This event occurred before I’d found out about Tom’s secret life, but after he’d passed away. I was still avidly reading and exploring people who’d had psychic experiences like I was having.

My background was strictly scientific. My father flew all around the world designing nuclear reactors. The science to accomplish this is incredibly precise and exacting, not to mention dangerous.

Growing up, I thought about God on Sundays, but my father always stressed the importance of getting my math calculations correct down to the very last decimal place, or else.

This event happened after I had become a widow. I found out that The Exorcist author William Peter Blatty had written a new book about his son’s death. It’s called, “Finding Peter: A True Story of the Hand of Providence and Evidence of Life After Death.”

He wrote very movingly of how, prior to his son’s funeral, he desperately prayed for a very specific sign from his son so he would know for sure that his son was still there, on the other side. The sign he asked for was a blue rose. However, he was unaware that blue roses do not exist in nature.

At the funeral, there were roses of every color, but, of course, no blue roses. By the time he arrived at the cemetery, he’d given up looking for them in despair. But, as the procession passed the newly decorated grave of a veteran, he suddenly noticed red, white and dyed blue roses in a patriotic arrangement. Blatty knew he’d received the sign he’d prayed for; he’d gotten his blue rose. His son was okay and loved him.

As I read this, I began to feel pretty sorry for myself. How I envied the faith of a man like Blatty, because he wasn’t afraid to ask God for a sign. And God had so very obligingly sent him exactly what he asked for: the unlikely blue roses.

I was quite sure I would never have the gall or the courage to put God to the test by asking for a sign from my husband. I knew I would undoubtedly be very disappointed and feel like a total fool when I didn’t get my sign.

Why? Because I knew I really didn’t have that kind of strong faith. So, yes, I had my own little pity party that night, envying those like Blatty who had such simple and powerful faith and such unscientific beliefs.

The next morning, I was shopping at my local Fred Meyer’s store, and as I was checking out, one of my friends who works there suddenly appeared at my side and handed me a red rose, saying, “It’s ‘give a rose to a friend day’. This is my last rose and I want to give it to you.”

I could hardly believe it. And I will never forget that moment. Never. Or my friend, Connie.

I cried the whole drive home. I had gotten my rose! God had heard me and sent me a rose.

He wanted me to know for sure that he heard me, and he let my husband send me a sign that he loved me and was okay. All the math and scientific formulas in the world, couldn’t make that happen. And just to be doubly sure I knew who the message was from, that morning happened to be a Sunday.

Of course, theologians have their own interpretations of the Doubting Thomas story, but, to me, it’s very clear that Thomas had a scientific nature, much like my own.

To quote from the bible, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.” Thomas applied the scientific method to the resurrected Jesus.

From the bible, again: “Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Jesus didn’t ignore Thomas’ need for physical proof; he understood and came back to give it to him.

Scientists, nurses, doctors, plumbers, architects, computer programmers, pilots, pharmacists, and many others today, are highly trained to be doubting Thomas’s. To believe something without proof would be grounds for dismissal from your job and might even cause someone’s death.

Perhaps it’s no accident that in this age of science, there are so many who struggle to believe in God.

Maybe this Age of Doubting Thomas’s is also why there are so many psychics and mediums on television and in books demonstrating very convincing evidence of a greater spiritual reality.

To quote the bible, “Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.”

Nevertheless, Jesus understood that some people have to see to believe. I’m very grateful that when I had too little faith to ask God for a sign, he sent me one just to give me proof. Not a metaphor, not a vision, but a real red rose that I could see and touch so that I could believe, and not be a doubting Thomas anymore.