This Way Up!

One Woman's Story About Climbing Jacob's Ladder

The dream began with an angel reaching out a hand to a little girl, helping her up a golden ladder of light. What the girl was doing there and where the ladder went, I had no idea. As I watched from some distant place, the little girl quickly became frustrated at not being able to reach the angel’s outstretched arm. The beautiful angel kept beckoning to her, “this way up!” motioning to an unknown destination skyward.

Whatever was up there, the little girl clearly wanted to go. Finally, on tiptoe, she fearlessly leapt up and grabbed the angel’s robes, climbed onto the angel’s back and finally got onto the ladder. “Hooray!” cried the child in delight. And, in that moment of triumph, the dream was over. I awoke with a start present in my body and suddenly realized that the little girl in the dream was me. However, at that time, I was not a little girl anymore but an unsettled woman of 25 years old.

I vividly remember that night. The previous evening I had finished reading Neal Donald Walsch’s Conversations With God. Walsch is a former lawyer who was very unhappy with his life. In a moment of sheer frustration, he began to write God an angry letter. But the author’s pen turned from an emotional tirade against God to a loving and en-light-ening conversation with God. Walsch’s conversation with God turned into numerous best-selling books and started my life as a spiritual clairvoyant.

As I reclined in my bed, I distinctly remember thinking about Walsch’s book. I thought to myself, “what an interesting concept. I wonder if it could be true.” Suddenly, in my right ear, a loud booming Voice said, “well why wouldn’t it be?” Before I could think about where the Voice had come from, I mentally answered back, “because you just can’t talk to God.” A deep belly laugh erupted from the Voice and It asked, “well, why not child?” I turned around to face the Voice fully expecting to see someone there but only saw the wall of my bedroom. I timidly checked back in with the Voice and asked “are you there?” “ I AM Always Here, “ said the Voice. “Who are you?” I asked. “ I AM That I AM” came back the reply. With every tingling cell of my being, at that moment, I had such an overwhelming “knowing” that I was talking to God that I became quite hysterical emotionally. In fact, I became emotionally unsettled for a whole year afterwards. For you see, after this divine conversation with God, I became instantly clairaudient which is the ability to hear through your psychic ears. As a child, I did not demonstrate any psychic ability per se and grew up in a fairly open but traditional family culture. The greater part of my professional career had been analytical. I graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario with a Bachelor of Arts Honours in Political Science. I then became a Canadian certified Risk Manager and worked for a Canadian general insurance company reviewing portfolios, trouble shooting and managing accounts. I led a normal and comfortable life. However, after reading Walsch’s book, my comfortable life soon became uncomfortable.

At work, I began to “see” divine figures around people who would mentally “tell” me about that person. As a supervisor who led twelve staff, this became quite disconcerting and confusing. I would barely get through the day and then cry at home because I truly thought I was crazy and didn’t know what to believe anymore. In my culture, you were either crazy or possessed if you talked to God and neither experience appealed to me at all. It got so bad for me that I had to finally step out of the “closet” and seek out professional help. I first went to my family doctor and shared with her my strange experiences. I saw in her eyes the look that so many analytical professionals give me when I explain to them that I see and hear angels. She prescribed me a form of Prozac and sent me on my merry way. I felt somewhat relieved leaving her office at finally having a solution to my secret problem. The next day, I awoke and took my first pill and prayed for a sign from God that everything would be ok. My body immediately threw up the medicine. That was some sign! Every day for a week, my body rejected the medicine until finally I threw away the pills knowing that my body was trying to tell me something.

Keeping on my search for my truth, I then made an appointment with my family priest to see what he would have to say. Our family priest is a very intelligent and loving man but it was still extremely awkward to sit across from him and tell him I was talking to God. In the Greek culture, a priest holds a high level of divine authority and power and commands respect. That same look came across his face when I explained him my experiences and he prayed with me and blessed me. As I was leaving I thought to myself, “well, at least I know I am not possessed!” That was something.

I tackled my problem like a good scientist uncovering all possible solutions. I met with a clinical psychologist who was the first “expert” that didn’t give me that “look”. He honestly advised that he didn’t know what was happening to me but felt I was sane, stable and completely “normal.” At this point, I let my search go and tried to manage my life as best I could. I prayed every day that I would be alright. Looking back now, I see how God perfectly orchestrated by “coming out” of the spiritual closet party. It was during my aunt’s birthday party that my cousin Maria innocently asked me how I was doing. I emotionally broke down and blurted out “I am talking to God!” and started to cry. She whisked me to the bathroom, dried my tears and heard my strange tale of the past year. She immediately gave me a hug and suggested I go see an Intuitive Healer named Julie Desmarais. The suggestion resonated with me and it felt like a ray of sunshine had broken through the dark clouds. I made an appointment to see her the next week. Immediately, Julie is a likeable woman and compassionately heard my strange tales of divine conversation. She softly laughed and told me “Jennifer, you’re just talking to God.” I answered without hesitation, “yes, I know. I just needed someone else to confirm it for me.” I began to work with Julie on a regular basis and became one of her students to learn about energy work and how to develop my psychic skills. It was through her that I learned about Dr. Doreen Virtue PhD who works with angels. I voraciously read all of Dr. Virtue’s books and began to “tune” into the angelic realms. I realized that the divine beings around people were their guardian angels. The next step in my development would be to study with Dr. Virtue herself. Dr. Virtue teaches an intensive seven day Angel Therapy™ Practitioner’s class in Laguna Beach, California where she assists her students to communicate with other people’s angels. This class is not cheap and I immediately rejected the thought of attending due to lack of funds. It was during one of my regular visits with Julie, that she clairvoyantly saw me having an office and working with people who were lined up to see me and angels assisting me with the readings. I laughed at the thought of working full time as a spiritual clairvoyant since I still had my regular job at the insurance company with a good salary and benefits. I answered back to Julie, rather sarcastically, “well if God wants me to go, then He’d better pay.”

The following week I received an unsolicited credit card in the mail with exactly the amount of money that I required for my trip to Laguna Beach. Coincidence or a prayer answered? I hemmed and hawed about the card for several weeks before I broke down and booked my trip to California. While in Laguna Beach, I opened up even more clairvoyantly during my stay, personally met Doreen and made life-long connections with other participants. Today, I am the first Professional Spiritual Teacher and certified Angel Therapy ™Practitioner working in Ottawa and have inspired over 20 of my own clients to follow this same path.

After I completed Doreen’s ATP class in November 2000, I returned to work with no real thought of changing professions. A few months later in February 2001, I suffered an extremely serious injury that left me bed ridden for several months. It was then that I learned who I was and what I truly needed to do. It was to this day one of the worst times of my life. Looking back, I realized that I was so stubborn and more honestly, so afraid of my divine purpose, that the Universe had to “take me out” and put me flat on my back to fully understand the divine mission I had signed up for. In May 2001, I was forced back to work by my former employer and was extremely unhappy with the way they handled their business. I could no longer stomach this kind of energy and felt very sad and abandoned by the Universe. However, God always has a plan, even if you don’t know anything about it! On July 4, 2001 I was laid off from my job that I had spent 7 years at. As I packed up my desk, I felt the normal human fear, rage and humiliation but my attention was brought to a calendar that I had tacked to my office wall. For some reason, I had circled in red pen the words “Independence Day” on the July 4th date. I had several American friends and most likely circled it to give them a call. However today, the words Independence Day seemed to shout out in my head in celebration. Immediately I was at peace and very calmly gathered my things and left with as much dignity as I could muster. Not so coincidentally, I had one of my regular monthly visits with Julie three days later. I walked with a smile on my face and proudly told her I was laid off. She warmly hugged me and congratulated me! A strange response to such an event but there are no coincidences in the Universe. A friend once said that fear is simply not knowing what lies for you around the corner. I “knew” something better had to be waiting for me there. Julie excitedly explained that one of her treatment rooms was available for rent and it was time for me to be a full time Angel Therapy™ Practitioner. I laughed out loud but seriously doubted my ability to rent an office space with no feasible means of earning a living. She continued to explain the divine synchronicity around the room for rent. A friend of hers, Jeff Smith, had already rented out the room thinking he would use it as his office. However, it quickly became apparent to him that he had not rented the room for himself but for someone else, that he was simply holding space for the right person to come along. Julie felt that that right person was me. I was surprised, excited and scared all at once. Up until now, angelic work has been my passion, my hobby, but not my work. How could I earn a living at it? How much does God pay? I trusted Julie and I trusted the divine coincidences that led me to that moment. I prayed for an answer and the Voice gave me a resounding “Yes!” I took time to think about it and weighed the pros and cons. However, a short three days later, I signed the lease. The rest they say is history. Today, I have had the honor of assisting over 6000 people in personal consultations or inspirational workshops around the world.

When you are on the right path, in service to your-Self and others, God opens all doors of opportunity. Just like the little girl in my dream, I had to take my leap of faith and find out that, with God, all things are possible.

Come to the cliff, He Said
We are afraid, they said.
Come to the cliff, He Said.
We are afraid, they said.
He Pushed Them

And they flew.

(Guilluame Appollionaire)