Beyond Reality

Beyond Reality

Trilogy Christian Publishers A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

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Copyright © 2023 by Joan Allen

All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

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Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 979-8-88738-621-8

E-ISBN: 979-8-88738-622-5

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my dear husband, Robert K. Allen, in heaven, who loved and encouraged me, supported my work in the Lord, and enriched my life with his presence and his prayers. These words don’t begin to express my gratitude for all the wonderful years we had together. Thank you for loving me all the way to Jesus.

Introduction

Beyond reality, meaning above or beyond reproach, beyond all question, beyond price, beyond doubt, beyond measure, beyond a boundary, beyond appearance, larger than life, that which overtakes reality, surpasses reality, surpasses the ordinary. Beyond Reality is the title of this book because God has taught me through many miracles that He’s real and we can reach beyond reality. I came to write this book because God told me to, along with many others, through the years. I was at a Christian meeting, and the speaker stopped in the middle of his message and asked me to stand up, and he said to me, God told you to write your book; now be obedient and do it.

This happened to me more times than I would like to talk about. Through total strangers, along with pastors, friends, acquaintances, and of course, my Aglow sisters and my husband. So, I’ve been encouraged for many years to share my stories of God’s power in my life, but first, I want to introduce myself to you. My name is Joan, and I’m an ordinary person in a relationship with an extraordinary God. I’m not special, everything I have comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, and because of Him, all things are possible. The most wonderful thing in the world is knowing Him and the power of His resurrection. Praise His name.

I’m writing to future generations who will come to know Him as Savior and Lord. God has given me a gift that I want to share with you: Jesus loves you, and that is just the beginning of a wonderful life full of God’s love, joy, and peace. That’s for all people, everywhere, and for all generations. I hope that you will be inspired and come to the Fountain of Life and drink deeply. To you, precious ones, I understand your thoughts and feelings and how they affect you daily; sometimes, you’re sad and lonely, and sometimes faced with the fact that there’s nothing you can do about it. So don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re doing just great, just to still have faith that all will be well in the end. So be encouraged; you, too, can reach beyond reality.

Chapter 1: How I Can Get Saved

Where do I begin to tell my story of a great love that has no end? I didn’t always know this great love, but He knew me. I was born in Albany, New York, born into a Jewish family, with two sisters and me. Mother came from the tribe of Benjamin and Dad, the Levitical priesthood, going as far back as Moses and Aaron. When I was three years old, my mother, Mildred, was confronted with Christianity, and Mom became a Christian. Back in the days of her youth, most Jewish families disowned the ones who converted to Jesus. Mama was an only child of a wealthy father, and he cut her off financially, but as she later told me, it was all worth it for the Lord. Later on in life, my grandfather was at Yankee Stadium in New York City, and he fell and broke his hip and had no one to take care of him. My mother took care of him until he died. He came to live with us, and I gave up my bedroom for him. Mother lovingly forgave him even after he disowned and disinherited her; that’s how powerful the love of God is. Praise His holy name.

Growing up in a mixed family was confusing to me, as we celebrated both the Christian and the Jewish holidays. I went to church with my mom, and my older sister went to the temple with my dad. Sometimes Dad would come to church with us. My mother was an usher there, and everyone loved her beautiful and radiant smile; she was filled with the love of Jesus. All through my childhood, I saw many miracles. I believe Mom was given the gift of faith, and it was amazing to watch her use it. There wasn’t a day going by when she wouldn’t be feeding homeless people that just came to the door. Her heart was open to anyone who came.

We had one of those old ringer-type washing machines, and one day, while washing the clothes, Mom got her hand caught in the ringer, and it went all the way up to her elbow. She slapped the machine on the top when she realized and pulled out her arm, and not a bone was broken. She praised Jesus for this miracle. I watched as her faith grew day by day and marveled at the love relationship she had with the Lord.

When I was eight years old, I went to the Palace Theater in Albany, New York, to see a movie about the true story of the world-famous violinist Jascha Heifetz and his amazing violin. I cried all the way through the movie, and I fell in love with the violin. I arrived home, and I told my mother I wanted a violin, I wanted lessons, and she said, We have a piano, and I can teach you. My mother was a classical pianist, but I said, No, I want to play the violin. About a year later, I finally got the beautiful 3/4 size violin and began to take lessons in school. The following year, Major Bowes’s radio talent show came to Albany to find the most talented children for his concert. I was chosen to perform at the Palace in Albany. My sister, Lois, made me a special dress just for that occasion, pink taffeta with a wine-colored ribbon for a belt.

Standing backstage in line, I got to go next, and the boy behind me bumped my elbow, pushed my fingers forward to the pegs of the violin, and loosened them. I went on stage to play, and I was out of tune. I became frightened, and I just kept right on playing out of tune. What an embarrassment it was to this ten-year-old; I went home crying. For the next three days, I stayed home from school. I was traumatized, and that was almost the end of my playing. By the time I got to the seventh grade, I had begun playing again, and by the tenth grade, we were playing on the radio. After I left school, I never played again, left my violin at home with my father, moved out, got married, and had my first baby. Fast forward to 2010, watching on TV Dancing with the Stars, I heard a violin playing in the background, and my heart began to get excited as if that were that eight-year-old little girl listening to Jascha Heifetz. Later, I found out that it was a world-famous violinist, and he rekindled my first love for the violin. I still listen to him from time to time, and it brings me much joy—from trauma to joy. Only God could heal my broken heart and bring me joy.

The Grey Wool Dress

I was given a gray wool dress when I was a child, and I didn’t like it at all. Mom tried to get me to wear it to school, but I put up a fight every time. When I wore it, I felt deeply sad, and it made me cry. I didn’t understand why I was crying. I came home after school every day, and I went to my room and began to cry and weep. I didn’t understand for years and years what it was all about, but it lasted for about five years, and then it just went away. I was at a conference for women years and years later, and there was a prophetess from Canada. She came over to me and said, I’ve been waiting all this time because I have something to say to you. I see you, you’re in the backyard, and you’ve got a little tricycle, and there’s a stone wall along your backyard, and you’re about seven or eight years old, and you’re wearing a gray wool dress, and you’re feeling sad every day and crying every day, and you don’t understand why. I’m here to tell you why. There was a war going on in Europe, and your people, the Jews, were being murdered. Your spirit understood that, and you began interceding and praying for your people. Even as a child, God used you. How could she have possibly known about the stone wall in my backyard, the gray wool dress, and the crying every day? I really believe that was the purpose that God had for me. I was very blessed that God would choose a child to intercede for His people. Bless His holy name.

When I was about ten or eleven years old, my dad and I used to take a walk downtown together. That was our fun thing to do, and one day while taking this walk, it was cold and bitter, and a man stopped my father and asked for some money. He said he was hungry, so my father said, There’s a cafeteria across the street, so let’s go over there, and I’ll buy you a meal. So, we went. This man was really hungry, and he ate it all. When we came out of that little cafe, my father looked at him and said, Are you cold? He said, Yes, I am. And the thing that impressed me about my father was this, he had just purchased a brand-new full-length cashmere coat, and this was the first time he wore it, and he took it off and put it on this total stranger and gave it to him. I was so impressed with my dad and so proud of him for giving away something he really valued to a total stranger. That’s the kind of father I grew up with. I praise the Lord for him and for the wonderful times we shared together.

One evening time, I was alone in the house. I was sitting by the window with the light on and reading a funny book, drinking my soda with potato chips; I must have been about twelve or thirteen. Mom and Dad had gone to church for a prayer meeting, and I was alone in the house. All of a sudden, I heard the front door open up; it wasn’t locked, and I heard someone on the stairs. One stair after another, very quietly, slowly coming up into our house. I knew there was a squeaky stair halfway up, and I froze. Someone was breaking into our house, and I was all alone, and I couldn’t yell, I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t move from my position. I was that scared and frightened, like a rabbit, and all of a sudden, I had this thought in my head, Call out to your father as if he’s in the next room, and tell him he’s got a visitor. My throat was released, and I yelled, Dad, there’s someone here for you. And quickly, the man went down the steps and slammed the front door. I looked out the window, I saw the figure of a man running across the street, and I realized that God had saved me from a dangerous situation. God was my protector. So, if you ever find yourself in a situation that’s out of your control and you don’t know what to do when you’re frozen with fear, just cry out to your Heavenly Father, and He will come and rescue you too. I stayed in that chair until my mother and father returned home, and then I told them the story, and they rejoiced with me.

From the time I was eleven to sixteen years old, I would come home from school to find Mom reading her Bible and quietly meditating on the Word. I didn’t think too much about it until, one day, my dad asked me to stay home from school to take care of my mother because she wasn’t feeling well. That day turned into three or four days until he asked me to quit school and stay home to take care of my mother. I was sixteen, in the tenth grade, and doing well in school. I was very reluctant to leave, but nevertheless, I did.

After I quit school, I had to go and bring my books back and turn them in and clean out my desk. The class was in session, but the teacher stopped and let me clean out my desk; then, she called me to the front, to her desk, and said to the rest of the class, Do you see this girl? She’s a quitter; she will never amount to anything, never. Now, don’t ever quit if you ever want to amount to anything. She will become nothing. I left that classroom crying and saying to myself, She lied about me; she really doesn’t know me. I will not be nothing; I will accomplish something. I will be somebody because God made me with a purpose in mind. I was determined that what she said would never come to pass. I held that in my heart; I was deeply hurt, and I just knew that I knew that I was more than that and that God had a purpose in mind for my life. Years later, after I was forgiven, I forgave her. Once you’ve been forgiven, it’s easy to forgive others.

So, I quit school to take care of my mother and found out she had breast cancer, and it was way beyond my ability to be able to take care of her. Dad got help for her, and she was placed in a nursing home. At the nursing home, they told us that she had little time to live, and all they could do was make her comfortable. Dad and I visited her often, and eventually, she went into a coma that lasted for ten days. They said she’d never come out of it, that she would die, but we were at her bedside when she did come out of it. Her face lit up; there was an aura about her—she was just absolutely radiant. She turned to my father and said, Len, your prayers have brought me back; please don’t pray for me; I’m going back very soon. I’ve been in heaven with Jesus. She described it to us, and then she said, I want to release you so that you can remarry. There’ll be someone else to take care of you in the future. It was a touching moment that she was willing to go back and release my father. I was only sixteen, and it really impressed me that she was saying goodbye to him. A week or so later, she left a message with the nursing staff that if we came up to visit her, not to wake her up because she was going back to heaven, so we went back home. We got the call at 3:00 in the morning that she had gone quietly in her sleep. My mother was a very special woman; my father was also; during this time of loss, I was angrier than anything else.

How could a wonderful God let her die like this? I was very angry and went wild and rebellious, and I found myself in a situation that no young girl would want to be in. I stayed home and told my father I was sick, and he finally found out that I was with child. He insisted that we get married. And so, I did. After the baby was born, I found out that this was not the marriage I was hoping to ever have. In the meantime, my father was introduced to a lovely woman, and they were married about a year after my mother died, as was prophesied, and she took care of him very well for over twenty-seven years until my father went to heaven.

After marrying my first husband, he started drinking again and became very abusive. He would get drunk and come home and beat me up because he had lost at darts and was drunk. He would threaten me with a knife, and my life turned into a nightmare. He held me captive, and after our second child was born, he threatened to kill the children and me—things went from bad to worse. He decided to call in sick at work, held a knife to my throat, and made me call my sister, use abusive language to her, and then he hung up. After that, he pulled the phone out of the wall, wires and all, and said he was going to kill us, meaning our two children and me. He held us captive for three days until the lady upstairs rang the doorbell; he said, Don’t tell her, or I’ll take her and kill her too. I answered the door and told her everything was okay, but she knew that was not the case because she saw the horror on my face. She didn’t believe what I was saying, so she called the police, and we were rescued. It didn’t last long because I knew he would try it again, and in desperation, I planned to take my own life. I asked him to take the children for a walk in the park. I told him I wanted to rest, and he agreed, and they left the apartment. I turned on the gas and sat in the chair by the stove; the next thing I remember was being dragged by my feet across the kitchen floor with my head bouncing on the floor toward the back of the door. When we got to the yard, he kept slapping my face to arouse me; I lived through this but was very angry. Thank God I was rescued; God had plans for my future.

Little did I know what the future would be like, but I decided I wanted to live and take care of my children. I was pregnant again, and bending over to take a can from the bottom shelf, I heard what sounded like a