10: The White Light

It had been a while since any dreams or unusual happenings occurred while going to sleep. Of course, I had four vivid dreams that were a big wake-up call for my sugar issues that had been affecting me since 2019, rearing their ugly head in 2021. I had the hug from behind later in 2020, which was more of a sleep/wake moment. In August 2023, I had the "It's time" voice that came up in the middle of the night. So, back on March 1, 2024, I had another moment that could go alongside the others.

I was lying in bed and woke up to use the bathroom that night. Nothing was unusual there, and when I went back to bed, I began dosing immediately. But as I drifted off, I saw this intense white light envelope everything. The light was extremely bright, brighter than any light in the room. We always sleep with one light on because I fear the dark. I always have. This fear was much more intense as a child, but as I've gotten older, that fear has subsided and having a light on, plus the TV, is just a common occurrence. But the need for a light began because of fear.

Because the light beside my bed is always on, I don't notice it or the lamp's luminosity. That light is just there. But at that moment, this light was something else. It wasn't that I could see the light, but I could feel it, too. The light was that intense, almost like the sun beaming down on you on a hot day in the summer. But the strangest part was the feeling I got as I saw this intense light. The feeling was like I was slipping away. That sense of slipping away felt strong, like my presence or being slowly left my body. That's when I became alert again.

I sat up and looked around the room. Everything in the room was exactly as it should be, including the lamp beside me. Everyone else was asleep, no issues were present. I laid back down with my head on the pillow and closed my eyes, believing I could make the light happen again. I truly thought all I saw was the light from the lamp beside me, and I had experienced drifting off to sleep. The only problem was I couldn't make the light happen again. No matter how many ways I positioned myself in the bed before finally falling asleep, the light from the lamp was nowhere near as intense. I had the typical reddish, yellowish light that you can see behind your closed eyelids. 

But that sensation and the light didn't unnerve me. I felt peaceful and calm. I didn't have a single concern. The light was radiant and beautiful. You felt so warm in its presence, secure and loving. I waited a few weeks before I told anyone in my family about the light because I wasn't exactly sure what happened, but I started looking up things about seeing a white light when going to sleep.

I saw some things suggesting others have experienced this white light. One suggested alien abduction, which seems far-fetched. Others believe lights you see at night are possibly cars passing by or some other light from outside occasionally. In one case, the person thought someone had broken into their home. The light was so intense that they believed someone was shining it in their face like a flashlight. They woke up fearful, unsure of what took place. They did the same thing I did, looking around the room out of fear for them. They realized no one was there and that the light might have meant something was about to change there. They recently had some changes in their life for the better, and the light was a good sign.

Seeing the light might have corresponded to changes in my life over the past year. The bout with Afib made me put things in perspective. I had to ease my anxieties and rely more on God, probably more than I ever have before in my life. That health concern was much more terrifying than anything I could have experienced in my sleep. But my whole life seemed to be going in the right direction now, at home, at work, everything. Like I said, there were still frustrations sometimes, but that's just part of life. Things were different now, by March 2024. I was in a better place, and perhaps the Holy Spirit was allowing me to experience that, if only for a moment. 

But what was the sensation of slipping away for that brief few seconds? I wasn't near death by any means. Was that what the rapture could feel like? That moment when God takes you up? It was a strange feeling, that is for sure. But, like I said, it wasn't fearful. It was peaceful. Perhaps, if only for a moment, I was being given a glimpse of what true harmony and peace in God feel like. What a blessing that can be.

But a great blessing was to come in the weeks ahead. The baptism of my entire family all at once. Tune in for the next segment of 10: The Baptism.