She says she doesn't want to debate it, and I intend to respect that.
Thank you, Ella. I sincerely appreciate your thoughtfulness. As I said, I won't argue or debate my mediumship abilities, but I'm willing to share my backstory about how I finally accepted them. After I decided to start talking about my abilities here on RF, I decided that I would save this specific prequel part of my backstory until it was suggested that I have psychosis, or if I was asked about it or accused of it. It was mentioned in the post that you replied to. For the record, I've talked about my backstory and when I started to accept my psychic mediumship abilities in other posts, which I linked to at the end of this post. I spent most of my life trying very hard to ignore my abilities, and I thought that there was something wrong with me, despite the occasional confirmation that what I saw, heard, and felt was real, such as when I saw my first human spirit (
read here). I never told anyone about what I was experiencing while I was growing up, and I didn't tell my husband until after we were married. He was the first person I ever told, and much to my surprise, he didn't freak out and accuse me of being delusional. He was, however, concerned that what I was experiencing was the result of the trauma I suffered from growing up in an abusive home. He suggested that I talk with a therapist to find out if what I was experiencing was trauma-related or if something else was wrong with me. I reluctantly agreed to see one, and an appointment was scheduled.
I didn't tell the therapist what was happening to me at first, but after a couple of sessions, I finally found the courage to tell her. She was also a devout Christian, and she was politely adamant that she did not believe in ghosts or anything else paranormal. I won't share any specific details about my sessions with her, but she recommended a psychiatrist that she worked with and suggested that I schedule an appointment. But before I could schedule the appointment, something very significant happened to my therapist that changed not only her professional diagnosis of me but also her views on the paranormal. She said that it changed her outlook on life.
To make a long story short, I met her, her husband, and her mother-in-law at a nearby restaurant. We talked for a few minutes before we were seated, and they told me that her husband's father-in-law had died recently. I suspected this because there was a spirit, an elderly gentleman who resembled her husband, who was standing beside his mother. I remember feeling very anxious because he noticed that I could see him because I looked right at him and grimaced at the sight of him. He tried to speak to me, but I pretended not to hear him. He became agitated that I was ignoring him, so he became even more insistent about talking to me and swore that he wouldn't leave me alone until I spoke to his wife on his behalf. He wasn't kidding because he bothered me the entire time we were in the restaurant, even following me to the ladies' room and then following me outside when I left. My therapist was very concerned about my sudden anxious behavior, so she followed me outside. I started to pace back and forth on the sidewalk, and she thought I was mumbling to myself, but I was trying to tell this spirit to leave me alone. I finally stopped abruptly from pacing and said aloud, "Fine. I'll talk to your wife for you!" "What do you want me to say?" My therapist just stood there staring at me. I turned to her and asked her if she would ask her mother-in-law to come out and see me. She was hesitant at first, but I asked her to please trust me.
She was reluctant, but she went back inside the restaurant, and a couple of minutes later she came back out with her mother-in-law and her husband. I looked at her mother-in-law and told her that she probably wouldn't believe me, but I have a message for her from her late husband. My therapist was irritated by what I said and tried to interrupt me, but her mother-in-law waved her off. I told her specific details about her late husband that I would not have known otherwise, such as when they first met, where they went on their first date, and memories of their family vacations when my therapist was a child. Needless to say, my therapist, her husband, and her mother-in-law all began to believe in psychic mediumship and the paranormal that night. My therapist never doubted me again, and she suggested that I didn't need an appointment with the psychiatrist because she changed her mind and decided that I didn’t need to see one. Despite these positive reactions I received from my husband, my therapist, and her husband and mother-in-law, I continued to keep my abilities a secret for several years afterward because I was afraid of what other people would think of me.
And this is where the rest of my backstory begins (
read it here).
