Touched by Heaven - Everyday Encounters with God

"The mortar shells and rockets were falling all around us. There were loud explosions. So, I turned over and fell back to sleep" ---------- There is a war on. The battle over our minds. Last week's conversation with Denny Thompson left me pondering one unforgettable sentence: "Nothing really matters except getting Home to God." Despite the loss of his eyesight, and arm, and a leg, his mind was fre...

"I was in this darkness. and this huge, wrinkly, beautiful old person's hand came down from above, and scooped me up, and I heard, 'Trust in me, and everything will be all right.'" ---------- Denny Thompson was 38 years old when a motorcycle accident left him in a coma for months. Doctors weren't optimistic. His family faced impossible decisions. But while unconscious, Denny experienced something...

"I stood up and I was in shock. It was the first time in 15 months, since breaking my back, I was completely pain-free." ---------- We revisit one of the most unforgettable stories in Touched by Heaven history, Rich shares what happened after fifteen months of pain from a crushed vertebra left him wondering if this was simply life now. A former naval aviator and anesthesiologist, Rich never expect...

"I had never heard of Fatima, Lourdes, or Guadalupe. And then I saw her. She was heavenly, and beautiful." ---------- Gina had never heard of Marian apparitions--Fatima, Lourdes, Guadalupe--none of them. And then suddenly, she began having visions she couldn't explain. She discovered that this kind of experience could change where you go to church on Sunday. In this episode, Gina shares her experi...

"Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins." ---------- There is one day each year that seems to echo across history. Fatima in 1917. Akita in 1973. A mysterious moment during adoration in San Francisco in 2023. Different places. Same invitation: return to God. In this episode, I revisit one of the most talked-about episodes of Touched by Heaven and ask a simpler question...

"We didn't know about the Netflix documentary. We didn't know these two young men. We only knew that the Holy Spirit guided us here." ---------- Holly and Lauren stood quietly at the gravesites in a cemetery in Strongsville, Ohio, wondering why prayer had led them there. During a class assignment through Encounter School of Ministry, my two new friends had asked the Holy Spirit where they were sup...

"He looked at me, and said, "Go ahead and get up and walk towards the door." I got up and started to walk. I didn't even need to reach the door. All the pain was gone. I busted out crying. I knew that I was healed." ---------- Aaron reaching out during Pentecost week feels fitting somehow. Pentecost marks the birth of the Church and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the world -- an outpouring...

"I looked at Paul and said to myself, 'I want a husband, but… it better not be him.' Paul, meanwhile, mumbled, 'I just met my wife… I just met my wife.' And, I said, 'I don't think so.'" (laughter) ---------- As Elizabeth and I prepare for our fourth pilgrimage to Medjugorje with listeners this October, I was reminded of a beautiful conversation I recorded three years ago in Medjugorje with Monica...

"I write books about things I don't know. That's how this Near Death Experience book began…" - Michael Zigarelli ---------- What happens when people clinically die… and then come back with stories they can't explain? In this episode, I speak with professor and author Michael Zigarelli of Messiah University in Pennsylvania about his book Evidence for Heaven , a fascinating look at documented Near D...

"We had looked everywhere in my brother's house, for his Will. That's when I had the dream that helped me. Never, would I have looked in the garage." __________ What if lost things are sometimes God's way of helping us find Him? In this episode, Diana and Amy share remarkable stories of things missing and seemingly impossible to recover--a lost will revealed in a dream, treasured items found throu...

"This can't be coincidence. I believe that God is dreaming bigger for us than we ever imagined." ---------- In this episode, I explore dreams, prophecy, holy coincidence, and the possibility that heaven may be revealing a mission still unfolding. As old clues and new nudges began converging, I found myself asking whether God may be sketching something much larger than a podcast or speaking ministr...

"My seatbelt was still on. There were tree branches on the windshield. That's when I realize that me and my giant truck and trailer were somehow upside down." ---------- Four years after first sharing his story, Nick the truck driver returns with one of the most baffling moments of his life. A routine winter drive turns into something he still can't fully explain--loss of control, lost time, and a...

"I gasped. There it was, taped to the wall. That wasn't there before." ---------- Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. Just days ago, Jennifer--a hospice worker--was praying The Divine Mercy Chaplet for a patient who had just passed away. At that very moment, a man arrived late to do some work at her house… his own father had died the night before. Two people. Two losses. Two hearts already turned toward...

"He is going to give you what you need in each moment. But he won't give you what you need tomorrow, today." ---------- Here we are on Easter Sunday with the conclusion of our episode with Julianne from Ireland. The song that bubbled up in my head this week that takes me to her story is called Promises, Promises . Spiritualized, it speaks to the choice of which promise we grabbed for in this life....

"I saw myself from above, as God would see me. Through His eyes. He looked at me with such love, and I became aware of all the little ways that He is talking to me." ---------- Julianne from Ireland is back. The song that bubbled up in my head this week that takes me to her story is called Promises, Promises . Spiritualized, it speaks to the choice of which promise we grabbed for in this life. Thr...

"I wondered if I would die early as my father had, and I suddenly heard a voice, 'You will not die before you are married with children.' I was shocked. and then the voice said it again. Who was that? " ---------- Wanja, whose journey stretches from Kenya to British Columbia is guided by moments that feel anything but ordinary. She shares what it's like to hear a voice she believes is God's, offer...

"He walked out the door, with me running right behind him. When I ran out the door, he was gone. Nowhere to be found. There's not a car, not a bicycle, not a motorcycle, not a person…   Just a streetlight and mosquitoes." ---------- Three ordinary encounters. Three strangers, each appeared at exactly the right moment. And three stories that leave you wondering if heaven briefly stepped onto earth....

"I had just asked Saint Thérèse for a sign. Suddenly, there was a single yellow rose in a vase. Sitting on the dining room table. Where had it come from? ---------- Episode 409 revisits a story that beautifully illustrates the friendship of the saints. Known as "The Little Flower," Saint Thérèse of Lisieux became famous for her "little way" -- the belief that holiness is found in small acts of lov...

Mary, a varsity college swimmer, shares her Near-Death Experience -- the moment she slipped beneath the pool water during a competition, saw the face of her grandmother, and heard the unmistakable voice of God behind her. ---------- We open with that powerful encounter. But the story doesn't end in the pool. Years later, after attending one of my talks at a local parish, and initially brushing off...

Mark was dead. EMS had shocked him three times with no results. 10 Minutes had gone by. One of the men said let's try one more time. ---------- Three years ago, on a road in Billings, Montana, Mark was driving with his wife Carol when his heart suddenly stopped. For ten minutes, there was no pulse. No oxygen. Carol shut off the car, called 911, and followed the dispatcher's instructions until EMS...

"Everything went black, the devil had his hands on my shoulder, looked at my father, and said, you know the rules, I get to keep Josh. " ---------- Josh Jung returns to Touched by Heaven since first guesting back on Episode 205, four years ago. Back then, he shared how, as an atheist, he openly invited anything that might be "out there" to reveal itself. God, angels, demons, even aliens. It seemed...

"I was in the car with my wife and one year-old listening to the radio. They announced that united flight 232 had crashed. I was supposed to be on that plane." ---------- In 1989, Jerry was on the phone with a travel agent, ready to book his seat on United Airlines Flight 232 from Denver to Chicago. But something strange happened. His gut clenched. He felt sick. Anxious. When an earlier flight was...

"I wasn't even sure I believed in God. But when I saw the miracle of the sun with golden raindrops falling off of it, I knew that God existed and that he loved me." ---------- In the Bible, the number forty shows up when something is being tested, purified, or prepared. Forty days. Forty years. It is never random. It is the stretch between what God promises and what finally comes to life. When the...

"The doctor told me that I would be completely disabled within months with aggressive MS. I heard a voice, 'Everything is going to be OK.' What?" ---------- Chris is the kind of guy you might live next door to. A regular husband and dad, doing his best, never presenting himself as special or gifted in any way. Just humble and real. In this episode, he shares several moments where God quietly but u...

"I was stuck in the snow, in my car, when these four huge-football-player-sized guys got out of this tiny little car and started walking toward me to help. Who were these guys? And how did they fit inside that car?" ---------- In today's episode, Sarah, a mental health therapist, shares how revisiting her life through the lens of faith revealed moments that no longer feel random. After discovering...