Have you named your angel?
Like many of us, Kathy Borniger, a school nurse in Wichita,
Kansas, wears an angel pin. It's a symbol of something that she
believes in, just like our American flag. "I have always found
it comforting to know that God loves us so much that He would
send angels to guide and protect us," she says. "I have felt the
presence of angels in my life on several occasions, and there
were probably more when I wasn't paying attention." The one that
stands out most in Kathy's mind happened about six years ago.
Kathy's mother had been to her physician, and he had found a
spot on her lung, which appeared to be cancer. The entire family
was shaken. Kathy's sister drove in from Phoenix, and the family
prepared themselves for possible bad news. After several tests
seemed to confirm the diagnosis, the doctor scheduled surgery.
Kathy's sister had to return to Arizona due to obligations
there, but was not looking forward to the long solitary drive
from Wichita to Phoenix. She asked Kathy to ride with her and
then fly back to Wichita, using the remaining half of a ticket
which her husband had left over from a previous trip to Phoenix.
When Kathy phoned the airlines to make sure this procedure was
acceptable, however, she received several contradictory
responses. "No, it's impossible to use that ticket for
yourself," one representative told her. Said another, "You can
use it but by the time you pay all the penalties and fees, you
might just as well buy a new ticket." The last word she received
was "Well, go ahead, but come to our offices in Tempe, when you
get here, and we'll see what we can do but there will be extra
charges." Kathy was not working full time, and with three
children, money was tight. Her husband encouraged her to go,
however, and they would figure out the finances later.
"There are times in our lives when we feel so worried, weary and
frightened that we would just like to grasp SOMETHING and have
it work out smoothly," Kathy says. "It did not look like this
was going to be one of those times. I was feeling very
intimidated and OLD. I was sure that I would be met in Tempe
with resistance but ‘resistance’ would be wearing spiked heels,
blond hair, and lip gloss and would be younger than most of my
husband's underwear!! And I would look stupid and doddering.
(You could say that I really was obsessing on this.)"
Nonetheless, her sister needed her, so the two drove from
Wichita to Phoenix, praying along the way for their mother's
health. The day after they arrived, Kathy was to appear at the
Tempe airlines offices. "As I lay in bed that morning, trying to
gather my courage, I prayed to my guardian angel Izabel, (I call
her Izzy)," says Kathy. "I asked her to please speak to the
guardian angels of the people I'd be meeting at the airlines
office, to soften their hearts.” (Pope John XXIII was known for
doing this very thing.) “I also asked Izzy to check in with my
mother's guardian angel and to please keep Mom safe and well. I
put on my guardian angel pin and off we went."
Security at the airlines was very tight and as Kathy entered the
building, an armed guard met her and asked numerous questions.
There were several "Ms. Blond High Heels With Lip Gloss" too,
floating from office to office, and Kathy did indeed feel
intimidated by their confident attitudes. Touching her angel
pin, she reminded Izzy of her needs.
“After a few minutes I heard a lovely ‘grandmotherly’ voice call
me by name into her office," Kathy says. "She was a petite woman
with a few gray hairs (just like me) and a welcoming smile. She
said her name was Rose and asked how she could help me." Kathy
explained the situation.
"Why that's no problem," Rose assured her. "We can change your
ticket, and there'll be no charge." Tears welled in Kathy's
eyes. The whole thing had been so simple---why had she dreaded
it? The two women visited for awhile, and as Rose presented
Kathy with the new ticket, she pulled aside her own cardigan. "I
like your angel pin," Rose said, smiling. Kathy was astonished.
Rose was wearing three angel pins on her blouse.
Kathy enjoyed a few days in Phoenix with her sister, then flew
home. She was beginning to realize that she had been in the
presence of angels ever since this family situation had begun,
and she had a hunch that everything would work out just fine.
"My mother had her surgery a few days later," Kathy says. "There
was no sign of cancer. Actually the pathology report showed the
lesion to be an encapsulated area of Valley Fever which Mom had
probably picked up during one of her visits to Phoenix."
Was it a miracle? Kathy will never know for sure. But were
angels near? She has no doubt.
(C) 2002 Joan Wester Anderson www.joanwanderson.com
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