Share Your Story: Have You Encountered God?

We believe every member of our community has a story worth sharing — a moment of faith, a blessing received, or a testimony that could uplift and inspire others. Those moments with God don’t always come with thunder or burning bushes. Sometimes, they arrive quietly—in a hospital room, during a walk in nature, or in the stillness of prayer. Whether dramatic or gentle, your experience matters.

We’d love to hear your story.

Your encounter might be:

• A moment of unexpected peace or clarity

• A powerful dream or vision

• A time of struggle that led to transformation

• A subtle but undeniable feeling of God’s presence

• Or something entirely unique to you

Tell Us:

You can use the form below to share your experience. Please feel free to remain anonymous if you’d like. Your story may offer comfort, encouragement, or inspiration to someone who needs it.

You never know who might be waiting to hear exactly what you’ve lived through.

Another way to share your story is through The Journey with Kathy Worgul.

Want to self-reflect on your past? Father John discussed Life Mapping as part of our Lenten Reflection in 2025.  Learn more about it by clicking here.

Twenty-five years ago I signed up to be an adorer at the Chapel. I think my hour was Wednesday mornings at 6 am. Our twins were just 3 years old. This time with the Lord, to sit in silence and wait in the stillness for Him was such a gift in my world of toddlers, chores, and laundry. Normally the hour went by quickly and I prayed and listened for His voice. But one particular Wednesday I was exceptionally distracted by life, it was difficult to calm my mind. Time seemed to drag slowly on and I kept glancing at my watch to see how much longer until my hour was up. My mind raced with the tasks I’d face that day and I was anxious to get home and get started. But it seemed like time had slowed! Every time I glanced at my watch, only a few minutes had passed. I decided to peruse some books that were stacked in the back window ledge, maybe that would pass the time. I got up and went to them. It was such a long time ago, I can’t recall the name of the book, but I remember it had short chapters to meditate on. And when I returned to my seat, I opened the book and it randomly fell open to a chapter where the title was: “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour.” Wow! Our Lord was speaking directly to me and I felt ashamed. I quickly ripped off my watch, shoved it deep into my purse, fell to my knees and bowed my head. When I began to pray, I felt a closeness and warmth I hadn’t felt all week. My mind calmed; thoughts settled. Jesus spoke to me through that book, that chapter, that line of scripture. He knew exactly what I needed and guided me to it. His presence in the stillness strengthened me to face the mountain of tasks ahead. I thank God for our Chapel, for the opportunity to be a part of Adoration, and to be with Our Savior in the silence.

-Parishioner requested to remain anonymous

Submitted 12/15/2025

When I was about 22 years old a friend asked “hey you want to go on a camping trip in the Mountains of Western Maryland this weekend? It’s a spiritual thing but mostly just handing out around the bonfire drinking.” I heard bonfire and drinking so “sure”. We get there and one of our friends greeted us with “this is so great can’t you fell the power here?” As he was hugging a rock. We partied hard at that time so it was a little off but not alarming. The bonfire later in the evening was huge and we had a fun time hanging out around it. The next morning when I woke up the friend, I was with was gone. I peeked out the tent and people were carrying a large flat blue stone, stone up the gravel road. Someone said “come help us take the alter up”. I hard passed on that activity because carrying a rock didn’t look like any fun at all. Seemed like the stone went on forever because so many people passed my tent. I bummed cigarettes off them as they passed. Eventually I followed them to see what was going on. There must have been 500 people in a clearing of the trees at the top of the hill and I was at the back of the crowd with in a clearing of the trees. A man was shouting something off in the distance but I couldn’t make it out or see him at all. Then everyone started chanting. It wasn’t English but everyone around me seem to know what to say. It was creepy and later I learned a bird was sacrificed at that time. I got scared and started praying Hail Mary’s. I am pretty sure I wasn’t praying out loud or even moving my lips. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and there was a woman with a beautiful smile standing there with dark curly hair and homemade cloths that looked like dark colored Gypsies cloths and lots of silver jewelry, at some point I heard the jewelry jingle. She pointed to the ground and said “is that yours?” There was green piece of construction paper folded into four. I picked it up, unfolded it and read it. In read crayon it said “you do not belong here.” I looked around and the woman was gone and I was terrified. I thought ‘Did these people somehow know I was praying?’ Trying not to attract any attention I slowly retreated from the group.

I thought the woman knew I was praying and was trying to scare me. About 20 years later I told this story to a friend here at Saint Joseph Catholic Church and she said the woman was angel. A couple years ago I was attending daily Mass, when it was happening in the adoration chapel because of the roof work. I was kneeling in prayer before Mass started. I felt a tap on my shoulder. There was a woman with long curly dark hair, homemade clothing, a beautiful smile and lots of silver jewelry. She pointed to the seats in front of me and asked “are these reserved?” I felt my skin go pale but smiled back and said “no”. She looked just like the woman on the mountain from decades ago, but older, like myself. I feared that somehow, she tracked me down.

At some point last year when I started to agree with the friend that said she was an angel saving me, because of the smile both times the smile was so peaceful. I never did go to anymore pagan rituals on mountain tops again. I ask the Lord to send her one more time so I can say thank you and I am thankful to have the memory of her being at mass that one day.

– Parishioner requested to remain anonymous

Submitted 9/22/2025

I was driving home from picking my kindergartner up from school. He had been asking me many questions about God and specifically the Holy Spirit. I have always found it easier to teach my children about God the Father and God the Son, but the Holy Spirit is a little tricky – especially when your audience is six years old. When he asked me what the Holy Spirit looked like, I told him about the image of a white dove or fire. At the time, we lived in a townhouse community inside the DC beltway. As we pulled into the development, we had to stop the car because a white dove was walking down the street, right towards us! We had lived there for years and had never seen a dove, let alone a white dove. Even as I inched the car forward, the dove kept approaching. My son was so excited because we both knew that God was gifting us with a little help in our understanding of the Holy Spirit. Then, the very next day, we went into K-Mart to pick up some school supplies and my son asked if he could have a quarter for the toy machine. I always say no to that, but for some reason I said yes … Sure enough, when he opened his little surprise, it was a ring with the Sacred Heart of Jesus on it. From a dispenser at K-Mart! Again, we were overjoyed by how God was letting us know He was trying to guide us in our understanding. It has been ten years, but we talk about those encounters a lot. They are good reminders when we need them.

– Parishioner requested to remain anonymous

Submitted 9/3/2025

I was healing from a Near Death Experience and a severe infection that took over 5 years to recover from. One of the challenges it left me with was chronic anxiety. For several years the anxiety was so bad I could not go into stores or go to the gym and especially church I would be riddled with anxiety. I even went and spoke with one of the priests about it. Because of my profession I had seen many beautiful experiences of God helping people, but I had never had quite an experience like this for myself.
One morning when I was waking up from sleeping I had a vision of this group of people at a distant. I heard a person in the group say Jesus took Shirley as if someone had asked where I was. I thought of it as just a dream from my subconscious thoughts but as days went on, I realized I was not having anxiety anymore. I could go into stores, I could even go to church and places that I had never been before. This was amazing. I finally realized the change occurred right after that unusual dream! But this was not just a dream. This was a true experience that healed me.The realization of this was so deep that even now during Mass, it takes all my might not to sob uncontrollably. I truly believe all that I had experienced during my near death experience almost broke me. And it was the dream that let me know that the Lord came and made me whole again. Thank you dear Lord Jesus. I am forever changed for the better and so grateful for your love.

– Parishioner requested to remain anonymous

Submitted 8/27/2025