Praying for Precious Halle

I just love how people, places and things are put into my path the way they do..... as if they were meant to be.  New friendships are formed and bonds that touch the soul.

(picture from "Praying for Precious Halle" FB Group, posted by Jennifer - its a real picture - a cardinal cloud)

FB (Facebook) has a way of bringing long lost friends back together and new ones to light.  In this story I'm about to mention,  its both of the above.  A long lost friend from high school has been touched by all the cardinals I post on my personal FB page.  It didn't take her long to find my LRB Chirps FB page.   Then, coincidentally she started seeing local stories on her FB page and around her town about a lady who lost her 10 year old daughter and then she reached out to me to share these amazing occurrences. 

May 22, 2013 I was going to paraphrase what my friend Melissa shared with me but I felt she wrote it all so beautifully that I decided to just cut and paste it here:

• 
• Melissa 
  

  Hi Jennifer!.....................I have noticed in the past that you post pictures of cardinals but never knew much about it but when I saw your recent one I could not help but comment because of what is going on around here (I live in Spring Hill, TN now which is about 30 miles south of Nashville). It all started about two months ago when a precious 10 year old girl in our community, who was absolutely healthy and athletic got sick with the flu and it attacked her heart and she developed myocarditis. She went into cardiac arrest and was brought back. For 2 weeks she fought for her life. A friend of this girl's family started a Facebook page for people to pray. People around here also put red bows on mailboxes all over this community to symbolize prayers for a healed heart. But as her mom says "God takes the best" and He did take her home and healed her perfectly so she was not in any more pain. Ever since her death on April 5 many people in this community feel as though their faith has become stronger because of this little girl. I did not know the family or this precious girl but feel like I have gotten to know them through their Facebook page "Praying for precious Halle". She was a very caring little girl who would befriend anyone, and for being only 10, she was vocal about being a Christian. About a month before her death she had written a paper about "If I could meet one person" and her person was God and that she had alot of questions for him. And many people were imagining her in heaven asking him all her questions.
  

  I wanted to support this family so I joined the page and then found myself wanting to post on the page but was a little weary of what to say since I cannot say I've experienced the death of a child and also because I did not know this family personally. One morning I was stewing about whether to post on her page or not and I looked out a small window upstairs in our house and all I could see sitting on a branch was a beautiful red cardinal looking right at me and "talking" to me and cocking it's head as if to say "go ahead and tell the family what you want to say - why wouldn't you?" Being that it was a red bird too as that was the color of this girls bows I took that as a sign to reach out and so I did. I was surprised that this grieving mother replied back saying that she had been visited by a cardinal too. This little girls mother started seeing her cardinal more and more and believing it was a sign from her little girl letting her know she was OK. The cardinal even came once when she was sad and had called for it to come. Many people started posting their cardinal stories around here that had some kind of link to Halle. One person had a cardinal fly in front of their car after they had dropped off dinner to this grieving family. I had a second encounter with a cardinal myself - I had made this family dinner just this Friday night and on Sunday I went to McDonald's to get breakfast for my kids. When I got to the drive thru window the person in the car in front of me had paid for it (a red car too!). Then as I was driving out the parking lot to the road a cardinal flew in front of me and landed in a nearby tree and looked right at me. I think it was sent from God/Hale to say thank you for making her family dinner and by the way I've taken care of your breakfast! It just gave me goosebumps! Alot of people are saying they have not really noticed cardinals before and now all this activity! The best was yesterday when Halle's mom prayed specifically that if these cardinals were a sign from God/Halle that she is OK and happy up in heaven then to let her hold a cardinal. She figured what were the chance of that happening? Well they have a mischievous cat that only Halle could tolerate and has done nothing but lay around since her death. That cat went out and caught a cardinal (of all birds) and brought it to Halle's mom! The bird was not hurt but to save it she had to get it out of the cat's mouth and hold it! Such an unbelievable occurrence - her very specific prayer was answered and now she has felt more peace. Some great pictures of cardinals people have taken and these stories are all on her Facebook page "Praying for precious Halle" which is an open community page. Someone even posted a link to a page about the cardinal experience which has been very interesting to read. So why is the cardinal important to you?

Melissa has since shared my story and my FB page with Tammy ("Praying for Precious Halle" mom) and I too  have reached out to her and joined her "Praying for Precious Halle" FB Group.  It's amazing to connect with others who experience these divine signs from above, comforting us and strengthening our faith in God and the life that goes on when we leave this earth.  Experiencing these signs bring us pure joy and comfort but because they are so random and its not just about the physical act of seeing them, its that feeling we get inside where we just "know" it's a gift from above, we still wonder if its real.   Making these kind of connections confirms our gifts and make them more real.  They take away any doubts..... because the more who receive the more real it has to be - right?

We need to start a Cardinals of Love club ~ what do you think?