An interesting experience

  • Thread starter Thread starter omegapd
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
O

omegapd

Guest
Hi All,

First off, let me say that I don’t believe in bumps in the night being ghosts or nonsense like that. I have spent the last 16 years as a police officer and have had some odd experiences on many midnight shifts that I can’t explain but with one exception, none of them were ghost-like. That said, I do believe in angels and demons. Unfortunately, the angelic signs are few and far between in today’s world (the one experience I did have that couldn’t be rationally explained was angelic in nature to me but that’s not what’s on my mind tonight).

I was born and raised Catholic and fell away from organized religion altogether when I left high school and moved away to college. God brought me back to the church in 2005- after being gone for about 12 years. Even then, up until 2 years ago, I was “in church” but not involved in church. I went most Sundays, sat in the back, never spoke to anyone and snuck out before the coffee and donuts. Luckily, my wife and kids did not take this same route and became very social in the church. In my defense, I was working a lot of hours, lots of midnight shifts (stayed on them for about 12 years straight because I liked them) and just wanted to go home and go to sleep after a long night- not hang out in church after it was over with.

A year and a half ago, I was promoted to Chief. This gave me the majority of Sundays off and also put me on day shift 100% of the time. I finally became a “member” of my Church! I can only attribute all the blessings I’ve received since as God pushing me into more service work. The loner in me disappeared over night. All the anxieties I had about being around other people vanished. I volunteered for everything I could- teaching CCD, going to pot luck suppers and prayer groups, Eucharistic Adoration, going to schools and talking to kids about drugs, YMCA programs, volunteering with Special Olympics, etc. If I could do it, I did. I was a changed person and know that God did this to me.

Apparently, it wasn’t enough! I decided to run for Parish Council and was elected. I was asked to join KoC and have my first meeting next Monday. I was literally pushed into the confessional 2 weeks ago- for the first time in 23 years. 👍 Again, this is God taking control over me. I had a huge desire to do this after hating confession my whole life. I got into my truck and drove to the church and met the Pastor in his office and asked for a time to hear my confession. After that, the signs pushing me got even stronger. St. Joseph got put into my head. I had never thought of St. Joseph as a saint I wanted to have a devotion with. It was never ending thoughts, though, so I started adding a few prayers to him, also. A few days after that, I got the desire to start fasting. Again, this came out of the blue but it hit me like a slap in the face. I stayed on a fairly strict fast the last 4 days- bread, fruit, and the occasional salad. I’m still eating, but nowhere near what I used to and am adding in a lot of prayers and rosary time to go along with it.

So, now, to the point of this whole thread…and again, I don’t believe in ghosts or monsters under the bed…I was in my bedroom last night during some quiet time. The kids were on the other end of the house playing games and my wife had gone to the gym. I heard a very loud and very audible sigh come from behind me. I wasn’t frightened, and it almost seemed like it didn’t take me by surprise, either. I turned and of course no one was there. Again, I’ve been in certain situations where my heart pounded and the hair on my body stood up by hearing this type of noise when you didn’t expect it. Never happened. If anything, I was more calm afterward than I was before I heard it.

Anyway, I just wanted to share and see if anyone had some feedback. I just have to be patient and see where this new chapter leads me. I have never been this excited about the future! God is awesome and I know he has more in store for me.

God Bless and sorry for the rambling…
 
I had a very similar experience five or six months ago… I was home alone and walking from our living room through our dining room (on my way upstairs) and heard a female sigh behind me and to the right coming from the corner of the dining room. I reacted the same way you did.
 
I think I’m going to love this thread.

Here’s my story - I have an autoimmune disease. My sister has one as well (two different ones) and we are both history enthusiasts, but also pretty sick (she more than I). I took her to Philadelphia for her 40th birthday. She had a catheter in her chest and I need a daily nap to make it through the day. To make a long story short, I had everything lined up for us to make it easy for us to enjoy the trip: I had a wheelchair (if either of us needed to use it), I booked the hotel directly across the street from Independence Hall, etc.

The day after we arrived, I couldn’t get out of bed. I was exhausted, and here I needed to be the strength for my sister and I couldn’t get out of bed. I prayed the Rosary, but kept falling asleep on it. I was so worried that here we were, directly kitty-corner from Independence Hall and we wouldn’t be able to go there because I was too weak to get out of bed. I prayed that I could have “just enough” energy to make it through the day.

While I was laying there, I distinctly heard a woman’s voice speak into my ear - I could FEEL it as if someone was speaking softly in my ear. I even felt my hair move slightly as if someone was really there. It said, “Good luck” and immediately I had “just enough” energy. It wasn’t a surge of energy, but it was enough to get me out of bed and out the door. We had a wonderful day that day and I ended up NOT needing my daily nap. In fact, our whole trip went so well! I’ve been sleeping it off since then, but I had enough energy each day to get through touring the city with my sister.

I also felt the same way you felt - no fear at all. Though I did get up immediately - I felt like I was pretty much commanded to get up. 😃

I told my sister about this a couple of days later and she started to cry. She said she was praying for me all night that I’d have energy to make it through the day. Love her so much!
 
Phenomena like this is common, but still not fully understood and accounted for by the Church. I can speak from experience of myself and others though that it definitely sounds as if you are experiencing a gracious blessing from God, but we just don’t know what it is. If there’s anything you’ll learn from your experience of transformation back into the Church it’s that God works in mysterious and sometimes unlikely ways. You sound like you’re going through a very spiritual time with yourself and others (including God), which can to some extent explain some weird feelings or noises you may come across. My advice would be to pray, silently on your own locked in your room free from all disturbances and meditate deeply on your thoughts with God. Sometimes the gracious feelings of mercy and blessings God gives our hearts can feel/sound so clear that we almost interpret it as audible communication.

Ask a priest for some more deep information if you like. They’l be able to explain it to you more, but for now dwell onto it yourself, just don’t let too much of the whole 'ghosts-realms-black spirits" stuff enter your mind too much. It sounds like you are going through a great time, as many do when they go consecutive time so closely connected to God with fasting, prayer, participation etc. Keep it up, stay strong and faithful, and keep fasting and praying!

I had similar experiences in my time as well. In my prime days of closeness with God, I would suffer health-wise at times which became a huge spiritual connection for me. I felt as if God was using me as a source of relieving others’ pain and anguish, especially those who are trapped in Purgatory (I was quite often praying for mercy/deliverance of suffering souls at the time). I’d recommend you look into the same thing when you have everything sorted.

ewtn.com/devotionals/novena/Purgatory.htm

I’d also recommend you read up on Maria Simma (getusoutofhere.com/)

and Our Lady of Medjugorje
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Me%C4%91ugorje

God Bless
 
Wow. It’s great to hear these amazing stories. I’m sure God has more in store for you. I had a similar experience. Unlike yours though, my experience involved a full-on, absolutely physical, audible voice that told me an answer to something I had prayed about a few months earlier. I wrote about this in another thread a few days ago but I’ll tell it again:

This incident occured after I got face down on the floor in my bedroom and prayed very emotionally that God would end my loneliness and find me a husband. About four months later, I was working in my sandwich shop I co-owned with my sister, and the only customer in the place was a stranger sitting at a small table by the window. This was a very small restaurant, and it was very quiet in there. There was only myself, my sister, and this stranger eating his sandwich. Suddenly I heard an audible voice that came from directly behind me, and rather loud, too. The voice said, “You’re going to marry him!” I was shocked out of my skull! I remember holding my breath and feeling like my hair was standing on end. I had a strong desire to turn around and see who or what was standing behind me, but I knew no one was there, so I didn’t turn around. It was very shocking, but not frightening. Neither my sister nor the stranger heard it, and they were less than 5 feet away. The next day, the stranger came in and asked me out. We’ve been inseparable for over 20 years now. The reason why he immediately came back to ask me out? He confessed to me that he had a vivid dream (on the same night that I had heard the voice!). In the dream, he heard a voice that told him, “You have just met your wife!”. On the very same night I heard the audible voice in my restaurant, he had a dream telling him the same message. The voice I heard did not sound like a man or a woman. It was completely asexual. I noticed that right away, which makes me think it was an angel that was delivering the message. It did sound totally normal and human. It was fairly loud, too. I remember walking around like a zombie the rest of the day. It was really hard to concentrate on my work. I was astonished that I heard it, but I know I did. I never had any doubts then or now. And the other amazing thing about this is that I was a fallen-away Catholic, and the “stranger” (my husband) is and always was a faithful Catholic. Because of him, I returned to the one, true, holy, apostolic, church. 🙂
 
I once read this book: “ I Dared to Call Him Father” by Bilquis Sheik. Her remarkable journey from Islam to Christianity started with experiences such as yours omegapd.
Remarkable!
 
🍿

I have nothing to add at this point, but want to make sure to follow this very interesting thread! 🙂
 
This one didn’t happen to me but to my mother. She and my grandmother were on a road trip and she was driving one rainy night on the interstate. Suddenly, she heard a very distinct voice (that wasn’t my grandma’s) urgently say, “Slow down!” As soon as she did, the car in front of her hydroplaned and spun off the road. If she hadn’t had slowed down they would have been hit. She always said she felt it was her guardian angel looking out for them. She felt an overwhelming peace right afterwards, instead of being afraid.

As for my own experience, this one I have no doubt in my mind that it was my guardian angel. I lived in the northeast for about 17 years. The last few months I lived downtown and not in the best of neighborhoods. I worked late and was walking from the bus stop to my apartment, when someone grabbed me from behind and dragged me into an alley of sorts. It was a dead-end, very narrow, with no steps or fire escapes, windows, or anything at the end. When the attacker tried to do what he was going to do to me, someone at the dead end of the alley yelled out, “Hey!” I remember seeing someone, although I couldn’t really say what he looked like. It was enough to make my attacker run. When I turned back to thank whomever it was who helped me, there was no one there! No place he could have gone and if he had run past, I would have seen him, since it was very narrow, as I said. I still to this day believe my guardian angel helped me out of a potentially horrifying experience. It was shortly after I moved back home to Kentucky and have been very blessed since! 😃
 
Wow, everyone- thanks for all the replies so far!
Domiy said:
(I was quite often praying for mercy/deliverance of suffering souls at the time).
Click to expand...
Surprisingly, the prayer for souls in purgatory has been in my “rotation” for about a week! I found this prayer in my son’s old First Communion book and have been adding it in to my prayer time more and more each day. 🙂 I did not see the possible correlation until you mentioned it. Thank you so much!
 
Thanks so much for these wonderful stories,

To the OP, congrats on deciding to join the knights. It is a wonderful organization. My comment to you is “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”. Thanks so much for your service !! IF you are ever in Bethesda look us up at Rock Creek council # 2797 on 5417 W. Cedar lane, the rounds on us, just show them your badge and tell them the DD sent you.
 
This has happened twice and I am 50/50 on whether it was supernatural or not. Can’t remember when but it has been a while since it happened.

I was laying in bed, my room is pitch black. I see this white flash of light, almost like a camera flash. It lasted for a solid 2 or 3 seconds. At first I was REALLY terrified I jumped up in bed, my heart racing and everything. Then all of a sudden was was completely filled with peace and serenity when I thought to myself “maybe it is an angel”.

The skeptic in me says it was a trick of the eye, like when you look at the sun and look away there is a blotch or two in your line of vision.
 
omegapd said:
Wow, everyone- thanks for all the replies so far!

Surprisingly, the prayer for souls in purgatory has been in my “rotation” for about a week! I found this prayer in my son’s old First Communion book and have been adding it in to my prayer time more and more each day. 🙂 I did not see the possible correlation until you mentioned it. Thank you so much!
Click to expand...
No problem at all, glad you’ve already taken up the initiative. As I said, if you’re already in the habit of praying for souls in Purgatory, I’d strongly recommend the Novena over 9 days. Each daily prayer takes about 5 minutes, and they incorporate a small recommendation at the end where you can request your own assistance from them. I’d done so many times whenever I’m faced with something difficult.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top