Innehållsförteckning för April/May 2021 från Mysterious Ways

Have you ever realized that kindness and miracles seem to go hand in hand? It’s something I’ve noticed in the stories we receive from readers like you, about wondrous encounters and connections. A mysterious voice that prompts someone to check on a friend, just in time. A dream that inspires a person to embrace a life of service. A heavenly nudge that, when acted on, unites strangers in a community of caring. Each moment of divine guidance relies on the next step of human kindness in order to unfold. I recently had an experience that underscored this point. I was having a stressful day and decided to take a walk around my neighborhood to sift through my thoughts. Once outside, I walked quickly, my gaze fixed on the sidewalk. All…

“Ross, come here! Look at this!” I motioned to the computer screen. Sweet puppy faces with big brown eyes stared back from dozens of photos. They were the cutest things I’d ever seen. My husband groaned. “Beth, I really want a small dog.” “These are smaller,” I said. “These aren’t full-size goldendoodles. They’re petite goldendoodles. See?” Gabby, our beloved toy poodle, had passed away last year. He’d lived a long life for such a little dog—17 years. I’d always been a dog person, and the house didn’t feel right without one. Ross agreed. Where we disagreed was the type of dog. Ross wanted a low-maintenance lap dog, and he did have a point. He and I both had full-time jobs—I was a wildlife photographer who owned a gallery, and Ross…

I stepped out of my office into the warm California sun and made my way toward Davis Street. I was on a mission: hunt down some coffee. One with sugar and cream for me, plus a few orders for my coworkers at the bank. I stopped at the crosswalk and waited for the light to change. Davis Street was busy. It was four lanes wide and led straight to the highway. Cars whizzed past me. I had bounced around to a lot of different banks over the years and hoped I’d be able to stay at this company for a while. Fortunately, I enjoyed meeting new people. And no matter where I went, there was one face that always seemed to pop up: my coworker Tom Walker. Tom was pretty…

“I hope your dad's going to be happy here," Mom said. We were settling my father into his room at a new nursing home. If only we knew what he was feeling. But Dad couldn’t tell us. Parkinson’s disease had robbed him of the ability to speak. It hadn't been easy finding the right place for him. At first, we’d cared for Dad at home. When that became too much for my sisters, mother and me on our own, we moved him into a care facility, but it wasn't a good fit. There was only one really positive thing about it: a nurse’s aide named Don. Dad’s eyes always lit up when Don entered the room. He was a young man in his twenties, which would have made him distinguishable…

Nashat Cassim was helping his mother sell a flower planter on Facebook Marketplace when he got a message from a prospective buyer whose name looked familiar: Karen Ayotte. In 1997, when Nashat was five, he and his family emigrated from Sri Lanka to Canada. Before the school year began, two kindergarten teachers from Toronto’s Spruce court Public School paid a visit. They brought school supplies and helped calm Nashat’s nerves about going to a new school in a new country. Ms. Ayotte was one teacher. Nashat’s family later moved. He graduated college and is doing a pediatric dentistry residency at the University of Toronto. He traces his success back to those teachers. “I always wondered about those two teachers because they had such an impact on me,” Nashat told CBC…

In 2014, actor and former Saturday Night Live star Tracy Morgan had a near-death experience. Riding in a limo bus on the New Jersey Turnpike, Tracy was rear-ended by a tractor trailer. The ensuing multicar pileup left Morgan and others in critical condition; his friend died. Tracy suffered severe head trauma and multiple broken bones; he was in a coma for several days. During this time, Tracy says, he got a glimpse of heaven. He was greeted by his father, who'd passed away in 1987. “I just remember him saying, ‘I'm not ready for you, son,'” Tracy later said on Oprah Winfrey's show SuperSoul Sunday. The next thing he knew, he was in a hospital bed, confused and in pain. Doctors worried that he'd never walk again, let alone perform.…

Anne Samson In 2018, my husband, Jose, passed away. We'd been married for 28 years. He was my best friend and greatest cheerleader. I'm an author, and about a year after he died, I had a chance to teach journaling in a new venue. Nervous, I tucked his wedding ring into my pocket to remind me of the moral support he'd always provided. The class went well, but returning to an empty house underscored Jose's absence. To distract myself, I checked the mail and found a letter from a jewelry company addressed to Jose. I almost tossed it into the recycling, then changed my mind. Inside, I found a photo of a necklace with an inscription that read, “Anne, I loved you then, I love you still, I always have,…

My husband, Mike, and I were driving home down Interstate 25 in Colora do. We’re both cops, and that day we were on our way back from the funeral of a fellow officer. We’d driven our station’s new police car to represent our squad. For no particular reason, we opted for a different highway than we usually would. “Let’s take Interstate 25 today,” Mike had said. Well, it would be a change of pace after a long day. We were still far from home when Mike slammed on the brakes. Cars ahead of us swerved as if trying to avoid something. “No way!” Mike said. “There are horses on the highway!” In the distance, I could see two horses on the road, a Shetland pony trailing behind. Escaped from a…

“Yes, it is okay to be angry with God—as long as you go on to either let that anger go or use it to accomplish good. Do not sin by cursing, becoming bitter, hurting yourself or others, or disobeying. Instead, use your anger to drive you to discover your own incorrect beliefs, to refocus on the truth and to grow in your relationship with God.”Pastor Robert Hampshire “Is it okay to be angry with God? Of course. Is it okay to stay angry? That's like being angry at life itself: it hurts not only you but everyone with whom you come in contact. If you feel angry toward God, you might need a change in perspective. Very often the thing you're so angry about right now will make sense to…

I couldn’t focus. I was packing for a camping trip later that day with my friend Ceil. But my mind was elsewhere. I’d had a bizarre dream the night before that felt so urgent, so powerful, that I just couldn’t shake it. I couldn’t make sense of it either. I went over it again and again in my mind…. In the dream, I’d been fast asleep when I felt a presence. I opened my eyes. Shimmering lines undulated above me until they materialized into a woman. She was about 70 years old, with white hair, smile lines and kind blue eyes. I should’ve been terrified, but I felt completely calm. Trusting. Curious. Silently the woman reached her hand toward me. I took it and rose from my bed, weightless. She…

When my son James died of a drug overdose at 43 years old, my world collapsed. He was my firstborn of six children, a gentle and sensitive soul who saw the good in everyone. At 19, he’d enlisted in the U.S. Army and quickly climbed the ranks to become a sergeant and medical specialist. While he was stationed in Alabama, a fellow soldier was fatally injured in a parachuting accident, and James—the responding medic—blamed himself for not being able to save him. After James was discharged, he struggled with PTSD and turned to drugs to block out the scenes that haunted him. In the weeks and months following James’s death, I went through the motions. It felt as if part of me had died along with him. I took solace…

I picked up a stack of letters and sorted through them. It was a quiet day at the post office where I’d been a mail clerk for more than 35 years. While I worked, I thought of the yellowed stack of letters in the back of my closet at home. Letters from schoolchildren I'd received while I was a soldier in Vietnam. I'd put all the students' notes in a folder after returning from the war. I'd kept them all these years, a positive memento from an otherwise difficult period in my life. Occasionally I considered tracking down the schoolchildren, now all grown up, and their teacher to thank them for what they'd done for me. But surely they'd long forgotten about their school project. I could never forget. I…

Has a visit to church ever changed your life? Countless such visits have influenced my faith, whether gazing at the windows of Chartres Cathedral or sitting in a small country chapel. Imagine what it would be like to be a brilliant philosopher—from a French family of prominent intellectuals, including a brother who was a renowned mathematician— whose political convictions lead you to labor alongside factory workers and fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Then, in your late twenties, you wander into a shrine in the Italian town of Assisi, where Saint Francis had his own mystical experiences. Falling to your knees, you are transported. This was the spiritual trajectory of Simone Weil (1909-1943). First came her call to service. Then came her call to faith. It's the opposite…

My son, Steven, was killed in a car crash when he was 21 years old. His truck had hit black ice and skidded off the road. He died on impact. Still, I was haunted by the fear he must've felt during those last few seconds. I struggled to understand why God would allow this to happen. In the days following his death, I could sleep for only a few hours at a time. It was during one of these restless, short stretches that I had the most incredible dream. In it, I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. Steven was sitting on the edge of my bed. We hugged tightly. It felt so real. I could feel the fabric of his corduroy coat, smell Azzaro Chrome (his favorite cologne)…

"To be a fellow worker with God is the highest inspiration of which we can conceive man capable."— FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE (1820-1910) On February 7, 1837, Florence Nightingale, considered the mother of modern nursing, wrote in her diary, “God spoke to me and called me to his service.” In a scandalous choice for an upper-class nineteenth-century British woman, she answered that call by becoming a nurse. Her renowned career included training nurses in the Crimean War and pioneering medical practices now viewed as standard. A prolific reader and writer on the topics of public health, sanitation and statistics, Florence also researched and wrote about spirituality and mysticism. She believed in the coexistence of science and religion as well as the need to organize one’s existence around God’s will. In heeding God’s…