Prodigal: What a pretty horse!
Me: I have to tell you about this horse.
This is from Lisa Carey
There was no time to prepare. In February of 2007, while we were away on one of the very few trips of our married life, my husband Mike and I received the worst news that a parent could ever hear. Our disabled thirteen-year old son, Jonathan, had been killed by a man who worked at the facility near our home in upstate New York. The grueling journey home felt like an eternity as we struggled to come to terms with how to tell our other son, Joshua, that his brother was gone.
We numbly walked through the preparations for Jonathan’s funeral. At the same time we had to deal with a crush of media and the nightmare of trying to hold the man who killed Jonathan accountable for his actions.
It was surreal. This was the kind of thing that you saw on the news, and I never thought that something like this could happen to our family. In the midst of the darkness, however, I could hear God’s voice reassuring me that Jonathan was with Him. I desperately clung to that hope.
Then, about three weeks after Jonathan’s death, Mike and I had surprisingly similar dreams. Mike saw Jonathan sitting on a white horse holding a sword across his chest. He was wearing an ornate breastplate, and his hair appeared a bit lighter. He looked very handsome and appeared older than thirteen. In my dream I saw Jonathan riding full speed on a beautiful white horse. He was holding the reins above his head as if riding into battle. His hair was moving up and down to the pounding of the horse’s hoofs. He was wearing a shining breastplate, and his clothing was an off-white color. He looked very handsome and mature in my dream, too. He was not smiling, but his expression was one of purpose.
Mike and I marveled at the many similarities in our dreams, and we immediately knew that the Lord was giving us a glimpse of Jonathan and his purpose in Heaven. I knew that there were some scriptures in the Bible about white horses so I decided to look them up.
That’s when I found it. In the book of Revelation 19:14 it says, “And the armies in Heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.” We were absolutely astounded.
A week later, Mike and I attended a second memorial service held at the facility to bring closer to the other disable kids who had known and loved our son. While at the service we noticed numerous pictures and other memorabilia set up around the room to remember him. As I was walking around the room looking at everything, I happened upon a photo of Jonathan that I had never seen before. In the photo Jonathan was leaning over a fence with a look of pure joy on his face as he was about to kiss a beautiful white horse.
My heart melted as I called Mike over to look at the amazing picture. We both instantly knew that this photo was a confirmation of the dreams God had given us the week before. Jonathan had loved horses from the time he was a toddler, and over the years we had taken many pictures of him with horses, but we had none with a white horse. We learned that Jonathan’s teacher had taken the photo two months earlier during one of their outings to a local horse farm. She had forgotten all about the picture until she searched through her camera for photos of Jonathan for the memorial service.
She could never have imagined the significance of that photo to our broken hearts. We will treasure that photo every day until we are reunited with our precious son.
Three months later, the Governor of New York State singed Jonathan’s Law, which gives the families of people with physical or mental disabilities access to all the records and incident reports related to them in care facilities. These records had previously been sealed. It was a great victory for the countless families of people with disabilities statewide, and a true example of how God works all things together for good. There is no doubt that Jonathan did battle in the heavens for the law that bears his name, and he now rides with the armies of God.
Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity. Job 31:6 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
