When my mother died suddenly of what we think was a heart attack I was living in Atlanta, Georgia. I flew into town to attend her funeral. Before I went back to Atlanta, I wanted to spend time with friends and attend my old church. I reconnected with a lady who had been like a mother to me. We went to evening service and afterwards she invited me to spend the night at her home with her family. Around 6:00 a.m. Monday morning, I was awakened by an argument she and her 16 year old son, Johnny, were having. I heard her scream his name, then silence. I got up to investigate what was going on. Being a guest in their home, I asked her son’s permission to see about his mother. The house was silent. I went to the basement going through various rooms looking for my friend. I finally found her covered in blood lying face down on the floor. From her son I demanded to know what happened. His response was that he didn’t know. Standing in the middle of the floor in my pajamas I didn’t know what to do so I headed upstairs. Before crossing the threshold of the kitchen floor Johnny began stabbing me.
The first hit I took was to the side of my face. But this is the strangest thing that I had ever experienced before. There was an entity speaking to me (God) telling me (3 things) what to do while I was being stabbed. I didn’t move; I followed the instructions I was being given. He had the knife in midair about to strike again, but suddenly he stopped and walked out of the kitchen. That is when I heard the last of the instructions I was being given which was to “go,” so I did. In my bare feet I began running down the street knocking on doors in a strange neighborhood trying to get help for my friend that was bleeding to death in the basement. Twenty years later I went to the prison to talk to her son to find out why he killed his mother, and without provocation, why had he stabbed me. The little chubby boy I had known 20 years ago was a tall young man now. In talking to Johnny he wasn’t the monster I thought he was going to be. He cried more than I did and asked for forgiveness for his actions against me, and I forgave him. He said my visiting with him has caused him to finally be able to forgive himself and to heal as well.
—– Lynette Grace