Mysterious Ways April - May 2018

One of Mysterious Ways’ biggest fans is a tabby cat named Seth. He belongs to Dana Apple, an animal rights lawyer and contributor to the magazine. Dana has many pets on her seven-acre farm in Missouri. But Seth (below) is in a class all his own. He’s chubby, lazy and doesn’t get along with any other animal on the farm. Except Layla, a cat who mistook Seth for her mother when they first met. Every so often, Dana sends me a funny message on Seth’s behalf. Two years ago, my sisters and I were having no luck finding an apartment in New York City. We had to leave the place we’d lived in for years because the rent had gone through the roof. Every apartment we looked at was too small…

Got a question for investigative genealogist Pamela Slaton? E-mail us at MW@Guideposts.org to share your puzzling adoption case. Secrets of Contemplative Prayer Senior Contributing Editor Rick Hamlin shares tips for connecting to the divine at Guideposts.org/PrayerSecrets Do Animals Grieve Like Humans? Read our exclusive Q&A with anthropologist Barbara J. King at Guideposts.org/AnimalGrief Mom Really Does Know Best! Our editors share their favorite mysterious mom stories at Guideposts.org/MomStories…

I climbed into my van, aka the Mom Mobile, and headed to the library where I worked evenings. Just on the highway, I got an urge to pray. Please, Lord, don’t let anything hit me! Why on earth had I prayed that? Okay, I’m a fearful driver. Highways, lane changes, parallel parking all make me nervous. I always prayed before getting on the road. But this prayer was so specific that I decided not to listen to my audiobook or the radio. I had to be super vigilant. I came up behind a beat-up pickup. The only other vehicle around. A bunch of two-by-fours was piled in its bed. Every time the truck hit a bump, the wood bounced. I peered closer. Nothing was tied down! No ropes or straps.…

Queens, New York Jerich Marco Alcantara, along with his friends and family, left almost two hours early from Queens to get to his graduation ceremony at the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing in Manhattan. The ride on the E subway train should have been 40 minutes. But someone pulled the emergency brake, and the trip ended up taking hours. Did that stop Jerich from celebrating? Not at all, reports CBS New York. Jerich and his fellow passengers put on an impromptu ceremony, complete with graduation music. His friend Bobby doodled a fake diploma on Jerich’s phone and presented it to him, much to the delight of the packed subway car. A video of the subway ceremony went viral. By the time Jerich made it to the real ceremony, it was long…

The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon’s first show after the death of his mother, Gloria, was an emotional one. Early in the program, Jimmy shared a memory of Gloria—one that even his crew had never heard before. “When we were little, my mom would walk us to the store, me and my sister, and we would hold hands,” Jimmy said, holding back tears. “She would squeeze my hand three times and say, ‘I love you.’ And I would squeeze back, ‘I love you too.’” In the hospital, a week earlier, Jimmy had held his mom’s hand and squeezed, “I love you,” one last time. The show moved on. Jimmy’s producer, Mike DiCenzo, and crew had arranged a surprise musical performance by Taylor Swift. “She was not scheduled to do our…

I couldn’t shake the funny feeling to go to the Fast Fare convenience store on my lunch break. The store was a bit of a hike. I’d already packed a lunch. I didn’t need any more snacks or soda. But the urge wouldn’t go away. So I grabbed my coat and purse. Make it quick, I told myself. I’m a medical documentation specialist at a hospital clinic. I have paramedic and nursing experience, so I love nothing more than the hustle and bustle of a busy practice. Most days, I barely had a minute to breathe, let alone time for a lunch break. Yet here I was, driving to a convenience store because of some feeling. I entered the store. There was no one else besides the clerk behind the…