In 1987, an extraordinary thing happened to Annie Kirkwood, a retired nurse living quietly in a Dallas suburb. In her mind she began to sense the presence of the Virgin Mary, entrusting to her messages of vital importance to the world. Annie Kirkwood protested that she was not the right choice -- she wasn't even Catholic. But Mary insisted that she had chosen Annie deliberately, as a sincere seeker of spiritual truth who was not a church insider, and who could be trusted to transmit Mary's teachings in plain language to ordinary people.