The story of how Yael and Doug Powell came together is sweet and carries the stamp of the irresistible magnetism of Twin Flames. In October of 1986, Doug was living alone in a house that he had built in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The house was struck by lightning one evening and burned to the ground. Following this event, Doug moved temporarily into in the home of close friends who were travelling. He was grateful for the space and was caring for their dog, but he was also feeling alone and miserable. The house was solar powered, and the wood stove for winter had not yet been installed. He was cold and feeling homeless. He prayed to God, “God, I really want to go home.”
The following weekend was the yearly gathering of the Midwest SUFI camp in a location in Oklahoma, west of Fayetteville, Arkansas, where Yael lived. Doug made arrangements to go with a friend from Eureka Springs. At the same time, a friend of Yael’s in Fayetteville said to her, “I’m going to kidnap you and take you to SUFI camp today.” That was a miraculous offer because at that time, Yael who suffered most of her life from a disease of the spine (ankylosing spondylitis) was in bed the greater part of the day with her hips elevated on an air mattress and her head and shoulders on the floor. She only got out of bed for brief periods each day. She did take a short drive around the block in her car every day to maintain her contact with the outside world, but she needed a home health care nurse to come in and help with cooking and necessities.
Nevertheless, this friend was as good as his word. He recruited some helpers, and they put Yael’s bed in the back of a van and took her to the gathering. At the SUFI conference, she was placed on her mattress on the stage behind the teacher who was leading the session.
Doug noticed her immediately. He recalls that one of the SUFI people from the camp was giving her a lot of attention, and Doug felt pangs of jealousy! He had the thought, “Get away from her!” The lunch period took place in a different location, and Yael’s friends had carried her there with one walking on either side, lifting her by her arms. She was seated with her lunch and talking to a man Doug knew. He recalls that he could not take his eyes off of her, as he ate his lunch three tables away.
He quickly finished his meal and hurried over to her table. “Hey, aren’t you going to introduce me?” he asked his friend. Yael and Doug exchanged a brief conversation, but soon it was time to go back to the main presentation room. Again, Yael was settled in her bed on the stage behind the teacher, but this time, Doug sat beside her bed with her. They couldn’t really speak to each other, as the teacher was giving a talk only about ten feet away. They spent the three hours of the presentation looking in each other’s eyes, without saying anything. Doug recalls falling totally in love with her, and feels that their connection was sealed immediately. This was especially interesting since Doug describes himself at that time as a “playboy,” seldom staying long in a romantic relationship. Yael herself had been in a semi-serious relationship with another man.
Yael did give Doug her phone number, but since he did not write it down, she later admitted that she did not expect to hear from him again. (He had memorized it.) She left with the people who brought her, returning to her home in Fayetteville in public housing. Doug stayed at the camp and participated in the events of the following day. During that day, Yael was always on his mind. When, at the end of the events, the person sharing a ride home with Doug had a change of plans, Doug drove to Fayetteville, found a phone booth and called Yael. He asked if he could come to see her. She said she would love that and gave him directions.
Doug moved in with her for the rest of her life. They stayed in Fayetteville through the winter, and in the spring, Doug moved her to Eureka Springs, his home town. He built a complex ramp on the home they were to occupy so that she could get in and out of the house. It was the first of many accommodations Doug built to enable Yael to expand her social life.
Her Fayetteville friends were very concerned about the move, as they felt protective of Yael, and she had established a strong support system around her. However, a personal event occurred on December 14, two months after they had met, which cemented the pathway of both of their lives. As they both awoke during one night, they spontaneously spoke vows to each other, though they were half asleep. Later on, they asked each other, “Did we get married last night?” It was a Sunday. The couple dressed in white and went out on what was a weekly outing to a little restaurant for brunch (almost the only time they ever socialized, for Yael’s ability to move about was so compromised). They told their friends at the restaurant that they had gotten married, and the restaurant treated them to brunch.
Yael and Doug consecrated their marriage several other times through spiritual ceremonies, once with a large gathering of friends and more than once with a vow renewal. Though Yael and Doug had to surmount many challenges in their relationship, complicated by the intensity and the complexity of her physical condition, they never left each other’s side. Doug cared for her through many illnesses and was a devoted life-long caregiver. She returned to God in January 2018. Their powerful attraction reflected their creation by God at the Moment of Creation as a Twin Flame couple.