I was twelve years old when I found out what a transcendental experience was, and it was something that hasn’t happened since.  It is not a vision and it’s not a dream. It is a complete separation of the body from the spirit and occurs in real time and in your actual surroundings. The spirit has knowledge and awareness of the body, but the body has no knowledge of the spirit and without the spirit, the body is like a dead person. To be in a transcendental state is to be both completely dead and completely alive at the same time. This is something only God can do.

When it happened to me, I had no idea at the time of the importance or significance of what I was seeing.  So, as I write this post, I pray that God give me courage and the words to describe it to the best of my ability.  I pray for courage because I decided over thirty years ago that I was going to write this experience down and publish it, despite a strong gut feeling that it was not the proper time.  But I was determined. I was eager to get it written, and I had just purchased a brand-new, mid-range, maybe closer to top of the line computer and what could possibly go wrong? 

So, I began hastily writing and barely had the first sentence written when the computer came to a complete halt and crashed, wiping out everything on the computer.  If you have ever experienced a hard drive crash in the midst of working, you know the feeling.  Back then, it took me hours of painstaking work to reformat and partition the drives, reinstall the software, and reconnect all the peripherals. In the end, I took it as a sign: it wasn’t time yet. So I waited.

I believe the time is now.  I can feel it.  So, open your heart and journey with me as I recount this transcendental experience and understand that God is sovereign.  There is nothing He can’t do.  No one can say what He will or won’t use, what He can and can’t do, or who He will or won’t use to accomplish His will. God’s laws are for man not the other way around, and He can take something that was intended for bad and make it good.  In fact, besides myself there are three other people who had a role in confirming what I already knew to be true.  These three are a priest and two nephews whom I will refer to as NephewA and NephewB.  Both are extremely intelligent and very knowledgeable about their respective faiths. NephewA is a Muslim through and through and Nephew B is a Christian with some caveats regarding tradition.  However, before getting into what their roles were, here is the transcendent experience with God and the events that led up to it.

I grew up in a large family, seven girls, and three boys.  My mother in her younger days was very strong, proud, and faith driven.  My dad also was very diligent who worked every day except Sunday from dawn to dusk running his construction business.  So basically it was my mother who ran the house and she was good at it.  Me, I was just a typical kid and when I wasn’t playing outside, I liked to read and listen to bible stories. I was about four years old when I first understood that Jesus was crucified, I became really sad and said “why did they kill Him? I wanted Him to be my friend — I bet He could make some good mud pies.”  I didn’t realize at the time that Jesus made spit-mud and gave sight to a blind man and when He was a child He formed birds from mud and told them to fly away and they did.  Then I understood the resurrection How God is forever present but you just couldn’t see Him. Little did I know He already had His sights on me.

When I was in sixth grade and first began to see the evil in the world, it made me start to question whether God truly existed. I was surrounded by contradictions that felt deeply unsettling. Parents were celebrating Christmas which is a day meant to honor the birth of The Truth into the world, by telling their children well thought out crafty lies that Santa Claus was the one who decided if they would receive gifts. (And strangely enough, if you move the “n” in “Santa” to the end, it spells “Satan” who is the father of lies – John 8:44).

It felt like a deliberate deception, especially when aimed at children during such a spiritually significant time. Even as a small child, I knew God was stronger. I specifically remember praying one time when I was about five years old, seriously asking God to “make Santa Claus bring me what I wanted because my parents had threatened me that I would not get anything for Christmas because I was acting out.” But I can only imagine now, how God felt when He heard my prayer. My parents’ intentions may have been good, but in hindsight, it was definitely an unnecessary deceptive practice to include “Santa with all his commercialized antics and animations” into our Christmas celebrations. I’m thankful that, even as a child, I understood that God was far superior to “Santa Claus” after trying to figure out which one was stronger, and even asking others who they thought was the most powerful.

But as I grew older, I saw things so horrible that made me question even God’s existence.

I’ll never forget the horrifying story of a young Black girl who had been brutally beaten and thrown into the river. Days later, her lifeless, swollen body was pulled out of the water and plastered across the newspapers. The image of her face, bloated and lifeless, is something that I will never forget. She looked a lot like the horror of Emmett Till. No parent should ever have to witness their child in a condition like that! And in my young mind, I couldn’t help but wonder, if God is real, how could He let something like this happen?

Then there was Don, a middle-aged white man who owned the corner store in our neighborhood. He would always scold us for buying too much candy, then turn around and sell us three-cent candy bars for a nickel. He was gruff, but kind in his own way. One day, I heard a lot of commotion outside and I rushed out to see what was happening and was met with a scene of lots of people and Paramedics about to place Don in an ambulance. I started asking what in the world had happened! I’ll never forget the moment because Don turned his head toward me and tried to smile. I could see the fear in his eyes though, but that small gesture of a smile gave me hope that he was going to make it.

The hope was quickly lost because he didn’t. Don died shortly afterward from gunshot wounds sustained in a robbery. All of this was devastating. As a child trying to understand life, these events felt overwhelming and unfair. And it left me wondering for sure, “if God existed, He wouldn’t allow such terrible things to happen.” This was my thought process before I understood free will.

However, sixth grade life for me went on but my prayers would now begin with “God if you exist… .”  Now there was a bully in my class who I will refer to as Tommy.  He would always do very annoying things like snatch my hat off my head and run or snatch my pencil out of my hand when I was writing something and take his time about giving them back. I was fed up with him and began praying one night, “God if you exist, make Tommy leave me alone.”  It was very soon afterward that we were standing in line, and Tommy walked into the classroom and was headed straight toward me.  I became so nervous that I dropped my books.  He bent down, picked them up and handed them to me with a smile and never bothered me again.  It’s a corny story but true and I was absolutely shocked! I thought, “Did God really just answer my prayer?”  I was SOOO happy! But what happened next turned me from a skeptic about God’s existence to an absolute believer and bona fide eyewitness to The Truth.

It started out like a normal day.  Usually when we came home from school, the house would be beautifully cleaned, and dinner would be ready, and my mother would make sure we had our homework done before we could go outside to play.  But this day was different. When we got home from school, the house was a royal wreck, and my mom was still standing over the stove trying to cook dinner.  My first thought was she must not be feeling well.  And it didn’t take long for her to confirm that she was indeed sick and that she was going to give each of us a set of chores to do and when they were completed, the whole house would be clean, and we could go out to play.

After doing our homework, we had dinner, and I very quickly did what I was told and was getting ready to go outside.  But when I walked through to the living room, the house was still a royal wreck and the only ones who were still inside were me and my mother and she was sick.  I got very upset because my sisters and brothers left without doing much to help our mother when she was clearly sick.  I looked around the room and there was so much junk that I became overwhelmed on top of being upset. 

Then I happened to look at a picture of Jesus that hung above the mantle and noticed the expression had changed to very angry and it scared me.  The expression seemed to be a reflection of my own, and I was taken aback to say the least! Then the eyes started following me.  However, I dismissed it as pictures always seem like they’re following you. But this felt different. I thought I’ll just ignore it because this is making me feel like I shouldn’t be upset. 

Then someone started speaking to me in my thoughts saying, ‘Pick up all loose items and put them away.’  And I did. When I finished, He said, ‘Now get a damp cloth and wipe the mantle and tables off and dry them.’  I started with the mantle, removing each item and cleaning them and then cleaning the mantle, all the while I was still ignoring the picture that hung above it because it was really close, and I could feel something looking at me. I was really glad when I finished cleaning the mantle and ready to quickly move on to the next task.

Then He said, ‘remove the cushions from the couches and clean them both and put the cushions back in place.’  And I did. He then said, ‘pull the couches out from the wall and sweep the entire room and pick up the trash and push the couches back in place.’  And I did. He continued, ‘Now get the mop and mop the floors.’ And I did. Then He said, ‘Now stand back and look at what you’ve done.’  I was completely worn out though, but I thought. “Yeah, it looks good.”

I turned and started to go to my room to take a break and noticed my mom was still trying to handwash some items in the bathroom sink, and He said, “Now ask your mother if there is anything else she wants you to do.”  Just then feelings of anger came storming back, and I thought, “what is this and why am I listening!”  I was thinking, “No I won’t ask her that because she might say yes and I’m tired.”  And I was angry all over again and glanced up at my mother as I proceeded to my room thinking “I wish I would.” 

Now it was not like I decided at the last moment to ask my mother anything but suddenly and uncontrollably my mouth flew open and said, “Mom is there anything else you want me to do?”  She looked at me like she was shocked and she said “Oh no sweetheart, you did a great job.  Thank you so much for helping me.”  I half-smiled because I knew that it wasn’t me that said that.  I started to my room while touching my mouth and thinking how did that happen? Because it did, I know the Bible is true when it says in Isaiah 45:23, “Every knee will bow.” And that’s whether you want to or not!

Still puzzled, I got in my bed and reached for the covers and instantly my body froze – I couldn’t move!  There was a very strong pressuring sensation at the crown of my head, and it was like I became paralyzed.  I could also sense a very strong being standing behind me.  I tried to move and could not.  In my mind I said every prayer I could think of many times over because I was scared, I didn’t know what was happening — I was stuck!  I remember thinking whatever this is it is STRONG!!! 

After struggling for a few more minutes, I was becoming more scared by the moment imagining it to be a giant grizzly monster with red eyes who came to get me. Just then that same voice said why don’t you just say something, but I was scared that it might get me and continued to struggle to try and get out of it.  Then the voice said if it wanted to get you it would have done so already. I thought, maybe it wants my parents but if it got my parents who would take care of us?

Finally, I gathered up every ounce of courage I had and said in my thoughts, “I know you’re there, but I’m just a little person, and I don’t have anything.” and then I waited for a response. After a few seconds, He spoke. His words were few yet powerful: He said, “You are about to be transcended.” Somehow, I understood what He meant and said, “Okay.” Then, He stepped out from behind me. As He walked pass my bed, He said, “Get up.” I sat up, but I could still see myself lying on the bed and I said, “WHOA,” out loud!

My focus shifted from me seeing myself lying on the bed like a dead person to the one who was walking in my room. To my amazement, it was Jesus! He looked as if He had just stepped right out of the picture and into my room. I stood up not even thinking I just stepped out of my body, and I walked slowly toward Him, and said, “It’s you! You’re actually in this room!” He turned toward me with a slight smile, as if to say, ‘Just wait til you see this.’ He took a step forward, and suddenly, I saw a realm of light and within the light there were several beings, emerging from the first one in a continuous line. My mouth dropped open in awe! Each of them was facing me, and they each looked unique to the other while facing me. I was standing directly in front of the one in the middle who I didn’t see at first, but he slowly appeared looking very serious. He was bald, and bronze in color and smiled slightly, but then his expression quickly returned to serious.

After a few seconds he turned to walk in the light and back into the first one, but he was identical to the first one from the back as if it was the same one.  As this was going on, the last one turned and took a step towards the first one but then turned and stepped out of the light and started walking towards me!  He had big bright eyes, and His face was constantly changing from jet black to light gray and varying shades of gray and black in between, with displays of every emotion at the same time!  I also saw what looked like lightning emitting from His face.  I backed up and fell onto the dresser – I almost passed out!  He then turned away from me and slowly walked back towards the realm of light and for some reason I followed behind Him but stopped when He stepped back into the light.

The first one was looking backward when the last one walked into the first one, and there was a big jolt, like a seal.  I was stunned! Then Jesus walked over to my sister’s bed and sat down.  and I said, “You’re actually sitting on that bed!”  Then I walked up to Him and reached to touch His shoulder, and He leaned back so I couldn’t touch Him.  He had a look on His face like ‘Do not touch me’ so, I just stood there. (During this entire encounter, I could still hear my mother moving around in the house.)

Then He said “sit down” motioning for me to sit next to Him on the left side.  I sat down and was looking up at Him in total awe! His white robe looked like it was glowing.  And He looked at me as if what He had to say pained Him deeply.  He told me things that were going to happen that were horrific.  Still excited, I said “Oh that’s nothing — I know you and you can do anything.”  Those things don’t have to happen.  And He just looked at me.  I knew then that He was not going to change it. 

He began to tell me something specific concerning my mother and that she would be ok, and said something to the effect that whatever was going to happen was still going to happen but that I was right, it is nothing and not to worry about it. He then got up and walked across the room.  I thought about a bible story that I heard about a man who grabbed hold of an angel and wouldn’t let him go until he got what he wanted. (I know now that it was Jacob). I looked at Jesus and He had a ‘Don’t you try it’ look on His face. At some point we were having a conversation while standing in the middle of the floor and I remember asking something like, ‘How would it be ok?’ and He spread His arms wide and said, “Me!” I looked at Him for a moment directly at Him, still wanting Him to take it back, and realizing He wasn’t going to, and I started crying profusely. 

He told me to go and lay back down.  I was crying so hard that it didn’t even phase me that I was climbing back into my body and was back to being in the paralyzed state. He then waved His arm over me, and I was instantly calm with just a couple of residual sniffles.

He settled down in a sort of a sitting knee position on the floor next to my bed as I lay there, unable to move still.  Then He said, ‘I’m going to tell you these words and I want you to repeat them after me and whatever you do, don’t forget them.’  I said OK.  He said the two words, and I repeated them after Him for several more times.  He would say the words, and I would repeat them. Every few times He would say, “Don’t forget them,” and I would say, “I won’t forget them.” And we repeated this process for a few more times. Then He said you are about to come out of this transcendental state and whatever you do, don’t forget them.  I said I won’t forget.  Then He said the words a few more times and I repeated them each time, same as before, and just like that I was back and able to move again. 

And almost simultaneously I heard a big thump in the closet.  I jumped up standing on top of my bed with my back against the wall, knees trembling, and I started screaming and calling my mother to come into the room.  She came rushing into the room and I told her that there was someone in the room and He went in the closet.  She looked in the closet and said, “child, there’s nothing in here but a bunch of junk, but you can clean it tomorrow.” I had to laugh a little bit because I did the same thing that everybody else did, trying to finish my chores quickly so I could go outside! God sees and knows everything!

After a sigh of relief, I refocused on what He said and attempted to recall the two words and the first couple of times, I got them right.  Suddenly, I remembered the first word but was having trouble recalling the second one.  While I was trying to recall the second word I forgot the first one.  I panicked and tried to remember and it just got worse.  I cannot believe after all of that, I forgot the words!  After struggling all night until I fell asleep, the next day the thought of forgetting the words sent me into a deep depression.  

After moping around all morning, I told my mother what had occurred the night before and that I forgot the words that He told me not to forget. She seemed a whole lot better by the way.  She said, “It sounds like you had some kind of religious experience, and don’t be so hard on yourself.  God will allow you to recall it when it’s the right time.”  That gave me some solace, and my goodness was she ever right.  It would be five years later involving a chance encounter with a Catholic priest and another divine encounter in between; both instances will be detailed in future posts.

For now, fast forward forty years and what happened with Nephews A and B.  While washing dishes one night, the phone rang.  I dried my hands and ran to the phone quickly, not planning to talk very long.  It was NephewA, and we began talking about religion.  I just sat down where I was at which was not my usual seat and not looking at anything in particular.  In fact, I was oddly facing the wall, about five feet away.  I was telling him that there were things that happened to me that let me know for a fact that God Is Real.  And I began telling him about this transcendental experience and how it started with the picture.  He asked me what the picture looked like, and I started to think back to when I was twelve, closing my eyes tight trying to remember what the picture looked like.  It seemed that I could see a negative of the picture in my head and literally tried to describe it from that but to no avail.  So I just told him it was just a regular picture. 

As I continued to tell him the story, all of a sudden the picture started coming into view right in front of my face!  It seemed like the Jesus picture was smiling hard from across the room! I can’t believe this is actually happening right now!  I was looking right at the picture and didn’t know it!  I quickly assessed what events led up to that moment and how I came to be looking right at the picture (it was in the background of another picture) and determined it was an impossibility — only God can do the impossible.  This went way beyond coincidence.  I was stunned but I knew there was some kind of reason for it.  At that point the only thing I could do was scream and after pulling myself together, I was able to tell NephewA exactly what the picture looked like.  The next day I told various family members what happened, and after careful thought I told them that this was meant for NephewA because God knows I already knew.

A couple of days later, NephewA came over and wanted to see the picture.  I pointed it out to him, and he looked at it very closely, then suddenly jumped back!  He jumped back so hard it startled me.  I said, “What’s wrong?” And he said “nothing.” I pressured him a few more times but he wouldn’t tell me.  A few years later NephewB came over and I told him about NewphewA’s reaction to the picture, not telling NewphewB the details of the transcendental experience.  I believe I may have told him about the experience at some point in time, but I’m not sure he remembered it. 

Anyway, NephewB said let me see the picture and when he looked at it, he immediately noticed something that sent chills over my body. He said, “It looks like there’s someone else in the picture,” he continued, “and there’s another one up here.” NephewB attempted to describe what he saw by even making a sketch, but I still couldn’t see it.  After he left, I got a magnifying glass and was able to see what looked like another person in the picture.  However, it wasn’t until I took a snapshot of the picture and loaded it on my computer that I saw what appears to be Spirits!   Now I cannot say with certainty that what NephewB saw was the same thing that NephewA saw, but I loaded the picture to this post so people can see what I saw.

If it were not for NephewA’s reaction to the picture, I would never have looked more closely at it to see this amazing revelation.  And as a footnote, another nephew who I will refer to as NephewC is also a Muslim and he pretty much described the last one in my transcendental experience without me telling him any prior details.  He described the hair of the one in this picture almost to a “t” without seeing it.  He too, like the other nephews is extremely intelligent.  I think this was meant for him as well.  In John 10:16 Jesus says, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this pen: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one pen, and one shepherd.”  Because my nephews are so passionate and smart, I can’t help but think they may have a role in this.

Finally, I prayed at the beginning of this post that God would give me the words to accurately describe what I saw and that my computer wouldn’t crash.  I made it through the post and my computer didn’t crash.  However, I made some typos along the way but just hit the enter key throughout so I could complete it faster. When I was finished, I began deleting the errors, when something extraordinary started to form.  I looked and decided I can’t delete any more.  Here’s what started to form: (hwhwh.  Wonder). Does anything sound or look familiar to you?  I will just say hmmm, and leave it as is.  God Is Real, and there is no doubt about it.  For non-believers no amount of evidence can be given.  For believers, no evidence is necessary because it is a matter of faith, and the evidence of things unseen is simply appreciated. Isaiah 9:6 says: