"NECKLACE"

( a special article this Halloween season)

I was lying peacefully on my bed in the middle of a quiet night when suddenly, I felt my hands moving independently. At first, it only does small movements until it gradually became uncontrollable as if they have a mind of their own. Whenever I open my eyes, I place my hands back to its original position but when I was about to relax after a minute or two, I once again felt this unknown energy that flows starting from my fingernails up to my hands going to my arms until it once again return to where it wants to be.

At that point, I was scared. VERY SCARED. And I never thought that this is just the beginning of a long night for me. A night that I will never forget.

Let me describe it

As I managed to once again lied down in bed, all of a sudden my feet also starts to move without me doing it. Just like my hands, it also does some weird position that I can't explain why. For the second time, I sat down to check my feet and "waiting" for it to move. But when I realize that everything has stopped, I lied down once more.

But as soon as I slowly be at ease, all parts of my body start to move altogether! Both of my feet and hands twist itself uncontrollably and my chest suddenly pushed itself upward and remain in that position for a few seconds. My mouth opened and my tongue forces itself to stick out. As it hangs, it remains stiff for many seconds and its tip made a small curl. After this, I felt a strong force inside of me that wants to "get out" of my body. I just caught myself holding my throat with both hands and act like I was "vomiting" but nothing came out. My stomach flatten inward as I was doing this. I tried to lie down but my body doesn't want to. Whenever I tried to "sleep" my body pushes me to sit.

I'm not really sure how long these occurrences happened to me. But I assume it happened to me for almost an hour! And while all of these are happening, I don't want to open my eyes as much as possible fearing that there might be a supernatural entity that might be present in my room.

Let me tell it

I seldom watched horror movies. As a person that has an active imagination, as much as possible I avoid those types of genres as it might cause terrible nightmares in my mind. But ironically, there are times when I challenge myself to watch it either because it has a good plot or I have a friend who will watch with me. In those movies, there are some scenes wherein they show what happens to people who are being possessed. Arms twitching, uncontrollable sudden movements of the body - indications that are almost the same as what is happening at my body.

It's hard not to consider the spiritual realm while all of these are happening. As much as I don't want to be hyper-spiritual, I can't help myself but think that maybe I'm getting possessed. But as far as I know, possession happens when a spirit goes "inside" your body and forces you to do things you don't want to do or you don't have any control whatsoever. But for me, it's a different one. Instead of going "in" my body, this "force" (or whatever you what to call it) is trying to go "out" of my body. And please note that I was conscious at that time. So maybe at this point, I think we can rule out possession on the list.

As I tried to search for answers, a thought came to mind. If I was not being possessed, maybe I was being purified. But hey! Before you close this article, and assume I'm crazy, please bear with me and continue reading and I'll tell you why I arrived in this conclusion.

Let me explain it

My spiritual life was not so good for almost 4 years now. When I say "not good", what I mean is I do not have any prayer time, chose not to attend Sunday Masses, don't have time in reading the Bible and also stopped attending our weekly service in the Feast (our Catholic Charismatic Community). Not to mention that those 4 years I can consider as one of my "dark times" in regards with my faith since I was also deep in sin and addiction. But when I decided last June 2019 to follow God once again, I started to exercise my faith. I decided to have a daily prayer time, be present in the Sacrament, and even wearing sacramentals to remind me of the renewed commitment with the Lord.

And one of those sacramentals is a St.Benedict Medal my friend in the community gave me. This particular medal that is worn around the neck is quite famous because although it doesn't have any special powers and definitely not an amulet, it can "ward off spiritual and physical dangers, especially those related to evil, poison, and temptation."

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Benedict_Medal)

Let me go back to it

It was like around three days since I started wearing the medal when that fateful night happened. So when I said that my spirit is being "purified" I assumed that it was the medal who is causing those things to me. Because while all of those are happening, my neck was also on fire and had difficulty in breathing! Crazy as it may seem, I just thought that whenever something goes out of my mouth, I would like to assume that it was a "demon" that wants to go out of my body. Am I caught in the middle of a spiritual battle? If it is, then I want to be free from this battle!

I never thought I'll be praying so hard that long and torturous night. And even though this is not the first time I experienced this (Yup, apparently this was the second time. But this time I didn't expect that it would be this intense!) I still felt scared and fear just took over my being. Even though I was ambivalent at first, I just put my trust in God and prayed this prayer: "Lord if what is happening to me is caused by a demon, please take me away from it. But if this came from you, then I accept." I'm not sure how many times I've spoken that prayer. But after everything has subsided, I just thank God that no further harm happened to me.

I tried searching for answers on google, I encountered different related sickness. Some articles say maybe its dystonia while some would say that this is an early symptom of Parkinson's disease. I also consulted a priest regarding this, but he told me that before I assume anything, I just need to make sure to talk to a professional first.

After three days of experiencing it, I finally have the guts to share this with my friends in my community. Although they did not conclude anything, they just offered prayers and supported me. And when I finally decided to see a doctor, miraculously, I did not experience any involuntary movements that night! As of this writing, I'm no longer having those "wild" experiences which led me to decide not to see a doctor anymore. However, I promise myself that once it happens again, I would definitely see one.

Let me finish

I still don't know how or why it happened to me. Was it a manifestation of an early sickness? Or a spiritual battle beyond my control and comprehension? Whatever it might be, one thing will surely remain; that we have a God who controls and knows everything will not let anything bad happen to us.

#HalloweenSpecial

#SpiritualBattle