Wednesday November 11 2015  THEY ARE TRULY THERE

Angels.  They come in all sizes and in many different situations.  Well, today an angel came to my house.  Her name is Karen and she had a power pack on her back attached to a mighty, super power blower.  I know she doesn’t like to have her photo taken so I refrained, but I would have liked to have taken one so I could have posted it.  That way you would be able to see what a human angel looks like.  Unless you live in the woods you have no clue of the amount of leaves the yard will accrue.   The piles were enormous!  We had piles of leaves left on the garden areas and the rest blown into the woods.  I thank God for the angels he provides for us. 

In a message I listened to today on my IPhone I heard our Pastor talk about the fact that when we give thanks to God for all that He provides for us and all that he does for us, we are actually blessing Him and giving Him glory. I’ve always wondered exactly how I glorify God.  At least now I understand at least one way I can do so.  Every day I thank God for all that He provides such as a place to live, our running water, a car that is dependable, clothes to wear and food to eat.  I thank Him for His creation that surrounds me; the beauty of the sky, trees, clouds, sunshine, rain, birds and wildlife, lakes, and fresh air.  I thank Him for my health and all that I can still do with my hands.  I thank Him for my family, my friends, and for bringing new people across my path.  I thank Him for my vision and my hearing.  There is no thing too big or too small for which to give thanks.  I know I have mentioned this before, but as I was sitting here brimming over with thanks toward our neighbors I just had to comment again on the topic of thanks.  If you ever feel a grumble coming in your spirit, just look around and start thanking God for all that you have to be thankful for. Your grumbling spirit will soon be gone.

I believe I have shared the story of the angel that rescued our daughter from the ocean 30 years ago.  I should look back to see if I have previously written about it so as not to repeat myself.  If any of my readers remember it please shoot me an email and remind me that I did.  Including the experience with our daughter, there was one other time when I encountered an angel embodied in a person. Dave was with me at that time and we both experienced the angel’s presence.  I’ll tell you about it and hope I haven’t already mentioned it previously.

The night this story takes place was when Dave and I were to fly out of the Milwaukee airport early the next morning.  We were in the middle of a severe snow storm.  The news said that the roads would become impassable later that night and we knew it would be next to impossible to reach Milwaukee in time for our early morning flight.  We decided to leave at 10:00 p.m. and drive there and get a hotel so we would be able to get to the airport.  Normally it is a 90 minute car ride away.  We left about 10:00 p.m. as planned and it took us over 5 hours.  Dave snuggled behind a semi-truck pulling a large trailer.  We watched cars pass us and go into skids and go off the Interstate.  Several times this happened.  We were content to go very slow and use the truck to shield us from the driving snow.  We made it to the hotel and couldn’t find a place to park.  The snow was about as high as the bottom of the van door.  We finally found one slot that we thought we could get into.  Nothing was plowed.  Dave angled the van in and then we found our tires would not turn to allow us to straighten into the slot and pull forward.  We tried and tried to get out of the high snow drift.  Dave got out and tried pushing while I steered.  We tried pushing forward and when that didn’t work we tried pushing it back out of the slot.  Dave walked up next to me and I turned to him and simply said, “What we need is an angel”.  Dave walked back to the rear of the van and we tried again.  Then I saw a man walking toward me that I not seen before.  We were in a well-lit parking area outside the hotel and I did not see where he came from.  All I know is that he was not there just a few seconds before.  He was one of the most beautiful people I have ever met.  He was coat-less and had on a blue open necked shirt.  He had sparkling blue eyes and the most beautiful smile upon his face.  He came up to my window and asked, “May I try”?  I told him I didn’t think there was anything he could do as my husband and I had been trying for quite a long time to get unstuck and nothing worked.  He simply said, “May I try”?

I was a bit skeptical.  Who was this guy?  Where did he come from?  Here it was snowing hard and he didn’t even have a jacket on and he didn’t appear to be covered with snow.  He asked me again.  Dave walked around to the driver’s side of the vehicle and asked what was going on.  I told him this man wanted to try to get our van out of the stuck position.  He said, “Go ahead and let him try”.  So I got out of the car and before the man could get in I said, “Oh wait a minute”, and then I reached back into the back seat of the van and took my purse with me.  My thought was that if he did get it unstuck he just might drive off with the van.  Go figure.  I ask for an angel and when one shows up I don’t even recognize him. 

The man in the blue shirt with the amazing blue eyes and beautiful smile sat down in the driver’s seat.  Dave walked back to the other side of the car to get out of the way and I stood by the driver’s side with a bit of doubt in my spirit.  The man put the car in reversed, touched the gas pedal and backed out of the space as easy as pie, stepped out of the van and turned to me.  He smiled a smile that was so astounding it almost took my breath away.  I looked into his eyes and said to him, “You are our angel, aren’t you”?  He said nothing and turned away.  I turned toward Dave as I heard him swishing through the deep snow.  He said he wanted to thank the man and looked beyond me.  He asked, “Where did he go”?  I turned around to where he had just been about 5 seconds before and there was no one there.  He was gone.  Here we were in the middle of a large parking area and there was no sign of him.  No moving cars, no car lights leaving, no one walking anywhere.  All we could see were the mounds of snow, no foot prints, and no one walking away.  I looked Dave in the eye and said, “That was our angel”.  And to this day we both share in the belief that God heard my heart’s spoken desire and actually sent an angel to our aid. 

We stayed two hours in our hotel room, our car was parked three weeks in the hotel’s auxiliary lot for travelers, and we spent the entire day sitting in the airport because the planes could not depart.  But at least we were on time!  We eventually made it to Florida.  Florida was wonderful that February month.  We arrived back in Wisconsin and our car was still in the snow.  I won’t even mention how cold it was.

Perhaps the above story came to me today for two reasons.  The first, my next door angel reminded me of other angels, and the second reason because we had a man come by today to give us an estimate on having our snow removed from our driveway this winter.  Just the thought of snow makes me remember God’s gracious gift to us in time of need.  When I think of that experience it makes me realize why I was never frightened while I traveled cross country this past spring.  I have so much faith in God’s continuing presence in my life and his protection over me.  I am not infallible and someday I will die.  How, yet undetermined.  If it turns out to be in a tragic way does that mean God will have forsaken me and wasn’t watching over me?  No, I do not believe so.  It will simply mean that He was ready for me to go home and be with Him in heaven.  But I do know that God’s presence will be with me through whatever I must face to step over the threshold of heaven.  I have no fear of death because I know this home called earth is just my temporary home and God has my days numbered.  When my work here on earth is over God will call me home.  I am listening for that call, and I am ready.  I just hope I still have a long time here to enjoy the beauty of his earthly creation around me.  I would also like to dance at my grandsons’ weddings!

A long story for sitting down in front of my computer without anything to say.  I hope my story will bless you and remind you that you too have angels that God places around you.  Some, you may someday see, some, you may call friends and neighbors, and some, you may never see.  But they are there.  If ever you find yourself in a situation when you are desperate or need help from God, just speak the name Jesus for angels are at His bidding.

THEY ARE TRULY THERE

By Kathleen Martens

November 11, 2014

An angel is but God’s helper,

Beckoned to do His will.

Whenever we should need one,

Our concern God will fill.

If we but call out,

And in Jesus’ name we ask,

God is ever commanding

His angels to the task.

Even when we can’t see them,

They are truly there.

A guardian angel for each one,

To tend to every care.

What we must do to be heard

And their help receive,

Is to call out in Jesus’ name

And in your heart believe.

Good night and God bless you.