Yes, It Probably Was a Sign From Your Deceased Loved One
When I first began my journey into understanding mediumship and the spirit world, I came to it with a very skeptical eye. In fact, I had been a total non-believer most of my life until an encounter with a psychic medium after my mother’s death forced me to believe. The evidence the medium brought through was undeniable, but she also surprised me by mentioning some signs my mother had given me from the spirit world.
That encounter rocked my world and helped me begin to accept the reality of an afterlife. When I found out later the medium wrote a book about the signs our loved ones send us from the spirit world, I was eager to read it to understand more.
Signs Everywhere
At first, I was excited and curious to read about the medium’s experiences and the stories she had from from her clients over the years. She talked about how our loved ones in spirit are often around us whenever we need them or even when we are just thinking of them. She recounted stories where spirits sent very unusual and meaningful signs to comfort those left behind in grief, or just to say they were still around.
Even with my skeptical nature, I had to admit several of the stories were extremely compelling and sounded similar to my own experience. The signs my mother gave me from the spirit world were absolutely magical and left me gasping in awe or tearing-up with emotion as I felt her presence in the moment. But, inevitably, my analytical brain would kick in later to try to dismiss them as coincidence.
Was it really a sign when I heard my mom calling my name in my room? Was it really a sign when I was thinking about her and opened the door to the backyard to find an exotic bird feather sticking perfectly straight out of the ground right in front of me? Was it really a sign when I had a conversation with her thinking it was a dream and then realizing my eyes were open and I was wide awake the whole time? Was it really a sign when my husband and I were watching a famous medium’s television show and we paused to investigate loud footsteps we heard upstairs in an empty house, only to come back and press play to hear the medium immediately say “Do you hear her your mom’s footsteps?”
I had certainly felt the presence of my mom during all those encounters and others like them in the months since she passed. But I was sheepish in sharing those stories with others — only telling a couple people closest to me — because I knew they might seem crazy to someone who did not experience them directly. So for a while, reading others’ similar stories in the book helped me accept signs from my mom and feel validated.
Even as the author began to talk about the more common signs that many people often report finding — such as coins or feathers — I was a bit skeptical but still willing to believe. After all, if the spirit world could send unusual, specific, and personal signs I thought I should not dismiss the possibility they would send more mundane ones. I was willing to suspend my skepticism… to a point.
And that point was when the medium started talking about how our loved ones can send us rainbows from the spirit world.
Rainbow In the Dark
Rainbows? I thought. Now that is absolutely ridiculous! How could that possibly be a sign from someone’s loved one in spirit? Thousands of other people probably all see the same rainbow at the same time!
It was one thing to believe someone would find an unusual feather every time they thought of a certain loved one, or stumble upon a dime with the year of their loved one’s birthday while they were just thinking about how much they missed them. But rainbows? How could something so big and seemingly impersonal be a sign from the spirit world?
Still, I tried to convince myself. I had recently read that the spirit world wouldn’t necessarily manifest signs physically, but rather would use their energy to influence our thoughts so we would notice or find things that had personal meaning at the right time. So you might be driving around thinking about how much you miss your mom and she might get you to pull over on a street that you realize suddenly shares her name. Or a husband’s spirit might influence his wife’s thoughts to encourage her to change to a radio station that was playing their wedding song just as she was thinking about how much she missed him.
Those were very personal, direct signs. I could understand them. But “rainbows” was a bridge too far for me! I just couldn’t rationalize it as a sign no matter how hard I tried.
Sure, rainbows were not exactly an everyday occurrence — particularly in often gloomy Michigan where gray skies can rule for months at a time. And, yes, when they did appear, they rarely lasted in the sky for more than a few minutes. But even doing the math in my head, I figured I probably briefly noticed a rainbow in the sky at least once every couple years. Far too often for me to think they could be a sign. And I certainly witnessed them long before anyone close to me was in the spirit world to “send” one to me.
I tossed the book on my nightstand feeling foolish and angry. The author was clearly a kook and had just lost all credibility with me. As I tossed and turned in bed, I chastised myself for falling for the other stories in the book about signs from the spirit world. I started to question whether they were even real or if the author just made them up to sell books.
I convinced myself the signs my mom sent me were really just random, everyday coincidences. I was probably just pathetically trying to assign some meaning to them. The whole concept of signs began to seem ridiculous to me. I told myself it was all just wishful thinking. Anyone believing in signs was just deluding themselves because they couldn’t accept their loved one was gone.
I went to bed thinking about my mom and wondering what she would think of my struggles to believe and to accept the concept of “signs” if she were still around. She had always believed in an afterlife and never seemed to mind that I didn’t share her beliefs. If my dad or I talked about our lack of faith around her, she never tried to convince us otherwise. She’d just let us rant and stay quiet with a knowing smile that said “Someday, you’ll see.”
I thought about her smile as I drifted off to sleep.
Seeing Signs
My husband knew about the signs my mom sent me and my struggle to understand and accept them. He came from a background of faith so it was easier for him to believe. He knew my mom and he seemed comforted by the signs from the afterlife. They allowed him to remember her and her easy sense of humor.
By now, he was also getting quite used to me talking about the books I was reading in my quest to understand spirituality and accept there was an afterlife. So the next morning, he was driving us to the store and I started talking about the book.
“Remember that book about signs I told you I was reading?” I asked. I continued after he nodded. “At first, I thought there were some interesting stories, but then it just got ridiculous. You’re never going to believe one of the things the medium said the spirit world could send us as a sign!” I paused for dramatic effect. He shrugged and waited for me to continue.
“Rainbows!” I scoffed. He raised an eyebrow but looked less incredulous than I would have liked. I rolled my eyes and shook my head before continuing sarcastically “Yeah, I guess the other stuff I thought might be a sign from my mom really wasn’t after all. Maybe I should just ask her to send me a freakin’ rai…”
Just then he turned the car onto the highway and we both gasped at the same time. Stretching fully from one edge of the horizon to the other we saw the biggest, brightest, most colorful rainbow imaginable in the clear blue sky.
This wasn’t in any way a typical rainbow. It lit up the sky. There was not the slightest fading of any color at any point along its entire length. It was so clear and bright and big it was utterly surreal. It looked more like someone had painted the sky rather than any rainbow either of us had seen before. This was most definitely a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.
We glanced ahead and back and through the car’s expansive moonroof in disbelief as the rainbow ran unbroken directly overhead in the blue sky. We began to smile at each other and laugh as we continued to look around disbelief and awe. Cars were pulling over on the side of the highway everywhere with joyous people stumbling out to snap pictures and take video through smiles and laughter.
For several moments we were utterly speechless as we drove on. I was so overcome with shock and struck with emotion I forgot to breathe. We arrived at our destination a moment later and got out of the car still completely unable to speak. Everyone in the parking lot was looking up and pointing at the sky with jaws agape — or smiling and looking at each other as if to reassure themselves this was actually real.
My husband and I did the same for a few moments longer. I wanted to witness it as long as possible before it disappeared. But the rainbow did not fade in the least. Finally, I noticed my husband looking over the top of the car at me. We exchanged a knowing, warm smile.
He saw the tears of joy welling up in my eyes. I laughed and said the only thing that needed to be said.
“Hi, mom!”
What’s Your Sign?
I now know the rainbow — and many similar signs I received — were messages from the spirit world that were gently nudging me along my own spiritual journey. But I realize most people who read about my experience will probably roll their eyes and think it is all just coincidence.
Coincidence that I saw a medium who brought through evidence from my mom in the spirit world even though I was just filling in at the last second for someone else. Coincidence that this started a journey of exploration of the spirit world for me that resulted in me reading her book about signs months later. Coincidence that I scoffed at the possibility of rainbows being a sign from the spirit world and it led me to doubt all the previous signs I received. Coincidence that the next morning a once-in-a-lifetime rainbow appears in the sky mid-sentence as I am sarcastically telling my husband that my mom’s spirit she should just send me one. Coincidence, too, that the irony of it all would line up perfectly with her her sense of humor.
It’s ok if you don’t believe. I still consider myself a skeptic and I was a non-believer for many, many years. I even dismissed the signs that were given directly to me until I got enough of them that I had no choice but to believe.
So now I don’t judge others who are skeptical. I just give them a knowing smile and think — someday, you’ll see.
