Innholdsfortegnelse for October - November 2016 i Mysterious Ways

Back in July, the last company to make VCRs ceased production—the final nail in the coffin for those boxy VHS tapes, once the gold standard for recording our movies, messages and memories. My mother lamented how just 20 years ago, she’d spent hours transferring all our home videos from 8-mm film to VHS. “Now I’ll have to convert them all to DVDs!” “Mom, DVDs are on their way out too,” I told her gently. She threw up her hands. “Well, what now?” For my parents’ generation, who were children at a time when radio was king and a black-and-white television was a luxury item, the rapid development of communications technology has been pretty hard to keep pace with. My dad, an attorney, still dictates letters for his secretary to type.…

Dr. Raymond Moody has dedicated his life to the afterlife. The 72-year-old psychiatrist, philosopher and researcher is known as the dean of near-death-experience (NDE) studies, thanks to his groundbreaking 1975 bestseller, Life After Life. Mysterious Ways sat down with Dr. Moody to discuss the great beyond, the “nonsense of dying” and his own trip to the outskirts of eternity. When did you first become fascinated by the afterlife? When I was growing up, in Georgia, there were people all around me who believed in the afterlife. But my parents regarded religion with a certain amount of bemusement. They weren’t atheists, they were just not interested. I went to the University of Virginia in 1962 and decided to study philosophy. A lot of the great early philosophers, like Plato, were interested…

I never realized there were so many music boxes! Shelves and shelves of them filled the Country Village store, in every shape and size, playing a hundred different songs. I spotted one that seemed made just for me: a miniature old-fashioned sewing machine that played “Buttons and Bows” when wound. I sewed my first dress on a machine like that, the dress that won the blue ribbon at the Evergreen State Fair. The beginning of a lifelong passion for sewing. “Why don’t you get it, Lori?” my sister-in-law Kathy said when she caught me admiring it. “After all, it’s your birthday.” “No, no.” I shook my head. “We’re here for Meghan.” My niece was starting kindergarten, and Kathy wanted to get her a music box to mark the occasion. I’d…

Memphis, Tennessee A Memphis resident named Anita Irby began praying as soon as she saw the horrific accident: “The Blood of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus! Come on, come on. Hurry up and get him out of there!” According to WREG News Chan-nel 3, a 2014 Jeep Laredo heading eastbound on Route 385 had been sideswiped, then crashed into a metal pole and caught fire. Good Samaritans worked frantically to free the driver, who begged them to save themselves and let him die. Just when all hope seemed lost, police arrived and pulled the man free. Moments later, the car was engulfed in flames. Once the fire was extinquished, police were stunned to find another survivor: a Holy Bible on the passenger seat, completely unscathed. “I’m always in awe of…

I lost my father to a heart attack when I was 15. He was only 48 years old. Two weeks before, he had gone in for his annual exam and the doctor had given him a clean bill of health. One morning he was alive; that night he was dead. In the aftermath of his death, my mom and three older siblings often recounted the last words Dad said to them, the last moments they spent together. For a long time, I didn’t tell anyone about my last encounter with him. I wasn’t sure anyone would understand it. I wasn’t sure I understood it myself. Dad worked the four-to-midnight shift as a laboratory supervisor at Faulkner Hospital, five minutes away from our house. He was a great provider but not…

The signs that our family members who’ve passed on have made it to heaven are there—they abound in our everyday lives, as any Mysterious Ways reader will tell you. Unbeknownst to their creators, these artworks delivered a divine message to three families who’d lost someone, assuring them that their loved ones had made it to their final resting place. Tracy Frank’s parents were happily married for 68 years. In love to the end, they died within a year of each other. The night before her father passed away, he called Tracy and said he was going home. At the view-ing, Tracy saw that on the inside of the lid of the casket he’d bought when he was still alive was an image of birds flying and those same words, Going…

There’s a part of my family that I thought would always remain a mystery. I know we’re Assyrian, descended from the very first Christians in southeastern Turkey, some of the few remaining people in the world who speak Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke and prayed in. I know that more than half of our people, as many as 750,000 souls, perished in the Assyrian genocide, or Sayfo—the Aramaic word for “sword”—that took place alongside the Armenian genocide during World War I. But I know very little about those who died, those who came before my grandparents. Who were they? What were they like? What were their dreams? Those questions came to mind on my visit to the “Stitching History from the Holocaust” exhibit that was on loan to the…

A commotion broke out at the free clinic while I was with a patient. When you provide medical and dental care for so many people in desperate need, you get used to occasional disturbances. We see as many as 90 patients a day, and the curtains that separate our exam rooms don’t block any noise. What was the hubbub about now? I hurried outside and found two patients, Karissa and Brandy, locked in an embrace, surrounded by my staff. The two women were hugging so tightly, no one could pull them apart! A nurse filled me in on what had happened. Karissa had been sitting in the waiting room when she heard another patient talking in one of the curtained-off exam rooms. “That’s my sister’s voice!” she said. Their charts…

Musician Gordon Sumner, best known as Sting, sang “I lost my belief in the holy church” in his hit song “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You.” But his relationship with religion is more nu-anced than that. Raised in a working-class Catholic family in Newcastle, England, the former Police front man grew up to be a self-described “hard-nosed pragmatist,” who thought the miraculous stories in the Bible, while beautiful, were impossible myths. In an interview with the Irish Times a few years ago, however, Sting spoke at length about why he had recently reopened the door to faith: “I would intellectually tell you everything is as it is. But I’ve also had experiences…which have shaken my material foundation.…” Sting and his wife, Trudie, were living in an old cottage…

What was my grandmother Filomena warning me about? For the second night in a row she’d visited my dreams, speaking to me with a worried expression, but I couldn’t quite decipher her message. My grandmother lived with my family when I was a kid. She helped around the house and made life easier for us. At age 67, her heart gave out in her sleep. Her health had been good. Losing her so suddenly was a shock. Throughout the years, during difficult times, she comforted me in dreams. But this was the first time she was so alarmed. The third night, I had the dream again. Finally I understood: She wanted me to go to the hospital. I woke up shaking. Otherwise I felt fine. What could be wrong? Then…

If it wasn’t for Richard, you wouldn’t be reading this right now. I never would have written it. I didn’t call myself a writer. I didn’t believe I’d ever get published. There were a lot of things I didn’t believe. Richard’s words changed that. His love changed what I thought was possible. We met in an AOL chat room for writers. I had just bought my first computer, and started writing poetry as a hobby. Richard was a professional storyteller, performing his work for crowds in state parks. He lived in Oregon and brought to life true incidents from the history of the Oregon Trail. He’d published books and written poetry. I was almost embarrassed to share my small-town Mississippi musings with a real writer. The surprising thing was, he…

1 Have you ever heard God’s voice? A Yes, definitely B No, definitely not C Not sure, but I think so D Not sure, probably not 2 How would you describe God’s voice? A An audible voice from an unseen source B A thought or idea that I wouldn’t have had on my own C A nudge or gut feeling D Phrases or verses that come out of the blue 3 If you’ve heard God’s voice, how often? A Only once B Once a day C Several times a year D A few times throughout my life 4 At what time do you usually hear God’s voice? A First thing in the morning B Middle of the day C Before bedtime D Late at night 5 Where do you typically…

Why would I bring leftover flowers from Sunday’s service to a Wendy’s restaurant? Every Monday, I deliver these flowers to unsuspecting people. While I get them ready, I ask God where they should go. I’ve brought them to nursing homes, hospitals, the police station or the small businesses on the same block as my church. But never before to a fast-food chain. This was a peculiar urge! Would the manager even be okay with me greeting customers at the door? To my relief, he smiled and said, “Of course!” I stood by the entrance and welcomed everyone coming in for the lunch rush with a pink carnation. One mother with her teenage daughter beamed when I handed them their flowers. “You won’t believe it,” she said, “but it’s my other…

Shirley Searight My younger brother Michael died of a heart attack when he was only 20 years old. His death was a terrible blow to our family—even to his dog, a German shepherd named Boy that he’d raised from a puppy. Boy had always been a lively, playful dog, full of energy and great with kids. He was mischievous too, in a way that made us laugh. But without Michael around, he moped around the house, all his spirit gone. Didn’t even wag his tail. Lost his appetite. His grief was obvious. A couple of weeks after Michael’s death, my father went to the back porch to bring Boy in for the night. He found him outside, lying on the ground under Michael’s bedroom window, lifeless. He was only six…