The Twisted Within: A True Story

By Anne Schroeder

This book is about me, and I had a secret. I could hear angels. It didnt bother me too much, that is, until they put a call on my life. I encountered the great I Am at a normal prayer meeting. Then accidents began to happen, weird and mystical things began to happen to me, and I prayed for a normal life.

After being raptured to the heights of angels, I was plummeted down to the valley of despair when a demonic spirit attacked me. I had never warred against such an opponent before. Read how my prayer-warrior friends interceded for me and helped to save my soul from the evil one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524556259

Anne Schroeder

About the Author Anne Schroeder lives in Michigan in the Grand Rapids area. She has two daughters, a son-in-law, and a grand parrot who talks. She has been a circulation assistant in the KDL Library System for almost twenty years. Her favorite hobbies are gardening, cycling, baking way too much, and reading, of course! The Twisted Within: A True Story is her first publication.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Do you want to become a nun when you grow up? the voices asked.

It sounded like two angels with bells for voices. I looked up at the ceiling from where the voices had issued. There was just a spidery crack in the ceiling there. I couldn’t see anyone or anything. Ring, ring, the phone in the other room rang. I put my pointer finger up into the air and said out loud, Hold that thought, I’ll be back in a minute. I casually walked over into the dining room and picked up the phone very hesitantly.

Hello, I spoke into the receiver.

Anne, is your mother there? This is your Grandma, came the voice.

No I answered, She is not here at the moment. Why? I questioned her.

Your cousin has made a terrible mistake with her life and she is going to join the Sisters of Charity! she practically shouted into my ear.

I thought for a second. What was going on? Was there some strange connection between my cousin and the voices that I had just heard? This was really strange and inexplicable, I contemplated.

She is throwing her life away and she’ll surely be killed in some foreign country!

I replied, slowly, I think she’ll be watched over, Grandma. I think she will be ok. I thought of the angelic voices, and prayed my cousin would be guarded.

How can you tell? She gasped.

I said, I think she’ll be ok. I hung up and guardedly went back into the kitchen from where the voices had come. Are you still there? I asked of them. No reply. They must have gone, I thought, and I turned around and left. Due to my Catholic upbringing, I had heard of angels speaking to people before. I didn’t even pause to think about it anymore, and went on with my life. My mom never found out what had transpired in the kitchen, and I never volunteered to tell her or anyone else as a matter of fact.

Two years later, I was in college at MSU. It was the best time of my life. I had a great room buddy and a wonderful boyfriend. We often spent weekends playing three sets of racquetball every Saturday morning at the IM building. If I wasn’t doing that, then I was swimming laps in the pool. Weekdays were spent taking English, Chemistry, Math and Engineering courses. I had a bunch of friends who walked together with me to the library on campus at night to cram for tests and finals. We had our favorite tables and often stayed there till 11:00 p.m. closing time. We often went out on bagel runs and ate pizza like there was no tomorrow in sight.

One day, I was standing on the bridge overlooking the Red Cedar River that winded murkily through the campus. I watched the silly Mallard ducks playing and bobbing in the water. They upended themselves and dove for small fish. I came here often to relax from my demanding studies.

You will become a fisher of men, the voice proclaimed above me from over the bridge railing and out above the water.

I shuddered and looked up. There was no one there. The only fishermen I knew of were the Apostles in the Bible. They all died martyrs’ deaths! I didn’t want to die a martyr’s death. The voice discombobulated me so I did the only sane thing I could do: I ran home to my apartment, jumped into bed, and tried to forget the whole thing. Nothing happened for a long time after that. No voices, no prophecies, nothing. I was glad. It meant I was going to lead a normal life, after all.

After my sweetheart and I were married, a couple years later, after graduation, we agreed to host a little Bible study in our rented home. The first session went without incident. The second went a little more weird. A couple that we didn’t know showed up. They introduced themselves as prophets. The man was short and skinny. His wife was tall and fat! I was immediately skeptical. I thought of Jack Spratt¹ in the children’s nursery rhyme. We went along reading and praying as usual, and then at the end, they said they wanted to pray over my Aunt, who was there, too. She agreed and they went into the parlor room, next to us in the front room. She came out after a few minutes and was beaming. I wondered what happened? As the days progressed, she continued to be a changed person, changed for the better. Her attitude became rosy and she was always telling people to pray.

Next week, they asked to pray over me. I thought to myself, If I let them do it just this once, then maybe they will stop pestering me. I agreed. After the study was over, they took me into the parlor room just like they had with my Aunt. Nothing unusual happened and we said a short prayer and I left them standing there in the room. The following week, they