- Moira’s experience with a dark presence on the cliff and again in the library have elements of Joseph Smith’s first vision in the Sacred Grove of Palmyra, New York in 1820. In his own words:
After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seizedupon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.
But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound.
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng
2. In November 2017, President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shared a story from his family history of the time when his grandfather received a visit from his own father, who had recently passed away. In the vision he was able to see and converse with his father, ask questions and receive answers. You can watch a video account by President Nelson here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjBwuL0ogJs&ab_channel=FamilyHistoryCanBeFun&fbclid=IwAR0stLb2_TSZuV741oHqhHlI7bVRGuFMNgGyCbjtieKQFGt85IaQ8On6pSA
This account also informs my assertion by Eveleen in chapter eleven that “in a better world than this one, we can be a family as we had planned so long ago.”
3. Moira’s wakeup call on the road from Dingle is especially close to my heart, as this very thing happened to my cousin, Debby. Her sister, younger by two years, had passed away as a young teen. When Debby was in her early twenties she was in a situation where she was driving at night and fell asleep at the wheel. She woke to the sound of her sister’s voice, loud and clear, “Debby! Wake Up. You’re going to hit the median!” She was able to turn the wheel in time to avert an accident.
4. Have you ever been thinking of a friend or loved one and suddenly they call you out of the blue? The same thing can happen with our departed loved ones. We may be thinking of them and their favorite song will come on the radio at that very moment. Or at times when we are especially missing them, we may see a rainbow or be given their favorite flower. There’s a beautiful story that illustrates this point here: https://www.ldsliving.com/Why-I-believe-in-a-God-that-gives-us-flowers/s/93090
These were my thoughts behind Julia’s linnet bird.
.
5. Jeremiah’s appearance in Chapter Eight is similar to what happened to two family history researchers in Nova Scotia. I had hired them to search the Canadian records for me when I was abroad in Belgium and unable to access records through a Family History Centre, the only means of reading microfilmed records before the online databases were developed. They reported to me that they were the only two people in a small reading room. As they put a film on the reader that they hoped contained the records of my ancestors, both sisters immediately felt the presence of a group of people–as if the room had suddenly become crowded. Both turned to see who had entered but there was no one to be seen. They testified that they felt these were the spirits of my ancestors, excited at the prospect of being “found” in the records before them. Within a short time, they had indeed been able to discover the needed information in the films they were reading.
6. Moira’s lucid dream of Nuala in chapter nine is reminiscent of a dream I had in which I was shown information about one of my children, whom I was particularly worried about at the time. The dream gave me peace and comfort, and from that time forth I never was burdened with worry for that child.
7. Nuala’s experience with Da’s voice in the church is especially close to my heart, as it is very similar to an experience my mother had with my father after his passing. My father was a kind, rough-around-the-edges man, who didn’t often say, “I love you,” to his wife and children, but would do anything for them. After his death, my mom was out mowing the lawn on the riding lawn mower, a job my dad usually had done. She came to the edge of the lawn, as it sloped down to the creek. Suddenly, she found that the weight of the mower was propelling it down the hill and she couldn’t turn or stop it. She panicked, thinking she was going to end up in the creek, when she distinctly heard my dad’s voice, loud and clear, “Annie! You dumb sh*t, turn off the engine!” Which she did, and the mower immediately stopped.
8. Paddy’s newly acquired knowledge in the afterlife that all children go to heaven, and do not require baptism, is a tenet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and can be found in the Book of Mormon here:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/moro/8?lang=eng
and here: Mosiah 3:18-21
This doctrine of the salvation of little children was the first thing that drew me to investigate the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was sixteen years old. It is a doctrine that rings of truth and gives peace to my soul.
I believe strongly in an Afterlife, where we can see and be with our loved ones again. I believe the veil between that spirit world and this one is very thin, and on occasion, non-existent. I DO believe in ghosts, the very friendly kind. I also know that evil is real and there is a place in the spirit world for those who choose that side, apart from those who are trying their best to choose the right each day. I hope this little “ghost story” has given you some food for thought!
