Signals from Angels

Cathy Dailey writes to share her sister’s story about guardian angels, so appropriate for their Feast, celebrated each year on October 2^nd.  Cathy’s sister, Barbara, had tried for many years to become a mother.  Despite some health difficulties, Barbara had had at least four procedures to help her get pregnant, but none had worked.  She had also attempted to adopt several times, but something always fell through.  By the time Barbara was approaching her fortieth birthday, she wondered if it was time to stop trying.  

And yet…she felt certain that this was not the answer.  For when she was twelve years old, Barbara had seen two angels.  “One was a man, the other a woman,” Cathy remembers the story.  “The man told Barbara that they were her guardian angels.”  He had stood at the foot of her bed, holding a book open in his hands while the woman had said nothing, but had danced in joyful abandon.  Slowly their image had faded, but the experience left Barbara with an even deeper faith.  During the following years, she had often sensed the presence of these guardians.  And somehow, they seemed to encourage her.  Why should she assume God had forgotten about her request?  Now, as she remembered that amazing vision, she decided to keep praying for a baby.

Just a few months later, a miracle happened.  A member of Barbara’s extended family had a baby, and decided to let Barbara adopt him.  She took him home on the day of his birth, put him in a bassinet right next to her bed, and named him Nathan.  As Cathy recalls, “he was more than she had ever hoped for.  He fits right in like it was meant to be.”

Barbara was overjoyed.  But, as with any new mother, especially an older one, she might have worried---just a little---about whether she’d be up to this huge commitment.  And then, a few weeks after Nathan’s arrival, she received another answer.  One night, Barbara suddenly awakened, opened her eyes and was amazed.  There were three angels standing over the bassinet.  “All were children about the ages of 4 to 7 years, and were dressed in brown, with knickers and vests—and one had a walking stick,” Cathy says.  “There was light coming in above them.  They just stood over Nathan’s bassinet, watching him.”  Barbara lay there, silently, not wanting to scare them away!  For wasn’t this her answer, brought to her through the love of angels?  She did not have to worry if she was up to the task.  God had given her glimpses into the invisible world, where guardian angels stood ready to care for every one of His children.

Gradually the angels faded, and Barbara has not seen them since.  But she knows they are around.  Nathan, now five years old, has told a few people about the angel-friends who come to play with him at night, in his room.  Barbara often hears him laughing in the middle of the night, but has never glimpsed any strange light—or brown-clad children.

“I live near Nathan,” Cathy says, “and I see him often.   He is a little pistol, not too angelic!  But there is something different about him, and I’m not sure exactly what it is.”

Perhaps it’s the confidence that comes from acknowledging these beautiful beings, and inviting them into our lives.  October 2^nd would be a great day to start!