An Angel's Purpose?

One of the most popular aspects of angel activity seems to be their protective nature.  Asking them for assistance as we set out on our daily rounds can’t guarantee that we’ll stay safe, but many people think it helps.  Kathy Million of Jonesborough, Tennessee, is one of them.  In 1982, she was a young Navy wife living in Charleston, SC.  Her husband, Ken, a submariner, was gone at sea quite a bit in those days, so taking care of their first baby, Jenny, was almost exclusively Kathy’s job.  “There were times when I really had my hands full, and many times there was just too much to do in any given day,” Kathy remembers.  “Having to go out would make a day even busier, trying to make it home again before Jenny's next feeding and nap time.”  (Any mom can relate.) 

One day that summer, Kathy went to a nearby town, Jenny in tow, to pick up a few things at the grocery store.  After she had finished, Kathy strapped Jenny into her car seat, put the groceries in the car and started home.  “I pulled out onto the side street, crossed the railroad track and stopped at the traffic light, waiting to cross a four lane highway,” Kathy says.  “When the light turned green, I started to do what I always did in those days---I started to accelerate without first looking for any moving traffic.” 

But as soon as Kathy pressed the gas pedal, she heard a man’s stern voice.  “NO!” he urgently commanded her.  It sounded, Kathy says, like a voice that one would hear inside one’s head, yet it also seemed to come from behind her, as if from the back seat.  Kathy was so startled and surprised that she immediately obeyed, and took her foot off the accelerator for a few seconds.  Then again, feeling the voice must have been her imagination, she started to accelerate.  “This time there was no voice, but I had an overwhelming feeling come over me that I should not yet go.  And it seemed as if my foot was being involuntarily moved away from the gas pedal.  I could not believe what was happening!” 

For the third time, Kathy attempted to accelerate---and then she saw it.  A car on the highway, flying through its red light in the intersection, at a speed that was certainly above the limit.  She was stunned!  If she had not hesitated those few seconds, she would have been crossing the intersection when the car on the highway was running its red light.  She would have been broadsided and, given the speed of the other car, she and the baby would probably have been killed.

“I have thought about that experience many times through the years,” Kathy says today.  “I had two more daughters after that happened.  And now Jenny is grown with two children of her own.  I have often wondered why I received divine intervention---was it because my other two daughters needed to be born?  Was it because Jenny needed to be on this earth longer?  Was it because her two children needed to be born, or their children?  It's interesting to think that maybe it was me that needed to be here longer.  I am guilty of thinking I don't make much of a difference.”

These are good questions, the kind we all wonder about, from time to time.  We can only see a part of God’s plan with our earthly eyes. But whatever happens---even after generations have passed---is all part of His perfect arrangements.  In some way, each one of us makes a difference. 

All Kathy knows is that one day 24 years ago, her guardian angel became a very real part of her life.  “I may never know why my guardian angel came that day, but maybe knowing why isn't the point,” she says.  “Maybe the point is simply to remember, be thankful, and just live life as best I know.”   

(C) 2006  Joan Wester Anderson  www.joanwanderson.com

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