain why I
went to the furthest porch unless God was telling me to.
Now Billy has been gone for seven years. Every
time that I look at the cloud picture I feel BLESSED.
God has given me the strength to get through this.
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