Which has been the strongest experience of God you’ve had in your life?

[kikiki32]

Hi again: I’ve been offline for a few days. You’ve shared really nice stories!

I can explain a bit better mine:

In my country there’s a very famous statue of Mary associated with an apparition. There’s a tradition that lets children that haven’t received yet their first Holy Communion walk in pairs
When I was 8, I visited the city of where the statue is located with my parents and with their friends, who had a daughter around my age. Our parents offered us to walk under the cloak. So we accepted it as some kind of game. I remember that the very moment the cloak touched me I felt like a great and nice shiver all over my body that made me feel protected, happy and at complete peace. I entered there half rebellious, stubborn and unruly… and I got out with the wish of obeying my parents at absolutely everything, well behaving and being a good kid. Even my mother was surprised.

---

@adamhovey1988 Would you mind to elaborate a little bit on that?

@jochoa This is really nice! I have very little patience, so I must continue working on it (sigh!).

@Hodos It’s surprising that you have such an early memory. I find that fact as a funny one! I think my earliest one is around 2.5/3 yo.

 

[TheIttyBitty]

I was raised Roman Catholic. In the autumn of 2019, I spent time being a bit touristy in the RC Churches and Cathedrals over in Spain, both with my mom and my bf (now fiance) at the time. Went to Mass a couple times with them. I’d been so outside of the Church at that point, something kept telling me to pray. I began to pray. This wasn’t even telepathy or anything, just an urge that things were this bad for me within myself, the discord within myself…so I began to pray a lot. I’d pray silently to myself, and I still struggled. So then early January (maybe late December?), I decided I better pray a Rosary every day. I then began saying several Rosaries a day, but nothing else…still wasn’t going to Church. Then, things happened, well…it seemed almost immediately, bad things happening in the world.

But how does this fit this topic? I stopped praying. This didn’t help me, and then when word was going around that Churches were being forced not to open in certain places (locally, Church was still happening), I decided, hey, I better start praying. So I had been not saying the Rosary for maybe a month or two? Then, I say the Rosary again, and again, not just one Rosary, but this time other prayers as well.

I began experiencing things at this point, little things. A voice here, a smell there. I’ve now smelled flowers two times that I recall, and both were in excess of reason (no flowers around, not that many flowers anywhere nearby, etc). This continues, as it also happened yesterday. Very recently, there’s much more peacefulness in my life than there had been. Instead of allowing myself to be swayed by someone else’s stress, I try to be very willing. I still struggle, but I don’t feel so much like I’m fighting myself anymore, if that makes sense.

This year I’ve seen substantial spiritual growth. I also know there is so much more. Praying still can feel tedious, or as though it’s a chore, but it became much less so, or just so much easier, and much more satisfying. It’s so obvious when I have gone without praying longer than I usually would. Life is so different for me. I’m far from perfect, but the desire and striving is there in a way that it wasn’t as a child, and that I lost as I got older/reached adulthood.

 

[Dan_Defender]

Your post reminded me of the words of St Teresa of Avila: prayer is the greatest of the blessings of this life, the channel through which God grants us favors, the beginning of every virtue.

 

[rivera01]

I can truly appreciate what you mean. But if I can offer some advice based on my life experience.

When I was dating my ex-wife, I started going to Mass and attending youth retreats. We civilly married in 2000 and kept going to Mass and was part of the local prayer group. We sacramentally married in 2003 and moved to Arizona.

We stopped praying, going to Mass, etc., and our marriage felI apart and we divorced in 2009, she took our children with her. I was devastated and feel into depression, I went back to church, but my healing process took time. During this time I received so many spiritual consolations that I cannot enumerate.

As I stated to grow spiritually, I went to a dry phase where no consolations were received. I became lukewarm and attended Mass out of obligation and because I wanted to set a good example to my children, but I was not attentive. I eventually stopped praying and made my last confession in (during that time) in July 2019.

Covid-19 happened, fear and panic started to overcome my life. I realized that everything that is happening is a sign from God and I returned maybe my confession this May. I stumbled and went back to confession.

Now why am I telling you all this? Since I came back, praying hasn’t become tedious or a chore to me, as a matter of fact it brings me joy to know that I can talk to God, Our Lady, the saints, and especially my guardian angel. This is because I realized what an ungrateful and sinful person I am, and remember all He had given me and see that He didn’t deserve me turning my back to Him. I feel back into the world after what He did for me and see that I do not deserve anything from Him. But I realize now why I feel again, why I went back to the world and why He called me back now. I am not telling you this to make you feel guilty, bad or unworthy, I’m just letting you know what my experience was and what had helped me get my prayer life in motion.

 

[toddy]

drac16

3d

About two years ago, I was about to go to sleep, when all of a sudden, I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me. He said “No! don’t go to sleep yet. I want you to pray for unity in the church”. So I prayed that prayer and then went to sleep. I have asked the Lord, numerous times, if it was really Him who spoke to me that night, and He has always said “Yes, that was me”.

He sounded sweet, but also authoritative.

Drac16, pls do not feel bad, just to help you to discern.
His voice is love, not sweet! the voice of the king of all kings.

 

[GodIsPerfection]

Way back in 1974, I was on a road trip with my father. It was about 10 PM and I was driving. We were traveling westbound from Holbrook, Arizona. I-40 (divided four-lane) was under construction. Ten miles west of Holbrook, the highway construction narrowed to two-lane pavement with traffic in both directions.

As I made a gradual leftward curve in the highway, downhill, I was suddenly greeted by two semi-tractor-trailer trucks coming uphill at me. The truck in my lane was attempting to pass the truck in the opposing lane, and the entire roadway was filled with truck at close, and rapidly decreasing range.

I looked at four truck headlights and two truck grills in the night. I cringed and said under my breath “This is it! I’m dead!”

At the last second, the truck ahead of me veered to the shoulder on my right (there were cinders flying from among the orange construction cones). In effect, our car was now driving at 70 mph into a slightly widening canyon of semi trucks, from which we emerged completely unscathed.

Then, the night around the car was lit with giant, silent, flashing orbs of light (maybe six or ten of them), and I had the exhilarating feeling that my “reset” button had been punched. The lights lasted for several seconds, then vanished. I believe that these were manifestations of angels. I literally physically felt the hand of God had saved my father and I.

So, why did God give me this experience? Why didn’t we just drive down the highway without this experience? 1.) God wanted to show me he existed; 2.) God wanted to show me that he loves me; 3.) God wanted to demonstrate that he is all-powerful and can protect me, even when I can’t protect myself.

My father was asleep at the time. He could be a cranky fellow about my driving. I related this incident to him twenty years later.

 

[TheIttyBitty]

It doesn’t always feel like a chore or tedious, but I seem to forget the peace that overwhelms me when I’ve finished any prayers, such that just the initiating of prayer is what is the tedium now. Once I start, it’s much more bothersome to stop, where interruptions seem more spiritually painful than they used to be. This aspect is new, but I don’t foresee it changing. I understand many Saints will go through very dry phases, but this hasn’t felt like that for me. My spirituality feels slowly more and more, to be growing.

To note: I don’t have the same lukewarm feelings I had when I was a child. Any dry spells, I understand entirely will happen and anticipate them–those dry spells won’t change my opinion on the need for prayer, nor will I change how I feel about God at this point. It’s written on my soul, on my heart. No trauma could happen to me at this point that will change that; I look at the world entirely through different eyes now (citizen of Heaven making my way there, as opposed to believing more in this reality/this worldly experience). Demons could try all they want, but they won’t have the same impact they used to.

I want to point out, the urge to begin praying began before Covid, but I didn’t get to the Confession booth until my local Parish opened up for Church/Confession again after the first wave. This was a slow process to get back to Mass and back into Roman Catholicism. While not over night, I never felt lukewarm, but the period I stopped praying was more so out of fear that my prayers were making things worse. (likely an unusual way to think and very incorrect, but there you have that.).

Divorce would be an incredible stress. My fiance and I have used this time apart to get to know each other better, to plan how things will be for us day to day in marriage, coming to terms about our religious life, what that will entail for us as a family, etc. It’s been very bonding for us, and it’s given me time to heal from other slights and be able to get right with God before making this next big step in life.

 

[OneSheep]

I once had a huge consolation as a kid that put my entire body in shivers while making me feel protected and happy. From that moment on I could never doubt the existence of God.

I remember this as one of the feelings in my own experience also.

I was 20, working in the fields alone, loading sprinkler pipe on a trailer pulled by an old tractor, which was slowly puttering along driverless. When I would get to the end of a row of pipe, I would hop on the tractor and drive to the next row of pipe to load.

It was a beautiful late afternoon in early September, the sun was getting lower and the shadows casting longer, my thoughts were on the University life I would transfer to in the fall, I had no anxiety, I was in the mindset of freedom from all possessions and attachments, as Jesus calls us, and I remember feeling very connected to the farm, the indigenous history of the land, and my hopes for the future. I remember these things because after the experience I had tried to recapture the conditions of my mind in order to have a repeat of what occurred, with no success. What happened next was a moment of grace for which there was no need, no justification; I was fairly happy and content before it happened. What I experienced was completely gratuitous.

Somehow, I was suddenly taken to a different place, though I knew I was just standing there. I was no longer aware of what I saw, I could only hear. What I heard was a whisper, and the repeated words were, “Everything is going to be all right” over and over. It was a loving, caring whisper. What accompanied this voice was something almost indescribable, it seemed like a new sense, but I have sort of reasoned that it was more of an absence of a sense, it was the sense of an absence of time. Time simply disappeared, and the disappearance accompanied the voice, it was a sense, an experience, of eternity. Somehow my body and mind suddenly knew that everything would be all right, and there would be an eternity to live my life, to do all I wanted to do, to mend all the fences, to solve all the issues. The sense of eternity was not something I “thought up” or created, it was a sense forced upon me, and it was an ecstatic moment.

It ended as quickly as it started. I had to retrieve the tractor, but it had only moved a bit ahead. The experience couldn’t have been longer than 10-20 seconds.

Though I was a committed Christian Catholic, I was of a very scientific mind (still am) and sometimes I would dismiss the experience as some weird moment of elation, but ever since the moment has been one I can go back to in times of stress, and I am hoping that my sharing it will give readers hope. Believe me, I reflected on the experience a great deal; I did not make it happen and I have no explanation other than God wanted me to experience it, and I feel called to share it here.

It has never happened again. I have since read Julian of Norwich’s experience of “All will be well”, and I believe that the words she spoke have the same general meaning; everything is going to be all right.

Blessings, and thank you for this thread!

 

[kikiki32]

Nice story. I’m convinced that the feeling I described came from God but it’s always comforting to find someone who shares the same sensations

 

[Roguish]

Which has been the strongest experience of God you’ve had in your life?

I trust that you mean well, but asking others to share supernatural or transcendental experiences, revelations, etc. here on CAF isn’t necessarily a good idea. Whenever someone shares something like that, there’s the risk that someone else will question the validity of that experience, and suggest that perhaps it was “just a coincidence”, “just your imagination”, or possibly “the work of demons”. That kind of comment can seriously damage the value that that experience has had for that person up to that point. In fact that’s one good reason why the RCC forbids people to share private revelations: it’s not necessarily to protect other believers from things that may confuse or mislead them; it serves just as much to to protect the recipient of private revelation from harmful skepticism.

Moreover, powerful experiences don’t last. While they can be very uplifting, I personally believe that a subtle continuous awareness of God’s Presence is more reliable and therefore more valuable than overwhelmingly “strong” experiences.

 

[kikiki32]

I understand your point. But (1) Nobody has an obligation to answer the question (2) Sharing experiences always carries the risk you mention, but I think it is not necessarily bad for people to question such things in the light of reason and their actual life.

I had a powerful experience as a kid. I know I had it: perhaps it was a coincidence, my imagination (which I highly doubt) or the work of demons. I had the certainty that God existed and loved me. That’s all. But that experience alone would have meant nothing if, years later, I hadn’t thought about it by contrasting it with my life and observing that even if that God existed and I was given that certainty… I wasn’t living as I should. That if I died at that moment in my life I wouldn’t be worthy of Heaven. And that my responsibility had been probably increased due to having had such an experience at an early age.

I personally believe that a subtle continuous awareness of God’s Presence is more reliable and therefore more valuable than overwhelmingly “strong” experiences.

I completely agree with your last statement, and in fact this is what I’m searching for my own life. Maybe I’m just asking these kind of things because I still lack trust in God after years of permanent sin.

 

[aroosi]

I think this is a very personal and tricky topic. There is the risk to be misunderstood, judged or not believed and end up with hurt feelings.

 

[OneSheep]

Whenever someone shares something like that, there’s the risk that someone else will question the validity of that experience, and suggest that perhaps it was “just a coincidence”, “just your imagination”, or possibly “the work of demons”.

There is also the risk of giving encouragement to someone or helping heal a wound. I think its a worthwhile risk. I know my experience was not a coincidence, not my imagination, and not a work of demons. My experience of eternity was awesome, and the words I heard were not unique in the history of private revelations.

That kind of comment can seriously damage the value that that experience has had for that person up to that point.

Only if someone were inclined to challenge. I challenged my own experience, so I did the task for them.

In fact that’s one good reason why the RCC forbids people to share private revelations

This is not true: CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Private Revelations

Moreover, powerful experiences don’t last.

Mine did. Still has, and its been decades.

I personally believe that a subtle continuous awareness of God’s Presence is more reliable and therefore more valuable than overwhelmingly “strong” experiences.

I agree completely!

 

[vz71]

There is also the risk of giving encouragement to someone or helping heal a wound.

In fact, I look forward to these types of threads for the encouragement they offer.

 

[JanR]

Hodos:

I was getting ready to step when I heard a voice that said Stop. I stopped for a moment confused. I went to step again, and heard it louder and more forcefully. STOP. I stopped, then got ready to step again. At this point the voice thundered so loudly I could feel it go up and down my spine. STOP! DANGER! I stopped dead in my tracks and looked down at my feet. Just ahead of me were unexploded ordinance I had not noticed from a cluster bomb. At that point I was able to halt my platoon and slowly back us out of the base complex. No one was hurt.

I have a similar type experience, albeit less dramatic. I was a soccer player in high school and uni and did a lot of running in between seasons to remain conditioned. I had a route I loved to run with huge trees, a stream, and a winding, dirt road (now all of the area are houses ). Anyhow, I liked to run in the evenings and in the winter it was dark before 5pm. As I came up to one of the bends in the road, I heard ‘Stop!’ and had a flash of being attacked…and stuff. I was 17 and it was early 1990s --I was pretty naive and didn’t really know what I know now. My thoughts were–all in microseconds this occurred–I’m not even halfway through my run, I’ve never seen others whilst running, I’ve tun this route a hundred times… followed by another ‘STOP!!’ I turned around and ran home before I got to the bend. Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was something, but it was a profound moment and the ‘stop’ had interrupted my thoughts in a pretty abrasive manner. I don’t have proof that I was truly in danger like you did, so this may be a nothing story, but it is still so vivid in my mind all these years later.

A few consolations I’ve experienced involved being alone or with my husband in nature–fly fishing, near rivers, and at the ocean. Another was as I drove home after something happened that utterly devastated me: my whole world fell apart in a manner of minutes and I was on the highway in agony, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw my tear streamed face, and it was like this overwhelming light and peace embraced me (spiritually, there wasn’t a visible or audible experience) and I ‘heard’ God say ‘I love you–you will be okay’. I was about 20yo.

These brief but powerful moments have carried me through many desolations. To be honest, in over a decade since my Dad died and I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I haven’t had any consolations. I’d sorely love one now, but if I never receive another consolation I still have the five or so that I’ve been given in my younger days.

Beautiful thread. Thank you, OP.

Sounds like you folks listened to your guardian angels, and they saved your lives.

 

[NevermoreLenore]

Moreover, powerful experiences don’t last.

Mine did. Still has, and its been decades.
I hope you appreciate what an outstanding blessing and gift this is–I’m not being snarky or salty at all. It’s just that many of us don’t have such a profound consolation that undergird our faith.

I personally believe that a subtle continuous awareness of God’s Presence is more reliable and therefore more valuable than overwhelmingly “strong” experiences.

This is beautiful and exactly what I needed to read today.