Prayer is a powerful thing…
For months, my 4-year-old great-niece, Ellie, was having nightmares. Night after night, she would wake up screaming and crying. My niece, Debbie, said it was like having a newborn again. Debbie (and Ellie) were getting rundown and she was ready to take her to the doctor. You see, when Ellie was 2 years old, she contracted a viral infection and nearly died. She remained in the hospital for months and was intubated for quite some time, which was terrifying for us all.
One night, as Debbie tucked Ellie into bed, she told her to ask God for help. She said, “When I go downstairs, ask God all by yourself to send His Guardian Angel to stay with you tonight and keep all of the bad thoughts and bad dreams away.” Debbie heard her praying while she was tucking in the boys in the adjoining room. She prayed fervently for Ellie that night.
The next morning, Debbie woke up and ran upstairs in a panic because it was the first time in months that Ellie had not woken up crying in the middle of the night. There she was, sleeping soundly and snoring away!
Two weeks later and Ellie still had not had a nightmare! Every night, she asks God and His Angel for protection. When Debbie asked Ellie why she thinks the nightmares stopped, she said, “I believed God would help and I knew God would help and He did, because He loves me.”
Debbie cried in bed that night. The next day, she told Ellie that God does not always answer every prayer because it might not be what He has planned, but when she is scared or needs help, God will always listen and be there to help. Prayer is a powerful thing and this 4-year-old girl gets it. God and His Guardian Angel showed her that she is loved and important.
~Jude A.
An Angel is Passing by
I was having a conversation with my dad. It was about obtaining material wealth and working hard towards that goal. I tried to explain to him from stories in the Bible that the love of “gold” is not good. I gave the example of the time when the Israelites lost their focus on God and created their own god, Baal. This angered God. I also gave my dad the example of our Lord, Who was poor Himself.
Despite my best efforts of trying to convince my dad that material wealth is not the highest good to obtain, he kept insisting that maybe “God desires it.” I was saddened by this. Our conversation was going nowhere, and I started to feel more and more uncomfortable. So, I began to pray in my heart to my guardian angel that he may stop this fruitless conversation. In an instant there was SILENCE! After a few minutes of silence the conversation changed almost very naturally into other more helpful subjects. I knew in my heart that my Guardian Angel had achieved this change.
In the Philippines, there is a saying that when there is sudden silence in the middle of a conversation and no one has more to say, that “an angel is passing by.” I know now from experience that that statement is true. I was in so much awe of what I experienced that I could hardly sleep. I became keenly aware of the “spiritual world” and that there is truly a battle going on between good and evil. I am so thankful for the gift of faith and for my Guardian Angel. I pray to God every day that my angel will converse with my dad’s guardian angel to keep him close to God and protect him from evil.
–A.C.
A Terrible Car Crash
Late one evening I was driving home from a Bible study at a local Catholic Church in the city of Sacramento, California. As I approached the street on which I lived, I started making a left-hand turn; halfway through the turn I was hit by another car which had run the red light. I was not wearing my seat belt, so during the car crash I was thrown about. Suddenly, I felt someone holding me down, keeping me from flying out of the car window! Finally, the vehicle came to rest in the middle of the street. The thought came to me “get out of there before the gas tank blows!” By then I was in complete shock. I reached my hand and touched the car door and it “flew open”. I jumped out of the car and fell down. I was taken to the emergency room. I had blood in my mouth and on my clothing. After a careful examination, no injuries could be found either in or on my body. I was treated for shock and sent home. I remained in bed for several days.
A few weeks later I located my car in a nearby wrecking-yard. The attendant asked if I was the driver of the car—I told him I was. He looked absolutely amazed! He showed me the car; it was totally destroyed! He asked me, “How did you get out of this car?” I told him I opened the door and got out. “Impossible!” he declared. “Look! that door is completely caved in. No one could have opened it!” Then the Scripture passage in the book of Acts came to mind where the Angel rescued Peter from jail, leading him out through a closed gate which opened by itself at the approach of the Angel. I know for sure that my Guardian Angel rescued me from injury and harm or even a possible death during the car crash!
~ Joseph G
[resources: books about angels]