Life is the gift of love - all our lives are miracles. My parents were convinced, though, that I was a special miracle! My father -- a confirmed bachelor -- finally married my mother when he was age 50 (she was 44). The third month into their new marriage, she went into the hospital to have a large fibroid tumor removed. That is when they discovered she was pregnant with me! My mother, a lady of great faith, had prayed for a baby girl for many years. She wasn't about to let anything happen to me. I grew around the tumor and was delivered in 1951 weighing only 5 pounds, with a curved spine and a clubfoot. The first few years of my life were "touch and go," as I almost died several times during childhood. At age two, the first thing I wanted to do was draw pictures. I also prayed a lot as a child. As my mother recalled - around age three, I would run through the rooms of our house, fall to my knees and start to pray! She wasn't sure if I was going to be an artist or a minister!

In elementary school I was often accused of daydreaming. One day in the fourth grade, my teacher was telling the class a story and stopped to ask me what I was staring at. I reported "seeing" the whole scene of the story unfolding around her and described it in great detail. It was then, through the sensitivity of my teacher, that I began to be called "gifted" and encouraged to use my imagination and "see" things around people.

I have also had many angelic encounters throughout my life. The first I can vividly remember occurred when I was 14. My father died suddenly from a brain tumor, causing me to become increasingly withdrawn. My mother took part of our savings and sent me to Europe to study art and French, helping me to heal emotionally. While traveling in Paris one day, Sarah (a classmate) and I got separated from the rest of the group of students, who returned to the university without us. We managed to find the subway, but couldn't remember how to get back. We started to cry and pray! A mist rolled through the subway, and a tall gentleman -- in a white suit with white hair and blue eyes -- stepped out of the mist. "Don't cry," he said smiling. He then pointed to his gold badge that said, "International Guide." He said he understood all languages and spoke to us in English. He put us on the right subway car, paid our fare, and rode along with us. He seemed to know many things about us and proceeded to tell us about our lives. He told Sarah that she was a "perfect student". He told me I needed to study more and learn patience. We were both astounded. We arrived at our destination, and the three of us got out of the subway car. When we turned to thank the man in white, he had simply vanished with the mist. We looked at each other in amazement - knowing we had witnessed an angel!

About a year later I had a dream that I was in a large room with many people - all had white hair and white suits. Across the room stood the gentleman who had "saved" us in the subway. He walked over, smiled and said to me, "Yes, we are all angels here. We are called the Mercy Band. We are directed to take human form in times of need. When your prayer was heard, I was sent down!"

As each year passed, I became more sensitive and aware of things around myself -- and around others. After graduating with a master's degree in art, I taught for 10 years in the inner city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I left that position in 1982 to develop an art business involving travel throughout the country, which continued for the next 10 years. Then in 1991, at the age of 40, a dream became a reality -- I opened my own art gallery!

At about the same time I opened my gallery I started to become more acutely aware of my spiritual gifts. The Bible lists the "gifts of the spirit" in at least four places: Romans 12: 6-8, I Corinthians 12: 7-10, I Corinthians 12: 27, 28 and Ephesians 4: 11. For the most part, spiritual gifts are the natural talents God has given us "as those talents are blessed by His Spirit dwelling in our lives." One that seemed to develop rapidly at that time was the gift of prophecy. Prophecy gives me the opportunity to "uplift, encourage, and ennoble my fellowman" (I Corinthians 14: 3). I pray for people and start to experience locutions (or hearing) and seeing (visions and symbols) in detail around them. This gift is of great help and interest to people. I call this gift "visionary counseling." I am a "spiritual visionary" and feel the "artist in me" greatly enhances my visionary capacities.

Being a student of the Bible, I recognized this as a healing gift. I asked in prayer why some of the "gifts of the spirit" came to me in later years. The answer I received was, "Everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required" (Luke 12; 48). This means if we are given gifts, we are required to use them wisely. I feel I was not mature or focused enough before age 40 to use the gifts wisely. The gift of discernment came to me later, so that I am protected in the work I do.

The Creator-God always works through me, along with three angelic helpers I call the "light beings." They tell me three is the number of protection and of the Trinity. The light beings always form a triangle around the person or group that I am counseling for protection.

Small children (from approximately ages 1 to 5) see and hear the invisible world and tell you all about it. They are in a different energy frequency and can tap into the invisible world. I feel that I return to this frequency when I do my counseling -- always remaining childlike in my approach to a session, and saying exactly what I am seeing and hearing from God.

More recently, I have received the anointing of healing. With this gift, there is great heat and healing love that emanates from my hands to people, through the power of the Spirit.