{"id":8531,"date":"2017-07-19T18:57:42","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T18:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=8531"},"modified":"2017-06-22T23:47:07","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T23:47:07","slug":"lake-geo-angel-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/lake-geo-angel-story\/","title":{"rendered":"An Angel Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8507\" src=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/SD-logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/SD-logo.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/SD-logo-255x255.jpg 255w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/spiritdaily.com\/\">spiritdaily.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Spirit Daily Mailbag<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><em>An Angel Story<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">23 September 2003<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><em>Dear Spiritdaily.com, <\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">It was a \u201ccoincidence\u201d (a little voice within me) that prompted me to visit your website this morning.\u00a0 I was quickly skimming today\u2019s main article (about having a spiritual approach to illness); and I was about to click away from your website when I saw (in red, bold type) the words, \u201c Trust in Me.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">It seemed like Jesus Himself was speaking that to me.\u00a0 I was startled because that is a message which Jesus has been giving me very powerfully, especially during the last week, through all sorts of little and not so little \u201ccoincidences.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I scrolled down through the rest of the article more slowly then.\u00a0 I saw mention of angels and dead people appearing to the sick, and so on, and I decided all of a sudden (I felt prompted) to share with you my own angel story; it follows this paragraph.\u00a0 I had felt prompted to do so before, but I thought it would be immodest of me or just silly.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">But after this experience, I felt that I should share my angel story with you, that it wasn\u2019t just given for me. So, when I prepared to write this letter, I looked at the article again in order to get the exact context of the quote (in bold, red type) of \u201cTrust in Me.\u201d\u00a0 I found that there is no such quote in that article.\u00a0 Instead, I found this quote:\u00a0 &#8220;The focus is to become more Christ-like, and <em>trust<\/em> is a major, major issue. If you do not trust, you live in fear. When you have trust, something beautiful happens.&#8221;\u00a0 So, I took that as a cue that I am supposed to write this to you &#8212; as well as to trust in Him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Here is the angel story I want to share with you.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">It was about three years ago: early October of 2000.\u00a0 I was driving eastbound on US 24 in Colorado.\u00a0 I was approaching Wilkerson Pass, which is in Park County, Colorado, about halfway between the villages of Hartsel (to the west) and Lake George (to the east).\u00a0 It is a beautiful pass at 9,400 feet in elevation, with at least 1,000 feet of air all around it and with pristine, jaw-dropping views of spectacular beauty.\u00a0 I had driven that pass many times without incident, and I enjoyed it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">However, something bizarre happened that day.\u00a0 My old fear of heights came back to me.\u00a0 I had overcome it when I moved to Colorado for a few years by making myself drive through the mountains.\u00a0 The beauty of the mountains eventually cured me.\u00a0 So, I was surprised when my fear of heights came back &#8212; with a\u00a0 vengeance.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">It was so bad and I was so scared (completely irrationally) that I had to pull over at the crest of the pass where there is a park in order to calm and steady myself.\u00a0 Eventually, I calmed down enough to get back into the pickup truck I was driving and to get back on the road.\u00a0 I calmly thought to myself, as I started to leave the parking lot, that I was just going home for dinner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u00a0As soon as I turned onto the road, however, my fear of heights came roaring back.\u00a0 I had never felt it so badly!\u00a0 The sweat <em>streamed<\/em> on my skin.\u00a0 I could <em>smell<\/em> the scent of fear in my sweat.\u00a0 My heart was pounding like it was about to burst.\u00a0 And, worst of all, the muscles in my arms and legs began to freeze.\u00a0 My arms and legs were locked!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">My mind commanded my limbs to move &#8211;to tap the brakes and to turn the wheel, in order to negotiate the curve of a cliff that was fast approaching&#8211;\u00a0 but my body did not respond.\u00a0 In front of me, and getting closer quickly, was a guardrail.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Behind the guardrail was at least 1000 feet of air.\u00a0 Beyond that was some of the most beautiful scenery on God\u2019s good earth: fields and forest and lots of rocks.\u00a0 And there I was: the car steadily accelerating down the pass, toward the curve, of the cliff, to certain death below; and my body was frozen by fear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I knew I was going to die.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">And what was interesting was that I was not afraid.\u00a0 Oh, my body was racked by my irrational fear of heights.\u00a0 My mind was screaming at my body to do something, to respond, to turn the blasted wheel and tap the bleeping brakes.\u00a0 But in the core of my being, which I had never as clearly sensed before that day (I suppose it was my soul), I was not afraid.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I knew &#8211;I knew as certainly as the sun would rise tomorrow&#8211; that death is a door and on the other side would be exactly what I had chosen.\u00a0 My last thought before I was about to hit the guard rail was calm and almost comical: \u201cOK, I guess this is how I\u2019m going out&#8230;\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Then it happened. I felt <em>someone<\/em> slide into my body.\u00a0 I have never experienced anything like this.\u00a0 It felt like a bolt of silk entered my body at the crown of my head, proceeded down through my spinal column and the core of my body, and, basically, spread out and take over my body.\u00a0 I was still in my body, but it was like I had been pushed into the passenger seat of my own body.\u00a0 And this bolt that felt as smooth as silk was a person, and this person started to move my legs and tap the brakes and turn the wheel of my car.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">As that was happening (and as I was too stunned to even think), I heard a <em>powerful<\/em> voice.\u00a0 It was like the voice was booming inside my consciousness; I didn\u2019t hear it with my ears.\u00a0 And this voice said, \u201cFear not.\u00a0 The angel of the LORD is with you.\u201d\u00a0 At that point, we were just making the curve of the cliff; and my eyes caught sight of the view.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">It was stunning in its beauty.\u00a0 And the voice continued, \u201cMarvel at His handiworks, and let any fear you feel make you humble before GOD.\u201d\u00a0 Then, we completed making the curve.\u00a0 And then, I felt him &#8211;the angel&#8211; leave my body in the reverse of how he had entered my body.\u00a0 In an instant, I could feel him removing himself from my body, then from my core, then up through my spinal column, and out through the crown of my head.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"> I was then back in complete control of my body.\u00a0 My irrational fear of heights was gone for that moment.\u00a0 (However, it has been with me ever since that day, and I can no longer drive in mountainous places.)\u00a0\u00a0 I could operate my arms and legs.\u00a0 I was shaken, and the muscles in my limbs ached from the strain of freezing up from a few moments before.\u00a0 But, I wasn\u2019t sweating anymore, and my heart rate was returning to normal, and I could drive the car again.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">And my life was saved: spiritually as well as physically.\u00a0 That day was the beginning of a spiritual adventure which has lasted for the last three years and which is ongoing.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">At the time, I was a practitioner of the wiccan religion, and I was a sinner, and my life was a mess.\u00a0\u00a0 Since that day, however, I was on a long road to Jesus.\u00a0 I did not know it at the time.\u00a0 However, I came back to Jesus, through the Catholic Church, in March of 2002.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Since then, I have been walking with Him, and He with me, in Eucharistic union, sinner that I am.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I\u2019m not looking for publicity.\u00a0 I\u2019m just sharing this because I felt inspired to do so; perhaps it will help somebody.\u00a0 I realize that some folks might say that I merely had a hallucination on that mountain pass, that some back-portion of my brain kicked in, that some kind of survival mechanism was triggered, etc.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I know because for months I wondered the same things and more, wondering and trying to figure out what happened to me.\u00a0 But, during all the time I was wondering, I also knew.\u00a0 I knew, and I still know, exactly what happened to me.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">God sent an angel to save my physical life, in a dramatic way, so as to save my spiritual life too.\u00a0 And to Him, Jesus, the Eucharist, be glory forever.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 <em>Alleluia.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Sincerely,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><b>John G<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><b>Freemont, Ohio<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"gsp_post_data\" \r\n\t            data-post_type=\"post\" \r\n\t            data-cat=\"angels,archives,mail\" \r\n\t            data-modified=\"120\"\r\n\t            data-created=\"1500490662\"\r\n\t            data-title=\"An Angel Story\" \r\n\t            data-home=\"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>from\u00a0spiritdaily.com Spirit Daily Mailbag An Angel Story 23 September 2003 Dear Spiritdaily.com, \u00a0 It was a \u201ccoincidence\u201d (a little voice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45,108,148],"tags":[427,568],"class_list":{"0":"post-8531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-angels","7":"category-archives","8":"category-mail","9":"tag-archives","10":"tag-mailbag","11":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}