Today began on an interesting note. At 6:15am a friend called that I had not personally spoken with (except with a few ‘shout outs’ via Facebook) since last October. With a tinge of alarm and anxiety in her voice she hastily explained her reason for calling so early. Her daughter (who is in college) called her moments before frantic because she heard the devil speak to her. He said, “Talk to me.” This friend and I had never spoken about spiritual warfare and I wasn’t certain she’d read my book (until now). She was already in her car on her way to take the journey to be there for her daughter. She asked if I would call later in the morning to speak to her.
A few hours later I called the young woman and got the story in it’s entirety. The little I knew about this young woman is that she is very active at her college campus and has her hand in many different activities and is also active in her college Catholic parish. She is intelligent and I believe studying to go into the medical field (I believe). I could hear the self-doubt in her voice and the fear that caused the doubt. It wasn’t long ago she’d read my book and upon reading the specific parts involving spiritual warfare she remembered thinking (I’m so glad I have never experienced anything like this.) This was one of the first things she told me. She said she’d even prayed at that time, thanking God for the blessing of not witnessing evil in a real form.
This morning she’d been praying and then her mind began to wonder and she said it was as if a voice spoke above the thoughts in her mind and she heard, “Talk to me.” She then felt a brush of warmth cross her shoulder and she began to shiver. She said she was cold but sweating. Instantly she thought about my book and began to pray the Our Father and to our Blessed Mother. Then she began to pray specifically to Jesus having a personal conversation when she finally began to feel the fear ebb and she stopped shaking. That’s when she called her mother.
I know I’m missing a lot in the story. I recall she said she screamed when she heard the voice and it woke up her roommate and now she’s worried her roommate will think she is crazy. She admitted that before reading my book she’d been having some personal issues that sent her to confession once a week but by the time she read my book she felt she was doing pretty good and felt very blessed to be in the position she was in. In fact, she confessed that in thinking she was ‘so good’ that was one of the thoughts just before she heard the voice.
We talked about the reality of spiritual warfare, and the means in which God allows this to happen as a gift. You see, it could be that God wanted to allow her to acknowledge this reality in her own life and to realize she must alwaysbe on guard. Not that she needs to go to confession weekly but recognize that we are all one decision away from being ‘that guy’ that we pride ourselves in not becoming. I encouraged her to pray for her guardian angel’s name and assured her that nothing can happen to her as long as she is in prayer and following God’s will. The enemy tries to instill the fear and trip us up but as long as we remain firm in our faith with our eyes on Christ, soon you can have the grace to brush the fear away, not with selfish pride but with confidence in our God and the fullness of truth that He saves.
The day ended with me sitting in the doctor’s office getting more blood drawn to recheck some of those earlier tests and to determine if I have celiac’s disease (which would make a whole lot of sense). Thankfully all that means is a life style change…no more wheat. Which is fine but what a pain to figure that out! But we’ll see what the tests say…. 😉
December 6, 2010
Monday of the Second Week of Advent
Readings: Is 35:1-10; Lk 5:17-26
“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on
earth to forgive sins”—he said to the one who was paralyzed,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and
go home.”
Lk 5:24
Christ is “the hand” of God stretched out to humanity, to
rescue it from the quicksands of illness and death so that
it can stand on the firm rock of divine love.
Angelus
February 12, 2006
Blessings
Shannon