Did you happen to notice the amazing transformation that Jesus’s apostles went through in both of the readings for Mass today?
Jesus rebuked his apostles in today’s gospel because they refused to believe the testimonies from Mary Magdalene and the two apostles on the road to Emmaus, that they had actually seen him risen from the dead.
The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles though, told us that two of the apostles said: “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”
This sounds a lot like the reactions many of us have, when we hear stories from other people about a supernatural event that occurred in their life. We don’t trust their story until we have actually seen concrete proof that it is true. What an amazing, life changing event it can be though, to trust Jesus Christ completely with your life. It can be a transformative, pivotal point in your relationship with the Lord and take your trust in Him to a new level.
Like Mary Magdalene and the two apostles on the road to Emmaus, I’ve only shared my personal story with close friends until now. But, perhaps you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, would like to hear it too ….
When our son moved 2,500 miles across the country to go to college, it absolutely broke my heart. I was only able to see him and our little granddaughter about once a year, because of our finances. Our son was in college and his finances were just as tight too.
Every time I saw them, I cried my eyes out for at least a week afterward. I lay in bed at night crying and praying to God, asking Him to reunite our family again.
I knew a lot of other people that had adult children that moved across the country, and they all told me to just accept it, that this is what happens in families sometimes.
My husband was absolutely against moving across the country to live near our children. Our marriage suffered just as much as my heart did, because I missed our children so much. Especially after our daughter moved to the same state that our granddaughter lived in. I knew they would never come back to live to live near us, because the state they moved to was very beautiful. The situation seemed to be hopeless if my husband wouldn’t consider moving though. There just wasn’t a solution to the problem.
One night, I had a very profound dream that I just couldn’t shake for months. The memory of it never faded. I dreamed that I was in a large meadow and the priests I volunteered with were there, surrounding me in a circle. They were very judgmental about the current condition of my relationship with my husband.
But, God spoke to me in the dream. He said, “stop listening to them and listen to Me. Pack your bags, because you are going to a new home.” I balked at this and told Him that I couldn’t move, this was nuts. But He still said yes, that I was going to a new home.
Then God told me that, “you need to leave before the pope comes to America.” I laughed at this too. Pope Benedict was old and frail and would never survive the rigors of such a long trip at his age. But, He continued to affirm that yes, I needed to do this. Then, He showed me a group of priests gathered together in the distance. A pope with a large stomach drove a car out of this group of priests. He was driving toward South America.
Then, he showed me a vast prairie with no vegetation in sight except grass. I was going to travel across this prairie with all of my clothes and household items. After crossing this vast prairie in my dream, I climbed to the top of a large hill and saw a big clump of green trees below. As I approached this clump of trees, I saw a burned out house. It was utterly destroyed by a fire, except for a single room in the interior. That room survived the fire. I was supposed to live there. I stepped in and looked around. It was humble and simple, but it had everything that I needed.
A young, happy, cheerful woman knocked on the door. She had dark, curly hair down to her shoulders. I noticed that there was room for her to live there too if she wanted to, and there was a few more beds for extra people. The dream ended with me sitting at a desk, extremely happy.
Every single item in this dream came true. I had this dream in the middle of the night on Friday night, and the following Monday – Pope Benedict announced his resignation. Then Pope Francis was elected. He had a large stomach and drove his own car. He was from South America. But, what convinced me that this was a genuine communication from God, was when Pope Francis announced he was coming to America.
I made the decision to trust what God had shown me in the dream, and I packed up my car and left. I drove across a vast, grassy prairie to our new home in Oregon. During the drive, I realized that my father-in-law (whom I loved deeply) died in a house fire in his old age. Our new home in Oregon was where I was meant to spend my old age. When I got to the other side of the mountain ranges, I looked down at a land covered in green trees, where our new home would be.
The apartment that I rented looked exactly like the one in the dream, right down to the layout of the kitchen and the door that the young girl knocked on. The young girl in my dream turned out to be my own daughter. She lost most of her hair as a child, but when she came to see me, her hair had grown back – curly and dark and down to her shoulders! She kept it a secret because she wanted to surprise me. I knew when I first saw her, that the dream was genuine. There was room for my daughter to stay with me when she visited and sometimes her friends stayed with me too. And, I found a job in an office that I absolutely love. It is the best job that I ever had and I absolutely love the people I work with.
The beautiful thing is that my husband did end up moving here to be with us too. My son recently found a good job here and our daughter and granddaughter live nearby. We are FINALLY a family again! We just submitted an offer to buy a new home this week. God most profoundly answered my prayers, and my cup has been filled with love and happiness and is running over. I will never doubt Him again. God truly hears us when we pray. He knows the personal details of our lives and He truly doesn’t want us to suffer. He wants us to be happy in this life – and also to be happy in eternal life one day too. There is no problem that is too big for God to handle … if we believe Him and trust Him.
