A Little Clarity

Setting us at ease in the Spirit

Since I launched my website and blog, I’ve had outreach from several people. And I’ve had questions – open and curious questions about the path I am on.

Two dear women reached out separately. They both have a deep trust in God and respect for the Bible. The approach they each had was one of warmth and wanting to hear my story, so they could better understand my perspective.

Although it’s not the right time to share my whole story in this format, I will share it with some individuals who seek me out. Even those who have known me for decades don’t know the details that have led me to developing and sharing my intuitive gifts. For now, I will share that it all started at a very young age with life-threatening trauma and understanding that God was there for me in seeing an angelic presence in the room.

I never asked for that gift in that moment, and I never asked for sightings of angels thereafter. It was a singular reassurance gifted to me in my childhood.

I came to believe in and know Jesus when I was also very young. The realization that I needed Him as Savior was very clear to me. I carried a frightening secret for decades because of being threatened into silence by a stranger in that traumatic encounter. I knew God and Jesus were with me, and that gave me strength.

Throughout my growing up years, I stayed away from dark and occult things. I had no need for that but sought out the Light. I had a sense of people and situations that were dangerous, and I avoided them. I made some foolish decisions at times, but God protected me.

In the past several years, the Spirit has led me on a different path than I ever expected to take. God awakened my childhood gift, as I followed promptings of the Spirit through prayer, scripture, writings, art, music and people placed in my path to encourage me.

My intuition has expanded in sensing things from the Spirit. And my gift of receiving messages from those who have passed away landed on me unexpectedly after an elderly friend passed, and I was physically nearby when he died. I never sought it out, but the messages that God gave me to discreetly pass along to his family provided meaningful healing for them in their sorrow.

I’m going to address the word Medium here. I am well-aware of the scriptures forbidding consulting a medium. I have a firm foundation in the Bible. As I have studied those passages, it is clear to me that the gift I’ve been given is not the medium/witchcraft/fortune-telling/sorcery/demonic connection that the scriptures warn against. My experience is completely full of love, light and reassurance. The few mediums I’ve been exposed to are like me – they did not ask for their gift. It landed on them – usually due to trauma that they endured. It came as a gift in their coping mechanism, in their brain wiring. We received a heightened awareness of the spirit world that provides light and healing for others.

In revealing my abilities and work publicly, I pondered whether to use the term medium because of its cultural and biblical connotations. I sought guidance, and the Spirit answered. I chose to use the word medium, because that is the term people search for when they need assurance that a loved one is safe on the other side or when they need closure for words they did not get to hear before someone passed. Very few people choose to seek out the gifts of a medium. But those who do have a specific need.

That’s where the Spirit engages and gives me the ability to know specific information about the departed and to relay the words my client needs to hear in order to move forward in their healing journey. It often involves releasing guilt or fear.

Each session is inevitably full of light, love and assurance of eternal life and love beyond the grave. Each session is for the purpose of reconciliation and encouragement and specific sharing of the love of Jesus for the client. And most of the dozens of readings I have done have been for no charge, as I have been building my skills.

The majority of my reading sessions are intuitive work – sensing the current issues, needs, goals and struggles in the client’s life. God allows me to see, hear, feel and know things that I would not otherwise have knowledge of. This is an incredible gift and privilege, and one I do not take lightly. Each session is covered in prayer and Jesus’s name.

I’ve been asked about having a preoccupation with the dead. I haven’t met anyone like that. If I did, I would not do a reading for them. For my part, I have no preoccupation with the dead. I am contacting the living God who dwells in light with angels and spirits. It is God who gives me these messages and gifts for the benefit of each individual.

I do not seek out spirits – only what comes to me in session readings with clients through God’s Spirit. I occasionally have seen spirits in between my sleeping and waking states. I do not engage with them, and they go away. There is nothing dark or demonic about them.

Since my childhood trauma, I have seen angels twice. They were always at times when I faced difficulty. I never asked for it. Their appearance was given to me in peace.

Apart from sessions with clients, my empathy is always on. My intuition is always on, but at a lower level. I’m not prying into peoples’ energies. Sometimes an awareness comes to me, but generally I am living a life of seeking God, growing as a person (while making mistakes) and building peace and community.

There is nothing about my gifts that makes me seek darkness. Several things assure me that these abilities are from God:

· I have no fear about accessing these gifts in service to Jesus and others. It’s always beautiful.

· I’ve been drawn to powerful scriptures in Romans 8, John 14, 15, 16 and many others that assure me that God is with us in a profound way through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and surrounding us. “There is no condemnation” and “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” I also recall 2 Timothy 1:6-7 which encourages us to “stir up the gift of God which is in you… for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.”

· My husband trusts and supports me in this work. He knows my heart.

· I’ve sought out prayer partners for guidance.

· I’ve asked God to remove this ability from me if it isn’t from Divine will. God has not removed it but has increased it and encouraged me in it.

· I’ve looked for employment in the past three years supported by the prayers of many, and those doors have all closed. This path has remained open and full of light.

· I’ve talked to three of our pastors about my gifts and none perceives these gifts as dark or demonic. Two of the pastors have referred people to me.

· My counselor has also supported me in my abilities and will send clients to me who may need an additional approach with their therapy.

· Bible-believing Christians who engage with me in questions now understand that what I do is a ministry “from the Lord”, and they see it as a kind of life-coaching. Some have called it the gift of knowledge or wisdom.

Perhaps I will be led to name my work ministry differently in the future. But for now, I’ve sought to be transparent with everyone in my life and not hide for fear of judgement or misunderstanding. The Spirit has blessed and guided me in this and who am I to say, “Why have you made me thus?”

I am a peace-making personality – making people uncomfortable is the last thing I want. BUT if I want to follow Jesus above all else, I have to accept that others may be uncomfortable with my unique path. God challenges me to take no responsibility for their discomfort but to endeavor to communicate as clearly as possible through the Spirit’s leading.

This takes the burden off of me. It is the Spirit’s work to do. This gives me peace and empowerment. And perhaps it gives you also, dear friend, a little clarity.

(photo by Jennifer Palo, Bubbles at Moonlight Beach)