In 1987, my wife Dianne and her mother went to Medjugorje. For a year after the trip, unknown to me, Dianne fasted and prayed for my conversion. I was about as anti-Catholic as you could get. I had been raised Catholic but fell away in my teens and my total lack of spirituality was a really big problem in our marriage. Dianne knew that if she even tried to talk to me about any religious topic, I would be out of there! By a quirk of fate, which is a story in itself, she managed to get me on a plane to Medjugorje the following year. I was thinking about a divorce and going to Medjugorje was sort of an appeasement to her before I left her for good.
While in Medjugorje on the second day, I re-injured an old back injury that I incurred in a motorcycle accident 16 years earlier. I had none of the prescription drug with me needed to relax my back and Dianne and I both knew I would be confined to bed for at least a week, which was the entire rest of the nine day trip! After all of the prayer and fasting she had done, Dianne was horrified that her chance of using Medjugorje to convert me was probably ruined before it got off the ground.As soon as I reached the villa we were staying at, I just kicked off my shoes and went to bed without supper. I was in intense Pain and totally crippled and spasmed like a pretzel. I managed to go to sleep and cannot remember anything until the next morning.
I woke up the next morning and realized that Dianne had allowed me to oversleep. It was breakfast time and I was several minutes late already. I stood up and immediately realized that I had no pain or limited movement at all. For the first time in 16 years I could move my head fully to the left. For the first time in 16 years, I had absolutely no pain at all in my back. Even without the current spasm, my back always hurt in varying degrees, day and night, 365 days a year. I could not believe the way I felt! I walked up to the breakfast room and all eyes were on me as I walked into the room. I felt like Lazarus walking from the grave. Someone asked how I felt and I relayed to them that not only was the intense pain and spasm gone, but the constant residual pain and immobility were also gone for the first time in 16 years. They all applauded and praised the Lord. Unknown to me, they had prayed that night for my recovery so that my Medjugorje experience for a conversion would be a success. I did not believe in healings, especially for someone who was an unbeliever like me! Their faith overcame my total lack of faith!
Needless to say, my Medjugorje experience was off to a truly great start! Many things happened on that nine day trip that I could spend months talking about. We saw rosaries turn gold, we saw the miracle of the sun, we saw other physical healings, we saw spiritual healings (which I also received two days later) and many, many other wondrous events. Before the trip I was always in back pain and my neck was always stiff. Today, nine years later, I have not had a single pain ever again in the area of the damaged disc. I can lift, bend, etc., as well as any twenty year old and I am now age 50!
I know there will always be discussions about any ongoing apparition. It is human nature to doubt the supernatural. It is also Satan's intent to downplay anything from Our Lady or her Son.
I feel like Saul of Tarsus after he changed to Paul after his little road event. I thank God that He did not call me from this earth before I had a chance to start turning my life around and I now know I belong to him for whatever he wants of me from now on. God uses places like Medjugorje to wake up the dead, which is what I was.
