Divine Visits. Josie Varga

Tears filled my own eyes as I hugged her again. We just never know how our actions will affect others. It was then that I knew that this story was meant to be told and realized if I could help this woman, then I could surely help others. Hence, this book was born.

Beyond Words

      As I often say, there are no coincidences in life; there are only “Godincidences.” Nearing the completion of this book, I experienced my own profound divine visit. As I write these words, I am overcome with emotion just thinking about it. And although the experience is beyond words, I will do my best to describe what happened.

      In March 2012 I had an appointment for my annual mammogram. Shortly after I was told that I needed to go back for another scan. Typically this does not alarm me as I have dense breasts and, therefore, very often have to go back for a second mammogram or ultrasound. This time, however, they needed to take another look at the left side of my breasts.

      Since I was traveling, I could not make an appointment until two weeks later which brought me back for a screening on Monday, April 9th—a day that I will remember vividly for the rest of my life. When I arrived, I was first given another mammogram by one of the x-ray technicians on staff. Afterwards I was told that the doctor wanted me to have an ultrasound. At this point I must admit I was concerned but not alarmed.

      As the second technician scanned my breasts, I noticed that she paid special attention to one area on the left side. After she spent several minutes examining the scans of my breasts, she looked at me and said, “I'll be right back. I have to go talk to the doctor.” As she left the room leaving me alone with my thoughts, I sensed that I was in trouble. My body literally began to shake from head to toe.

      Not knowing what else to do, I decided to ask God if everything was going to be okay. I was hoping that my gut instincts were wrong so I asked telepathically, Is everything okay? Unexpectedly and shockingly, I clearly heard a voice in my mind say, No! You can just imagine how shocked I was. At this point I thought maybe I had imagined it and asked again, Is everything okay? Again I unmistakably heard back, No!

      Honestly, I wanted to run out of that room. I was startled, confused, scared, etc. There I was lying on a table, topless in a dimly lit room alone. Not knowing what else to do, I cried out to God for help. I was so distraught that I cannot remember my exact words, but they went something like this: Well, God, if it's not okay, you have to fix this. I can't leave yet. I'm doing so much right now. I need to finish my book. Lord, I want to be there for my children. Then holding back tears, I thought of my Godmother Lucy. Let me pause here and give you a little description of my beautiful, wonderful godmother Lucy LoBrace.

      Lucy was the type of person who always put everyone before herself. She did everything she could to help everyone else and never thought much about her own needs. She never married and worked as a seamstress for several years at a company in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Since she had no children, I was her self-proclaimed daughter, and I proudly called her my second mom. We passed many hours together as I grew up, going shopping downtown, having sleepovers, or just passing time lounging on her big Victorian porch. As we both grew older, the bond we shared grew stronger, and I cherished the times I got to spend with Lucy.

      I could go on and on talking about what a wonderful person she was, but what's important here is that she had more faith in God than anyone I have ever known. Despite many hardships in her life and through the untimely death of many of her close family members, she held on to her faith. She strongly believed in the power of prayer and kept a shrine of saint medallions in her room: St. Jude, St. Joseph, and St. Theresa. She had them all. She also faithfully said many daily novenas to various saints and when she was physically able, always attended mass on Sundays.

      Through the years I would always tell her, “Lucy, if there's anyone who is going to get to heaven, it's you. Put in a good word for me when you get there.” She would always just smile at me and chuckle. I would also tell her to make sure that she gave me a sign to let me know that everything was okay when she crossed over. Lucy unexpectedly passed on February 22, 2010 from an apparent heart attack. Although I was shocked and saddened by the news, I had no doubt whatsoever that she was in a much better place and was now happy to be with her loved ones once again. In fact, she has let me know in many ways that she is still with me. I will share one example here before I get back to that day in the radiology room.

      Often when I'm at my desk writing, I go onto You Tube and put in a song that I can listen to as I write. Recently I was really missing my Godmother Lucy and put “My Melody of Love” in the search field. For those of you who may not know, this was a popular song by singer Bobby Vinton in the 70s.

      When I was young, my godmother gave me a Mickey Mouse record player. It was white with Mickey Mouse on the cover, and the needle was actually Mickey's arm. I loved it, and it brought me many hours of enjoyment. One day Lucy came over with the 45 of “My Melody of Love,” and the two of us had such a great time doing the polka and singing to this Bobby Vinton hit.

      So on this day as I sat there missing my godmother, I wanted to hear this song that had special meaning to both of us. As the song played via You Tube, the tears began to flow. Suddenly I yelled out as if she was within earshot, “Lucy, are you here? Do you remember this? Bobby Vinton. “My Melody of Love?” I then cried for several more minutes before going back to my work.

      The following week, my husband John asked me if my daughter Lia had told me about the dream she had had involving my godmother. When I told him that she hadn't, he told me to ask her what happened. When I did, Lia seemed confused and flustered. She told me that she had had a dream about “Grandma Lucy” (this is what my two daughters called Lucy) but was confused by it. I told her to just tell me what happened, and this is what she said:

       Mommy, Grandma Lucy walked up to this box and opened it. When she opened it, there was this thing going round and round and there was a little stick sticking up.

      I stood there open mouthed. My daughter Lia unknowingly just gave me a huge validation. I realized that Lia was, of course, describing a record player, but Lia was ten years old. So in this age of CDs and MP3 players, she had no idea of what she was seeing. She is not familiar with LPs and 45s. She is not familiar with record players. So why, then, did she dream of my godmother and a record player? This was Lucy's way of letting me know that she did remember. Yes, she was there, and yes, she did remember “My Melody of Love.”

      By the way, I showed my daughter pictures of record players, and she confirmed that this was what she had indeed seen. But why would my Godmother Lucy visit my daughter in a dream and not me? This is what is called a third-party sign. Think about it for a moment. Obviously, it is more validating for my Godmother Lucy to go to my daughter Lia and not to me. I may have thought I was having the dream simply because I had asked Lucy if she was there with me. However, hearing this message from Lia (a third party who had no knowledge of what happened) was a far stronger and convincing validation.

      As I said earlier, Lucy has given me many signs or visits from heaven as I like to call them such as the one I just described above, but everything pales in comparison to what happened that day as I waited for the technician to return. Again, I had cried out to God telepathically for help and then thought of my godmother. So I decided to make a second plea for help to Lucy.

      “Lucy,” I pleaded. “If I've ever needed you to be here for me, it's now. Please, Lucy, help me!”

      And then it happened. Within mere seconds I saw a bright white orb descend from the ceiling directly above me. I stared at it in utter astonishment and thought, I must be imagining things. I closed my eyes and opened them again, but it was still there. The white was very bright, and it was not transparent. In other words, I could not see through this orb which looked to be about four inches long and just three inches wide. The orb was perfectly round but had rays of light protruding out of it.

      No doubt something very divine was taking place. I lay there mesmerized by this beautiful, breathtaking vision and watched as it slowly descended toward me. A smile warmed my face, and I completely