You must know this straight at the front of this entry. This particular season in my life back in 1996 I was very much a devoted Catholic woman who had a great devotion to Mary the mother of Jesus. That is why you will see references to her name or me praying rosary's. It was this time in my life when I first thought it was the mother of Jesus speaking to my heart but as you read on you will see I begin to wean from this and I am realizing it is Holy Spirit flowing in and through my life. Do not judge this avenue Holy Spirit chose for me to discover Jesus. Catholic's can hear from God, yes, they can for I was one of them. I began speaking in tongues, receiving interpretations, having visions with interpretations and the Catholic church tried to help me along in all of this taking place. They did it by assigning to me Spiritual Directors. They were priests in that capacity. You will see the name of one of them. The church I attended no longer has that name. Remember when Catholic churches were struggling, and they were selling off churches and then consolidating a few parishes in an area, like taking 3 parish churches and joining them together, they also then re-named the now joined together churches that met at the main church location.
You may see sections of a journal entry blacked out only because there was a season in my life in which Holy Spirit had me go and strike where I would have much referencing of Mary because I was past that phase in my life. Yes, God can speak through a catalyst such as a person who was a devoted Catholic and then there comes the moment when one realizes it wasn't Mary speaking, guiding them but it was Jesus and Holy Spirit. Try to imagine for a moment how in the heck were the priests dealing with this woman hearing from God and experiencing the experiences I was having. They truly I do believe did the best they could to walk me through this growth in my life. I was destined to eventually move away from the Catholic church and begin attending a church in which I was learning the bible and then get trained up in the things of God I was destined to. Maybe you will see right before your very eyes a portion of my journey in which I begin to blossom in the love of Jesus. Remember, I was not a bible scholar/student at some seminary, I had no knowledge of the things I was writing about. During this time in my life or after this when I was then divorced and moved away to a different part of Ohio, I met a friend in the community (non-Catholic I think she was Methodist.) I would share my Mary stories with her and share bits and pieces of my journal writings with her. There was the day she shared with me her brother was attending ORU and for me to share some of my journal with him. I had no idea of what ORU even was. So, we met at his parents' home with my friend and her brother. We were sitting in the kitchen, and he said to me Do you know what you are writing about, and I honestly answered back to him, no because I didn't have the knowledge or even a clue other than what I was shown when I would write. This is kind of funny, but this is how new I was to all of this. One day we attended a local Baptist church and Pastor Morton had an altar call for salvation and I didn't know you weren't supposed to raise your hand each time an altar call was given so I raised my hand. My friend's brother then said to me I thought you were born again. I said I was and then he gently suggested to take my hand down because I was confusing the pastor and that is how I learned you just don't keep raising your hand in response to a salvation altar call. Do you get the picture now, I was not schooled in any of this. I truly can say Holy Spirit was my teacher and He was teaching me as I was devouring the bible. Yes, at first even through reading the Catholic bible and then I switched to NKJ bible. So, back to the kitchen table story/testimony. When I answered no to the question, he then went on to tell me I was writing about end-time stuff. I had no clue what that even meant. That is my testimony, and it is an honor to share a portion of it with you. Here we go ...
As I mentioned prior in a blog the date of this particular journal entry is 1/14/1996. Years later my mother on the very date 1/14/2023 went to be with Jesus. See why it is so very important to date and place the time also on your journal entries. I had no clue back then, that day of the month would be important in my life once again. So many times, my mother did not understand what was happening to me back then but on the other hand, she would get me a few books for me to write in as a journal. I think she sees the bigger scope/picture now from the perspective of heaven, isn't that BEAUTIFUL. In my journals I would always sign my name and sometimes full name as if I was closing a letter to Holy Spirit. The "Blessings & Curses" book was by Derek Prince. McGarvey's restaurant is no longer there in Vermilion.
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