When Jesus Knocks, the Angels Play

By Mary Jo O'Brien

In When Jesus Knocks, the Angels Play, author Mary Jo OBrien tells of being healed of life-threatening illnesses and surviving a serious accident, thanks to Gods intervention through His angels. But despite these blessings, OBrien was stubborn and certain she knew better than God. But, once she acknowledged that God held all the cards, the floodgates of His mercy opened wide.

When Jesus Knocks, the Angels Play, lets you see the angels sense of humor and the ways Jesus answers the authors questions and confirms her missions. But perhaps most important, you will see the role the Holy Spirit plays in delivering spiritual strength and directives to help others in their most difficult times. OBrien also describes the experiences she has with the Holy Spirit as she hears the soothing and consoling voice drawing her into the presence of Jesus.

Learning to listen for the voices of God and His angels can be challenging, especially if you are in the middle of a difficult situation. As you read, you will see how the Holy Spirit will bring you closer to those relationships and open your spirit to receive the blessings and miracles that God has for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Voices
• Release date: Oct 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781462410408

Mary Jo O'Brien

Mary Jo O’Brien is married with a combined family of six children and thirteen grandchildren. Coming from close-knit families, maintaining traditions are among their highest priorities. The author and her husband live in rural Wisconsin, surrounded by an abundant chain of lakes, and travel to warm climates during the winter.

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Copyright © 2014 Mary Jo O’Brien.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inspiring Voices

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www.inspiringvoices.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4624-1039-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4624-1040-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014948947

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 09/30/2014

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1    My Early Years

Chapter 2    Tragedy Strikes

Chapter 3    Life Goes On

Chapter 4    My First Angels

Chapter 5    My Early Adult Years

Chapter 6    My Early Christian Years

Chapter 7    Benji’s Early Years

Chapter 8    Scouting Was A Family Affair

Chapter 9    The Story Of Jon

Chapter 10    My Continuing Career Path

Chapter 11    Then It Happened…Jesus Knocked With A Sledge Hammer!

Chapter 12    The Story Of Sara

Chapter 13    The Many Changes In My Life

Chapter 14    My Lawsuit Can Finally Resume

Chapter 15    Surgery And Some Major Changes

Chapter 16    A New Direction

Chapter 17    My Spiritual World Comes Alive!

Chapter 18    Our Retirement

Chapter 19    Ken’s Story Continues

Chapter 20    Bladder Cancer

Chapter 21    Back Surgery

Chapter 22    Naming My Guardian Angel

Chapter 23    The Story Of Ed

Chapter 24    Things I Have Learned

I dedicate this to you,

MOM

I would never know Jesus the way I do, if it were not for your love and guidance. The many hours we spent together talking about the wonders of Jesus in our lives were always so fun and exciting to me, even during the most challenging times for both of us. You have always been my greatest Sister-In-Christ and always will be.

Preface

T here was never a day when I aspired to write a book. Up until now, the only things I had ever written were term papers in my youth, business letters and perhaps some marketing pieces for business. I also helped my son with some of his papers in high school. But, one day in 2003, when I was helping him research and write a paper for a college class, I found myself really enjoying it and had a little stirring inside me to do more writing. I had no idea where that came from and why it would be coming through at this point in my life; why wouldn’t I have felt it sooner?

Fast forward three years, when I began attending women’s ministry luncheons and listened to a series of speakers telling their stories about how God intervened in their lives or others spoke of the hardships that brought them to know Jesus. Month after month hearing these speakers, I began to feel like I should be telling my story relating to the healings I received from Jesus as a baby and an adult woman. I began to feel a nudge and I was pretty sure I knew where that nudge was coming from.

To become a speaker of this women’s ministry, potential speakers are required to attend a workshop to learn about the ministry’s style of speaking, as well as for them to approve the content of my speech. It took several years before I was able to attend the workshop but I finally had the opportunity in the summer of 2012. At that time, I could feel myself being steered into a specific path but unsure of the direction it was going to take me.

It was the winter of 2012, my husband and I found the type of RV Park in Florida we had been looking for. We wanted to be among people who were down to earth; Christian based would be a bonus. Before we even had our camper parked, several people came over to greet us and offer Jim a hand in getting the camper settled into our spot. We knew within the first fifteen minutes that we found our winter home. Jim could play bridge and work on building projects within the park. I could attend two different bible classes and play golf. Plus, the people were fantastic!

One day at the swimming pool, I was sitting with two of my friends from bible class when we began talking about Jesus and His mysterious ways. I began to tell about all the spiritual events that took place in my life. There were many of them but I didn’t think too much about the number because I thought these things happened to everybody. Well, according to Bev and Sandy, my friends from my bible class, these types of events did not happen to everybody and both of them said, almost at the time, You need to write a book!

My first reaction was of surprise and I responded with, Really? I have no idea how to even go about writing a book! They both persuaded me to consider it. I remembered that stirring I had had to write a few years ago. Maybe this was God’s way of recreating that stirring within me to write. I made the decision to let the idea simmer for awhile. I had other priorities to consider before I could take the time to write a book.

When summer approached, I found there was a speaker’s workshop for the women’s ministry I was interested in. I was very pleased that I had the opportunity to attend this workshop. I met many wonderful women; all with the same goal…spread the word of God through the works of God.

When I got home, I went about cleaning up my to do list so I would be clear to focus on the speech required by the ministry. After a few days of writing, I saw how much I had written; almost eighty pages! I felt God saying to me; There, see? Now you know how to write a book and this is your mission. And, that is how this book came to be.

The Holy Spirit and I have been working on this book for two years and I still haven’t written the speech. Every time I thought I was finished writing, the Holy Spirit chimed in and reminded me this book would be finished in God’s time and not mine. There was still more to write and He would let me know when this book is complete! My response was always, OK, I’m good with that!

This book has been a joy to write. The Holy Spirit was with me every time I sat at my laptop. When I struggled to express an event, I said a little prayer and moments later it was fed to my spirit. In fact, that is also the origin for the title, When Jesus Knocks, the Angels Play.

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Throughout this project, there were so many people who supported me, always encouraging me. So many of you offered your help in any way you could. Those who took the time to read what I thought, was a finished project, came back and said, It needs work! Thank you for your help and honesty.

Thank you Judy Shaw for all the editing support you gave me. You worked very hard and I appreciate all the work you have done. I know you sat through grandchildren’s soccer games and other events, while working on the editing so you could get it back to me as quickly as possible. Your contribution to this book has been invaluable and I doubt I could have accomplished the end result without you!

Thank you Bev Cable and Sandy Lorentzen for the inspiration you gave me to begin writing this book and helping me to realize how unique my spiritual life really has been.

Discovering how difficult it is to write a book about myself, so many of you gave me council and helped me see that it was so important for me to open up my life. Brenda McClanahan and Jackie Rutherford, I thank you for your support and your ears through some very difficult and frustrating days. You helped me to sort out my experiences and find the direction God wanted me to move in.

To my step-daughter, Jenifer Richart: You have been so supportive of this project right from the beginning. You have always been there for me as new spiritual events came into my life and many other times, as well. You are my spiritual sister.

Thank you Mary Hosmer, Salle Quackenboss, Judi and Kathy O’Brien, my sisters-in-law along with my brothers-in-law Tom and Bob O’Brien, my friends, Helen Smith, Barb Shirley and last but not least, my cousins Tess and Ron Butz, all who took time to read for me, giving me constructive ideas and/or the encouragement to continue writing.

Thank you to my entire group of bible study sisters at Lake Bonnet Village in Florida for your encouragement, interest and support, as I wrote through two winters at the park. You have all come to mean so much to me and I will miss all of you so much.

Thank you to my brothers, Jerry, Tom and Andy Quackenboss for your love and support now and through all of my difficult life changes and challenges.

To my brother, Tom: Thank you for your years of inspiration telling me how much fun it is to learn how to write. I loved hearing all the stories you told about how your students opened their eyes when they saw what they could offer from deep down within themselves…I feel like one of your students.

To my son Ben: Thank you; you are wise beyond your years and continue to be a great inspiration to me. You have accomplished so much in your young life but most importantly, you have found what is important. I am very proud of you.

Most important, to my husband, Jim: Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for supporting me even in those long hours of writing until the sun came up. You overlooked my self-imposed deadlines of completion dates; when they came and went, you were still patient. I know how hard it was for you when there was so much for me to do when moving into our new home, but day after day I continued to write! Thank you for making it possible for me to bring this project into a reality.

I am so very blessed to have all of you in my life!

Introduction

J esus has taken me on a journey of sixty-two years. He began by healing me as an eighteen month old baby suffering from Trachea Bronchitis. Conventional medicines were no longer helping me and there wasn’t anything further the doctors could do to heal me. Our church pastor gave my Mother a special holy water and the prayers to go with it. She was to sprinkle this holy water on me and say the prayers that came along with this healing water. After she did this, she laid me in my crib in my own bedroom for the first time in over a year. I was no longer in hospital vapor tents or sleeping in vapor, using our family bathroom as my bedroom.

Through the night, as my Mother laid in bed praying for the miracle healing I desperately needed, she listened as I wheezed at almost every breath. Suddenly, I was no longer wheezing. Thinking I had died, she woke my Father and ran into my room. They found me lying on my back sleeping like a normal healthy baby. Something had changed! I was no longer wheezing; I was completely healed. The doctors couldn’t explain it, but my Mother could.

This was the beginning of what would become a pattern in my life. Two additional life-saving healings took place; the first when I was thirty-three and again at the age of sixty. How it is that Jesus chose to heal me this many times when most people never receive one healing in their lifetime?

In the 1960’s, during those Christian revival years, my Mother became a Born Again Christian, a term used to describe people who received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I know she prayed for me to find Jesus and for me to know the love she receives from Him every day. But, I wasn’t interested. I thought it was for older people to know God and pray. I never thought it was important. But, she kept praying for me.

In 1983, my personal relationship with Jesus began. During this time, I was experiencing a difficult pregnancy, due to severe headaches and allergies. Unable to work, I began to watch some of the evangelists who were gaining celebrity status through the arrival of cable television. Being so sick and in so much pain, I was ready to reach out to anybody or anything.

Even though I came to know Jesus at that time, there would be many more months of this pain until I heard from Jesus. As I cried out to Him that night, He came to me just at the moment I thought was my last. He spoke to me, leading me to the words I needed to say to cast the devil out!

In 1994, I read the book, Embraced by the Light written by Betty Eadie. This was the book she wrote of her near death experience, as she lay in her hospital room after a routine hysterectomy.

She wrote about heaven, being the spiritual world we come from and will be there for us, when we complete our mission here on earth. However, it was not her time to die and she was told she needed to return to her family. As was the case with others I have read about, she didn’t want to leave Heaven. It took her many years to write her book but once she was able to verbalize and talk openly of her experience, she gave strength to others with discoveries during their own near death experiences, to come forward.

Her story had a profound effect on me. It woke my spirit and created a thirst for knowledge about these experiences. I couldn’t get enough to read, to answer my increasing curiosity about Jesus and heaven. Unfortunately, I had to put my curiosity on hold as I embarked on a more demanding side of my career. This took most of my time and created an environment where I had so little discretionary time to do anything other than work and manage my household and family responsibilities. Over time I literally stepped away from my relationship with Christ once again.

In 2000, I used bad judgment when I chose to join others going to a bar after my niece’s wedding rather than going home with my husband. I wanted to extend the party…indicative of being a social alcoholic. My bad habits and bad judgment caused me to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Knowing I was headed in the wrong direction and being so far away from what I had perceived God’s plan was for me; I thought I could never turn back to Him again. In the coming months, He would show me how wrong it is to harbor those thoughts or even think that way, to begin with. I am certain that God was waiting for me to hear Him but I wasn’t paying attention. Finally, He stepped in and forced a change in my behavior and life. In 2000, I got that "hard knock" from Jesus.

In 2003, I read Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, about how every person is born with a purpose toward heaven. We all have a reason for being on this earth. I began to question what my purpose was and asked God to show me why He put me on this earth. From that time on, my life took on events inspired by Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. Often times carried out with the angels. He didn’t waste any time!

"When Jesus