Once there was a girl returning home by bicycle. She had long and bony legs, curly hair and cheeks covered in freckles.
She looked quite distracted; she was thinking about what her mother was preparing for dinner. Once she turned around the corner, a car came along with two youths inside.
She thought these were her brothers’ friends. The one who was in the passenger seat leaned out the window towards her.
He had long hair and looked like her brother Michael.
He smiled and asked if she wanted a ride home.
No thanks – she responded. - I live right there, around the corner. I'm almost there.
He insisted, Come. It'll be fun. Come take a ride with us.
She looked around. There was nobody. No cars going by. The street was empty.
She began to feel a malaise, but could not move. She seemed to be hypnotised.
She then heard a voice in her ear. Or at least, she thought it was in her ear.
Run! Get out.
Pictures of her house began to flicker in the mind of the 11 year old girl.
She awake from the paralysis that fear had caused her and pedalled as fast as she could towards her house.
The car pulled away in the opposite direction.
She came home with chest pain, having held her breath for a long time and pedalled really hard.
She ran into her mother’s arms trembling still, telling her what happened.
Unfortunately, like many parents, she didn’t give much importance to what had been an attempted of children kidnapping.
But the voice command saved the girl.
The episode deeply marked her. More than twenty years have passed since that event, but she recalls the scene in every detail.
That day, she recalls having promised herself that she would do something to protect children from abusers when she grew up.
She was not sure how, but knew that one day she would dedicate herself to this cause.
She thought to become a lawyer and then a judge. She wanted to deliver harsh sentences to people who abused children.
Once she was an adult, she helped create a system to alert child abduction in Arizona, where she resides.
But the great certainty is on that frightening that day she had an angel on her shoulder.
The angel protected her that afternoon as she says, but also put her on the path of what she should do in adulthood.
She is gratified with the work she does, which involves tracing profiles of criminals for the police and assisting in the capture of kidnappers.
She is also happy when her words can ease the pain of a victim’s relatives; removing weight from their hearts.
Few of us realize how much protection we have in our daily lives. This is because the protection is subtle.
Ideas sprout like an intuition and are often credited to ourselves.
Cross the street. Follow that path. Look back.
Sometimes the assistance is provided through the interference of a happy family member, friend or even a stranger.
Someone comes and offers us something. Someone passes by and rescues us.
Think about it and be aware of the help heaven gives you every day, learning to listen with clarity and be thankful.
Text from Redação do Momento Espírita com base no chap. 3 from book
Não é preciso dizer adeus, de Allison Dubois, ed. Sextante
Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, Sir William Crookes Spiritist Society linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.