Innholdsfortegnelse for Aug/Sept 2021 i Mysterious Ways

This year, my fiancé, Matt, lost his grandmother to Covid-19. Known as Mimi, she was the matriarch of the family. She presided over every gathering, dressed in the most fashionable clothes. And she always had a new restaurant to recommend. The last time we spoke to her, she had a restaurant in mind for us, delicious and not too expensive, right in our neighborhood. We didn’t have a chance to try it before she died. The loss was abrupt and unexpected. Matt’s family was devastated. One gray, rainy afternoon shortly after her funeral, Matt was driving home on the freeway and took a wrong turn. He peered through the downpour, trying to get his bearings. All of a sudden, the rain stopped, and the clouds parted to reveal a stunning…

When God sent my departed in-laws’ spirits in heaven to visit me in the middle of the night and they stayed for an hour, all doubts about the dead’s ability to communicate with us on earth simply melted away. Heavenly visits and signs combined with prayer can bring healing, peace and comfort to the bereaved, as well as reassurance that God loves us and cares about our sorrow. Christine Duminiak, AUTHOR OF AFTER-DEATH COMMUNICATIONS: GOD’S GIFT OF LOVE Love is the strongest force in the universe. Our love remains in our souls after death of the body. Driven by this bond of love, departed dear ones may communicate important messages to us—through our dreams, in meditations or even by appearing or whispering to us while we are fully awake. Such…

The news was unbearably tragic. My friend Ginny’s husband, Mark, had died. Only two summers earlier, we’d celebrated their marriage. Ginny and Mark had found true love in each other after they’d both been through painful divorces. It was a joyous wedding, full of laughter, toasts and excitement about new beginnings. At the end, Ginny had thrown the bouquet with gusto as all of our friends cheered. I’d left the celebration thanking God for giving my friend the fairy-tale ending she deserved. But it had been cut short. I wished I could teleport to Idaho—where they’d retired—and wrap Ginny in a big hug. Where was God in all of this? Why would he bring Mark into Ginny’s life just to take him away so soon? If only I knew then…

“Remember what Dad always told us,” my twin sister, Brenda, said as I took out my toolbox. “‘You can do anything you set your mind to.’” It was true that Dad never set limits on us. But building a new porch from scratch? Maybe that was pushing it. Initially I thought I would just be replacing a few of the rotten planks on my deck. That would have been an easy project, the kind of thing I’d been familiar with since I was a kid. When our parents decided to build a weekend cabin, Dad drew up the plans and enlisted Brenda and me as helpers. He showed us how to do everything from floor to ceiling. I had my own lightweight hammer, but sometimes he’d let me pound the…

Go to the _ rst-_ oor restroom. The thought that popped into my mind when I entered the hospital. I was confused—I didn’t need to use the restroom. I was there to visit my friend, who was recovering from surgery on the third floor. Every time I’d visited her in the past, I’d gone straight to the elevators and up to her room. But the feeling was insistent. I couldn’t shake it. Go into the restroom on the first floor. I walked into the restroom, unsure of what exactly I was doing there. I splashed some water on my face. Then checked the messages on my phone. This is ridiculous, I thought. As I left the restroom, I noticed an elderly woman directly outside the door, looking confused and worried.…

My sister Mib was sick with cancer for seven years. She fought it with characteristic courage, grace and her unique sense of humor. The summer before her death, I spent six weeks in Pennsylvania with our dad, helping care for her. We all knew she didn’t have much time left. Before I returned home to Arizona, we sat down in the living room to discuss whether or not I should return for her funeral. I’d already used up all of my vacation days. “You don’t have to come,” said Mib. “You were here when it counted.” Shortly after I returned home, she passed away. Even though Mib had told me I didn’t need to fly back, I still felt sad about not being there. As if I were missing out…

“I’ve taken up quilting,” my mother announced proudly over the phone one day. “That’s great, Mom,” I said. My 70-year-old mother was undergoing chemotherapy for a malignant tumor on her appendix—the latest complication in an 18-year battle with cancer, a battle I knew she would someday lose. Maybe soon. It broke my heart for more reasons than one. “I’m working on a quilt for your sister now,” she said. “Once I’m done, I’ll make one for you.” “Thank you.” She asked about the kids. We chatted about the weather. A little about my work as a nurse. Then we said our goodbyes. The conversation was short, polite and surface level, as always. Mom and I had never had what you would call a warm relationship. We never hugged. Never said…

Wait. What was the doll doing back in my shopping cart? I thought I’d returned it to the shelf. Mom. My 90-year-old mother had been drawn to the doll the moment we’d entered Goodwill. She must’ve snuck it back in when I wasn’t looking. It was a handmade fabric doll, with yellow yarn hair. Its eyes stared up at me. “Mom, we’re not getting this doll,” I said, taking it out of the cart again. “You already have so many things to work with.” “But I need this doll!” she said. Mom was excited. Her only grand daughter, Ashley, was getting married. For Mom, that meant a shopping spree at Goodwill to collect supplies for making wedding decorations. Mom had always been a big crafter, even more so in recent…

Oriental, North Carolina Rudy Armstong was going about his day on his houseboat when he realized something was terribly wrong. “I sat down in my chair, drank my coffee, and the next thing I know, it was after lunch,” he told WCTI-TV, “and I couldn’t even get my hand to move and my foot wouldn’t move.” Rudy was having a stroke. The 86-year-old veteran lives alone. His cell phone was out of reach, and no one was nearby, except for his pet Chihuahua mix, Bubu. “I didn’t want to be there for a couple of days before somebody would come by,” he said. “So I said, ‘Okay, Bubu, go get me some help.’” The dog ran off, found the dockmaster and led him back to Rudy. The dockmaster called the…

It seems incredible, but what if we had the chance to share in our loved ones’ journeys from this life to the next? In a mystical phenomenon known as a shared-death experience, people report that they have been given the chance to see into life after life as a dying family member or friend passes. Whether it’s a glimpse of heaven or an inexplicable visit from the person who is on the way there, these amazing encounters bring comfort, closure and evidence of the wonder that exists beyond. The Dream KIM CARROLL PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA For two weeks, my 82-year-old mother had been hospitalized with Covid-19. It was agonizing not being able to be with her and comfort her through her illness. It was touch-and-go for a while, and I…

Psychiatrist Bruce Greyson has interviewed more than 1,000 people who say they died and left their bodies, and then were given a glimpse of what awaits us in the hereafter. But it was an encounter not long after he began his psychiatric residency that inspired him to devote much of his career to the scientific study of near-death experiences, or NDEs. He was called to interview Holly, a woman who had been brought to the emergency room after attempting suicide by overdosing on pills. He rushed to her room to give her a psychiatric evaluation, buttoning his lab coat to cover up some spaghetti sauce that had stained his tie earlier. But Holly was still recovering and unable to answer his questions. So he went down the hall to interview her…

I don’t know about your cat, but my cat, Desmond, sees things. Things that I can’t see. Yes, he has senses more acute than mine—smell, hearing, etc. I’ll give him that. Still, that doesn’t explain the moments he seems transfixed by something invisible to me. Almost as if he can see into another dimension, another world. How is that possible? Dr. Linda Bender, a veterinarian and author of the book Animal Wisdom: Learning from the Spiritual Lives of Animals, believes that experiences like I have with Desmond occur because animals are more naturally attuned to the spirit ual world. “Humans have created so many obstacles for ourselves to that mystical connection,” she said. Consider these five stories that suggest that animals are more spiritually connected than we might imagine. And the…

The silver Jeep had been circling the neighborhood for a while. That in itself wasn’t unusual. But for some reason, this car caught my attention. I watched from my front porch as it passed the house again…then pulled to a stop in front of my mailbox. The man behind the wheel rolled down his window. “Are you Richard P. Lang?” he called out to me. “Yes?” I answered, confused. “But I go by Rick.” The man got out of the Jeep. So did a woman—his wife, I assumed. “Do you recognize this car?” he asked. I took a good look. It was my old Jeep Grand Cherokee! I’d traded it in at the dealership what seemed like a lifetime ago. “We’re from Kansas,” the man told me. “We’re on our…

After my husband, Greg, headed to bed, I settled into the couch to watch TV. My thoughts turned to my son, Eric, who had died unexpectedly at 19 years old from heart failure. I missed him every day. Usually I say my evening prayers in bed, but I felt compelled to do them in the living room. God, please say hi to Eric for me, I finished. I noticed something on the mantel. A white feather, upright, underneath a new photo of Greg and me with our dog. It was as if the feather had been placed there. I’d never seen one like that in our home before. The next morning, I asked Greg if he’d noticed it. “I looked at that photo on the way to bed last night,”…

Sara Touzard It was the first Thanksgiving since we’d lost my grandmother Margaret and my cousin Martha’s grandfather Bingo. We all decided to gather at Martha’s house for the holiday. Seated at the dining room table, we each said what we were thankful for. “I wish Grandma and Bingo were here tonight,” Martha said. “I miss them.” A few seconds later, we heard a huge thud from the living room. All of us jumped up and ran to see what had happened. A family photo with all of us, including Grandma and Bingo, had crashed to the ground. Thankfully, it wasn’t broken. But how had it fallen in the first place? We exchanged glances and couldn’t help but smile. Grandma and Bingo were there with us after all. Cindy Savage-Abel…

“Be in love with mysteries. They are there to prove your childlike trust in the Father.”—GABRIELLE BOSSIS (1874–1950) A trained nurse, playwright and actress, Gabrielle Bossis began to receive messages from God as a young child. This continued throughout her life. For decades, Gabrielle pursued God privately while touring as the lead actress in her plays. Then, in her sixties, she felt God’s call to write a book about his messages to her, so that others would know that intimacy with Christ is not just for those in cloisters but accessible to all. Published anonymous - ly in 1948, Lui et moi (or He and I) encouraged a deep relationship with God. As her health declined after a sudden illness in 1950, Gabrielle did not fear death but, rather, looked…