The Storm before the Calm

Tuesday, April 24, 2001 5:49 PM

Another testimony of the power of the TLIG messages:

My conversion began in March of 1993, although at the time I did not know it. On March I3, 1993 My husband and I and our 2 children, ages 5 and 7 were spending the weekend with my parents at their house on a beach in North Florida. There had been a very bad storm earlier in the evening, but nothing like what was to come. At 2:00 in the morning a 12 foot tidal surge hit the house we were in, knocking us out of our beds and into the water. This storm would later be called the ‘no name’ storm because it was just like a hurricane only it happened in March, a time not considered a part of the Hurricane season. The moment was frantic because of the ferocity of the storm and the fear of my son, age 5 that he would drown. He screamed to me, «I’m going to die».

We managed to get to one of the walls that was still standing and hung on for 4 hours, although we were thrown off many times with the incoming tides and wind. At 6:00 am, as the sun was rising and the tide was turning, we were rescued by people who were a little further inland. Later in the day, we were provided with clothes and found a motel to rest in. Once my family was all clean and asleep, I took a shower and had my first moment alone to realize the impact of what we had gone through.

I began to cry — It was then I had a vision. I feel funny saying that
word because people will not understand and I must admit that, had it not happened to me, I know that I would not have either.

I explain it this way; if I asked you what you did last summer on your

vacation and you thought about it in your mind, it was like that, only
the picture was placed in my mind. Here’s my vision. I was up in the
clouds and I was over the house we had been in during the storm. The
roof was off of the house and I could see us rushing around in the house.
I then looked to my left and I saw a Holy Person, with a mantle around
their head I remember thinking it was Mary but I never saw the Person’s
face. This Person had their hands extended palms up, leaned forward,
looked at the house, leaned back, and then it was over.

For me I understood it as, yes, I saw you and I was watching over you. What a miracle, right? I should be so stronger in my faith now, right?

But for me it was the opposite. As I began to tell people this story, I was getting all kinds of advice as to what it meant. I had Protestant

friends telling me that it wasn’t Mary, rather someone warning me about
my Catholic faith. That is where my tailspin began. For almost 18
months I was in a deep sorrow, almost a depression about my Christian
faith. I always believed in God and Jesus, but now I questioned Mary
and many of the teachings of my church. I was really a lost soul,

searching, praying, dying inside, but my answer was coming …..

In May of 1994 my daughter made her First Communion and I might add that I wasn’t even sure if I should let her make her communion, because I myself wasn’t even sure about it. My mother had left Volumes I and II of the True Life in God messages on my dresser in my room without telling me she had left them. About one month later I called and said, «Hey, where are those books you were going to leave me to read»? She said, «I left them on your dresser over a month ago.» I think I must not have been ready to read them then but now Jesus was ready for me to begin.

>From the first page of that book I began a small bit of healing, and Peace began to enter my soul. I still struggled and questioned things but little by little Jesus bagan pouring out his words on me. I think by the time I got to Volume III, I was completely convinced that this was from God. My conversion to the «Real» God began.

I learned how to speak to the Holy Trinity intimately, as my best friends. I learned to love honour and respect and honor our Mother. Mary. You see, I was raised in a large Catholic family, and I learned all the rules of being a «good» Catholic. I understood guilt and to fear God, and I did believe in Christ in the Eucharist, but I never understood the real presence of God in everything.

I know that God completely emptied me out in the one and a half years following the storm so that he could fill me up with the real doctrine he wanted me to have. Since that time I have had many wonderful experiences with Jesus as my intimacy with Him grows. I see many people around me who are just like I was and I pray for them to be able to come out of the dark and into the light. God is great, slow to anger, kind and merciful and I thank Him for rescuing me from the darkness I did not know I was in. Blessed be His Name forever.