When I was three years old, I was in bed one night, and I heard something in the room. It scared me.   I turned over, and I believe I saw the Lord Jesus.   Some people said that it could not have been Jesus, but I believe it was.   (If you ever have a supernatural visitation from the Lord, you'll never forget it no matter how long you live.)   I saw a man in shining white apparel.   I couldn't see His face; it was shadowed.   It wasn't shadowed black or dark, it was just not quite as bright. I saw a man with shoulder-length hair.   As a three-year-old child, it scared me.   I turned over on my stomach and hid my face.   In seconds, I heard footsteps.   He had been hovering in the air at the top of my door, but now I heard footsteps walking toward my bed, and I trembled.   I was afraid, just scared as a child.  I felt a hand reach over and touch me on the back of my neck.

Then the voice spoke and said, "Hush child."   Again He spoke to me, "Hush child."   So I turned up to see, and there was a man standing right beside my bed.   Now here are some of the words He told me.   "Your mother and father are going to separate."   I had no idea.   That wasn't on my mind.   I had never thought about those things, but that's what this voice told me, "Your mother and father are going to separate.   You're going to preach the Gospel.   Your life is not going to be ordinary, (not normal).   It's going to be different than other boys your age.   In your lifetime you're going to have people come to you and say, 'If you could serve the Lord under those circumstances, I can serve the Lord'."   Just as quickly as He came, He disappeared.   Some of the other things he shared with me that night, I have never yet repeated to anyone.   I have kept those things and pondered them in my heart, and I am still believing, with all that is within me, for the day that all of those things will come to pass in our ministry.

My mother said that I came to her and told her exactly what Jesus looked like and what He had said to me.   Less than two years later, my daddy left my mother, just like the Lord had spoken to me.   I have some sad memories of that, memories that other young people who come through the prayer lines have.   Young people, smaller children, teenagers and some my age, say, "Bro. Shelley, I want you to pray.   My mom and dad are divorced and there's bitterness in my heart."   Some with their mother right behind them in the prayer line would say, "There's bitterness towards my mother.   I want you to pray."   I want to tell this because I understand.   I've been there.  Only Jesus can wipe those tears away and heal the hurts of rejection and loss.