At a certain point in my life, I had an experience that defined the course of my life. I had a series of supernatural encounters with God disguised as some random, outrageous thoughts that years later would come back to haunt me.
Not knowing much about my Catholic faith growing up, I easily wandered into non-denominational Protestantism, which opened the door for me to marry a back-slid Baptist.
That is, until I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit in a Catholic Church while the congregation were praying the Rosary.
I asked the Lord to explain where my beliefs were wrong, and He started showing me. I started watching EWTN and began to learn more than I bargained for. One of those things was how and why the Catholic Church honors the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
I learned that over the centuries, Mary has appeared to people all over the world. One of the most notable apparitions was in 1858 in Lourdes, France, where she appeared to a young girl 18 times over several weeks. Mary instructed her to dig in the dirt from which came a spring of water which was found to have healing properties.
2014
Terry worked from home and since I was his sole caregiver, I was home 99% of the time. Having had that powerful experience in a Catholic Church, I was addicted to learning about the Catholic faith. There is so much logic behind it. I had the TV on in the kitchen and the bedroom, so it didn’t matter where I was in the house, I began to learn so many things I wish I had learned growing up.
With my years of praying for Terrys healing, one of the most influential things I learned was about the Lourdes Shrine, its healing properties, and the Order of Malta taking sick and disabled people on Pilgrimages to Lourdes. I called to find out more, but at that time anyway, the only disability they would not take were quadriplegics.
February 11, 2017
At a very stressful time in my life, when I had decided to separate from Terry, my father offered to send me on a cruise. I didn’t particularly want to go on a little tiny boat in a big, big ocean. Bad idea! Nevertheless, after quite a bit of prayer, I agreed. I wanted to leave as soon as possible, which would have been February 4th, but something came up and I had to wait until the next week. Only after I booked the cruise for February 11th, did I realize this was the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
August 2017
See Blog Post
Lourdes Water Gift
February 11, 2018
While watching EWTN, they announced the 70th verified miracle of a nun who was healed from a spinal condition and could now walk with no assistance.
February 11, 2021
Attending Mass at St. Thomas in Ann Arbor, MI in the basement of the parish life center because the Sanctuary was being cleaned, repainted, etc. During the Canon, I was gripped so very strongly by the Presence of the Holy Spirit. It was like a punch in the stomach, bending me almost double.
I’ve had encounters with the Holy Spirit many times having a variety of manifestations, joy, tears, twitches, trembling. But this time was extraordinarily strong, taking my breath away. This was the first day of such a strong manifestation. Going back to Mass the next day, the same thing happened. And the next day, and the next. Each day, I didn’t expect it. When it happened, I recalled that it had happened the day before, and the day before that. Going to daily Mass, I continued to experience this everyday month after month.
After several months the power of the encounters finally began to subside. After about a year, I felt the Presence of the Holy Spirit with just a little trembling, but it remains to this day.
August 10, 2023
Some of the retired ladies from church planned to go to a movie. I didn’t know what they planned to go see when I told them I wanted to go. I simply wanted to get away to watch a good movie. It wasn’t until we were at the theater getting ready to buy our tickets that I learned the name of the movie was “The Miracle Club” and it was about a trip to Lourdes.
I watched the movie with no particular expectation. I simply found it an interesting fact that with my life having so many demands on it at the time that this is the one movie I’ve managed to go see in well over a year.
About ¾ of the way through the movie, the female characters were going into the “baths” one by one. When the second woman went into the bath, I was suddenly gripped by the Holy Spirit as strongly as if I were at Mass during the Canon. He took my breath away and I trembled so strongly. I wondered what this might mean.
September 03, 2023
Relaxing in bed on Sunday morning, I looked through EWTN OnDemand and found a one-hour special on Lourdes by the Miracle Hunter. (Watch MIRACLES OF LOURDES (ewtn.com)) He went through the history of Lourdes and then went into detail about the most recent three. The last of which was a nun with damage to her spine she had lived with for some 40 years.
Near the end of the program, I suddenly felt the Holy Spirit grip me, again, very strongly, taking my breath away. It lasted several minutes, after which I felt certain the Lord wanted us to go to Lourdes. This was what I considered to be a “confirmation” that I should at least make the attempt to take Terry to Lourdes.
