The awakening to my spiritual knowing began shortly after my beloved friend Cheryl died through, what I call, breadcrumbing.  Within days of her departure, I was sitting on my back porch talking to her in my head, “Are you there?” I called out.  I noticed that my weeping willow tree began to sway while the rest of the trees and plants in my yard remained as still as the non-present wind.  “That really didn’t just happen,”  I told myself, but I tried again.  “Cheryl, are you there?”  And sure enough, that tree started to sway even more than the last time.  Over the next several days I kept trying this with the same results.  Even if it was windy and the other plants were moving, the tree would sway twice as fast.  I kept telling myself that this was simply my imagination and stopped playing with the tree. 

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Soon after this, I began seeing lightning bolts everywhere.  I thought of Cheryl when I saw them as she was a huge San Diego Chargers (now Los Angeles Chargers) fan.  The more I noticed the lightning bolts, the more I received, and the more I thought of Cheryl.  It got to the point that no matter where I went, lightning bolts followed. Having never truly been open to spirituality and miracles, I was caught between, this really can’t be happening … this is really happening … and … Oh my God, I think I’m going crazy.  The more I tried to shut it down and deny what I was seeing, the more she threw at me.  (Which makes me laugh as I write this because in hindsight I should have known not to try to shut this down because my friend Cheryl never took NO for an answer.)  Yet still, I tried.

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At this point, in trying to make sense of what was happening, I began researching the Reticular Activating System and Bader-Meinhop Phenomenon to try and explain away my new reality.  I’ll allow you to expand your research in these areas if you are so-called, but basically it is about your attention being drawn to things you focus upon.  As an example, you find out you’re pregnant, and suddenly you see pregnant women everywhere where previously you never really noticed pregnant women.  In many ways, this was what was happening, and I quickly grasped on to this concept; yet something still felt off about my experiences.  And then there was the tree…I could not explain away the tree. 

 

As my gift began expanding, I would suddenly begin noticing something like toast and soon I would see toast everywhere.  I couldn’t explain why I was seeing toast; I just knew that it was now everywhere I looked.  A day or two later I would be talking to a stranger, and they would mention that a family member died, and within that conversation would also mention that this person absolutely loved toast.  Mind blown!  It took me a while to connect the dots, but now I know it was Spirit’s way of showing me that these phenomena I researched were incorrect.  Like a horse being led to water,  I would know that this was somebody I was supposed to open up to about my gifts and help lead them in reconnecting with their loved ones.  Did I do this?  Oh, Hell No, I still did not have faith in my gifts or what I was experiencing and honestly, I had some leftover fear from my childhood religious teachings.  So I simply continued to try and explain this away, and soon they stepped up their game.  Cheryl and Spirit are a formidable duo and have a really questionable sense of humor as they sent me on a wild goose chase. 

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One day I began noticing a certain muscle car.  I had no idea what kind of car it was, but they were everywhere and I honestly could not even remember seeing one before.  I could not leave the house without seeing at least three or four of them, and it was typically when Cheryl was on my mind.  One day one of these muscle cars, in Cheryl’s favorite shade of bright pink, cut right in front of me just as the traffic light turned yellow.  Rather than go through the light, which would have made sense, the car stopped on a dime which in turn caused me to slam on my brakes in order to miss rear-ending the vehicle.  As a few choice words were forming on my lips, I looked at the car and saw the word Charger.  The car that had never been a part of my reality was a Dodge Charger and below the license plate was a San Diego Charger’s bumper sticker.   Holy crap Batman!  Yet my superpower of stubbornness still said, “NO WAY!”  So I did what anybody in my position would do,  I decided to test God.  “If this is real,” I yelled, “at the next light I want to see a Dodge Charger at each light.  If you’re really God, then show me.”  With that, I eagerly sped off to the next light.  No Dodge Chargers were found at that light, the next light, or any other light on my way back home.  Victory was mine; I had proven to myself that God was not in charge of what was happening. 

  

The next day I had to run a few errands, one of those was picking up a lanyard as I wanted to hang my phone from it while I walked the neighborhood.  I stopped at the local convenience store, Cheryl’s favorite, and asked if they had any.  The guy pointed to a bottom shelf, and as I bent down, I noted that they were in a big tangled mess.  As I grabbed the ball of lanyards to begin untangling them, one fell to the ground…not fell exactly, it was more like it was forcefully flung from the twisted mess, and landed on my shoe.  As I reached out to pick it up, I already knew what I was seeing … it was a pink, breast cancer awareness San Diego Charger’s lanyard.  Cheryl’s favorite football accessory was her Pink, San Diego Chargers Breast Cancer Awareness jersey, we had even draped it over her casket at her viewing.  I immediately fell to my knees and began crying, unaware of the people watching me, unaware of why this was happening, but knowing that it was. 

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I gathered myself the best I could amongst the stares, quickly paid, and made my way back to my car.  As I came to a stop at the very light where I had encountered the pink Dodge Charger the day before, and with tears still flowing from my eyes, I looked up to see Dodge Charger after Dodge Charger, after Dodge Charger, take their turn driving through the intersection.  God and Cheryl had arranged a freaking Dodge Charger Spiritual Showcase just for my benefit.  The message had finally been delivered.  And while the past several years have been a rollercoaster in healing, learning, and being blessed with more gifts, I am now at a point in my life where I can share these gifts with those who are open to receiving them.