General

A Life Changing Moment

Posted on by Nigel W.D. Mumford

A LIFE CHANGING MOMENT
Setting: The Mumford Company, Wilton, Connecticut 1990
Twenty-two (22) years ago a customer entered the picture frame shop, I owned, in CT. She appeared green, in color, and behaved quite disoriented. She didn’t appear to be well at all.
When she had finished her purchase, I came from behind the counter to open the door for her. I stood directly in front of her and asked, “Are you feeling all right?”
She responded, “No, I have a blinding headache and I really don’t feel too good.”
I did not plan what happened next … it was a divine appointment that, in hindsight, was clearly God ordained. As I stood in the way of this woman, I felt my wrists being pulled and guided toward her. I felt my hands being lifted up and I observed them come to a rest when they gently landed on her head! It was like watching someone else do this! I had no idea what was to happen next. I felt like an objective observer, simply noting that someone’s hands were now on this woman’s head.
In the next moment, my entire life changed.
She looked at me, right in the eye, and said, “What did you do? The pain has gone.”
I was astonished. I knew I had done nothing! But those eight words would forever change my life.
I confess to feeling alternating fits of shock as well as a bit of euphoria. On the one hand I was terrified, and on the other, quite excited. Had I just witnessed someone being healed by God? My sister, Julie Sheldon, had been healed, when the Rev. Canon Jim Glennon laid hands on her for healing the year before. I wondered…was this the same thing?
Instantly, full color returned to the woman’s face. She declared that she now felt totally free of pain. She was so happy, she kept thanking me; and I kept insisting I had done nothing! It was a long while before I could comprehend what had happened to me … and to her!
The moment my hands touched that woman’s head, my life changed. Giving God all the glory, today, and always!
Jesus commanded his disciples to, “Preach the Kingdom and heal the sick.”
Luke 9:2
God bless you
Fr. Nigel+

General

A corner stone quote set in my early years.

Posted on by Nigel W.D. Mumford

What follows is one of my favorite quotes. Every morning at school assembly, between the ages of five and six years old, we repeated these words of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Buried, in the essence of these poetic words, are seeds planted in me at a very young age; they have become an oak tree foundation in my life.
Now, as an adult, I draw upon them as a battle cry of life which pluck the heart strings of Truth within me. I hope these verses, an icon in my own life, also speak to you as they have for decades spoken to me. The words of this saint resound, laid like a cornerstone in my early years, and have kept me tethered to His Truth.
To give, and not to count the cost
to fight, and not to heed the wounds,
to toil, and not to seek for rest,
to labor, and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will
― St. Ignatius of Loyola