Do you believe?
My friend RG Ryan has a well-written blog (and soon to be published book) that I recommend to anyone wanting something touching and entertaining to read.
Today's blog was specifically amazing: http://snapshotsatstarbucks.vox.com/library/post/you-tell-me.html
And reading it made me wonder how many of us believe in Gaurdian Angels... (this is not a religious blog... just a question of whether you believe in a protective power/soul/spirit and whether you have any cool experiences to share.)
As I commented in his blog, I was driving home from work one day when Nate was an infant, and I lost control of my car on a busy highway during rush hour, did a TOTAL 360 degree turn RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BUSY HIGHWAY (center lane)... I literally saw oncoming traffic coming at me when I flipped around. I squeezed my eyes shut, let go of the steering wheel and asked for God to protect me. About 2 seconds later I was completely stopped in the median of the highway, shaken up, but not a scratch on me or the car... and I have NO idea how I ended up there... not harmed in any way. It gave new meaning to that song by Carrie Underwood "Jesus take the Wheel".
I would love it if you all commented to share your thoughts and stories...
Comments
I have no doubts that each person has a Guardian Angel. When I was going through the process of becoming Catholic, one night we went over the subject of Guardian Angels, we read scripture from the bible stating that in fact, each person has their own angel, that God gave us to protect us. It was amazing how deep my faith grew over my conversion to Catholicism....but to answer your question, YES, I believe in Guardian Angels.
A year or so after my dad died, my mom and I got into this huge argument, and I went to go visit my friend Amanda to cool down for a couple hours. I took the back way so I could drive faster--probably much faster than I should've been driving, considering that the road had a lot of twists and turns. I heard my dad tell me to slow down, so I did. A few feet later, I went around a curve and there was a deer standing there in the middle of the road. I had time to stop, but if I hadn't listened and kept going faster, there's no way I wouldn't have wrecked my car (at the very least).
So, I don't know if I believe in guardian angels per se, but I believe in my dad.
I did have a little, um something happen. Nothing life altering or anything.
last October, Halloween actually, I went in to get a mammogram and ultrasound to investigate a little strange thing in my breast. I usually get SO worked up over Doctors appointments, but there was a strange calm over me this day. I had my camera with me (My physical angel) and I took pictures of whatever I wanted on my way there. I was calm when they did the procedure. As I was sitting in a dark room, where they did the ultrasound, looking down at my fingers picking at my nails, waiting for them to come back with results, I looked up at the large poster framed across the room from me I saw my reflection in the blue glow light of the machines, and sitting next to me I saw the reflection of my great grandmother arm around my neck and her other hand on my thigh. I blinked and it was gone, I am still not sure if I saw it with my eyes or with my head. But It all seemed to make sense, my strange calm. I was not really alone that day.
I have had a this type of experience personally but my pastor has... his story is similiar to yours but a little different...
He and his wife were driving down the freeway, behind a semi that was hauling new cars. They noticed the cars starting coming off the hauler. They prayed and the cars flew to the left and to the right of them. They were not touched at all. Actually, there were no damages to anyone surrounding them. They were on I-5 in the Seattle area - which is very busy. No damages except to the new cars that fell of the trailer. They were very blessed in this accident. The potential for harm was huge in this!
My great Grandma died when I was two years old, but for some reason, I still have such a clear picture of her bedroom and her face. Strange connection
I've had a couple experiences like this, but I chalk it up to pure luck, fate or kismet, whichever you'd like to call it. Because if I did believe divine intervention had saved me in such moments, how could I explain all the people whose lives are forever changed or even taken in a single, unfair, tragic moment? (I've had experiences with those, too) In other words, it goes both ways, and there are lots of people who come out on the losing end of such experiences.
It seems that thinking it's divine intervention is just a way of trying to explain or make sense of a scary experience. Surely, many people pray in what they think will be their last moments. What about the ones whose prayers go unheeded and they die anyway? Where were their guardian angels?
Thought-provoking post--thanks for sharing!
Very thought provoking answer. I explain this with my person belief and faith in the verses of the bible... "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose ... Within any give season, there is a point in time in which God has ordained everything to happen. ..." I wish I could remember the verse exactly... but it's something like that. However, I am aware not everyone holds the same faith or beliefs I do.
There are thing in our universe we cannot explain. I think everyone agrees on that, no matter what creed, race, or theological persuasion you have.
I have had many moments which have convinced me of the presence of a higher power in my life. A few might be in the "protective" category.
The first one that comes to mind is this one:
I was delivering papers, and had just come out of a garage on a hill. Suddenly, a car came flying over the hill at well over the speed limit. The driver saw me, and slammed on his brakes. Still, he hit me. My bike must have been perfectly parallel with his front bumper, because he hit my pedal, instead of any part of my body. The bike slid sideways on its tires about 20 feet, and fell over. Other than the shock of it, I was completely unharmed.
The most bizarre one is this one:
I was an unplanned pregnancy. My mother is Rh-negative, and the doctor had advised my parents not to have any more children, because of the difficulties of the first two pregnancies (my brother was a "blue baby"). But my parents decided to carry me to term, and hope for the best. In the last examination, my mother's doctor advised them that I was stillborn, and that she needed to perform a Caesarian to remove me and save my mother. When they brought me out, I was completely normal and healthy. I am told that doctors came from all over Northern California to see the "miracle baby".
My friend Norman has a more dramatic story:
He was working as a traveling salesman, and had stopped at a convenience store to get some coffee. As he was coming out of the store, he looked up, and saw a tornado touch down a few blocks away. He says that he heard a voice saying to him "Norman, go back in the store, and you'll be OK." He went back in the store. He showed me a photo, which shows that everything on that block was destroyed. Except the convenience store.
Here it is... I found it. Very old and ancient words... as true to me today as when they were written.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 KJB
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Joel transformed my life. But I've always wondered if I screwed up the instruction when, 2 yrs later, I ended the friendship over his refusal to get help for drug addiction (which developed while we were friends). I know I did what was right for me - just not sure it was right for "the powers that be".
I believe I was supposed to give him the same love he gave to me. But I feel that he died without really knowing it was there and real and everything he sought. I'll forever wonder if I fucked up by not figuring out some way to get through to him.
A well-stated comment to an interesting post.
I can totally understand that point of view. However, in most instances like that, if you talk to the child and anyone in their life, you will be a witness to a certain peace about life and death. Most people whose lives are touched by cancer (other life-threatening/ending illnesses) will say that although painful and tragic... they learned something powerful about themselves/humanity/life etc... and in turn were able to pass that on to others.
But then again, I don't view death as and ending or a bad thing... I view it as a beginning. And I also think it's MUCH more painful for the people left behind than the one passing on.
Thank you for commenting so openly and honestly!
I watched my niece suffer through chemotherapy for the better part of a year as an 8-year-old child. No one can tell me there was any greater good to that, or that she felt any peace, or that she was peaceful about the thought of dying, or that she learned anything good to pass along to others. She was a scared, sick, suffering child. It's offensive to anyone who's watched a child suffer to play Pollyanna and say that there might be some kind of peace or a "lesson" in such suffering...adults, maybe, but not a child. People had the nerve to tell my sister that "everything happens for a reason" and "God only picked her because she was strong enough to handle it" in response to her stepdaughter getting cancer, and I find that sort of belief and the need to voice it to a suffering family utterly repugnant. As did she.
We are all the results of our experiences, good, bad and ugly. While some might find cancer to be a beautiful life lesson, I never will.
I am sorry, and sincerely did not mean to offend. I've lost people in my life from various things (the man who raise me had a trailor fall on his head and crush his skull... my cousin has cistic fibrosis and has had surgery after surgery since he was an infant, suffered all kinds of pain and at times would rather have died than lived through it all, but he's the most gentle loving soul I know and touches so many people because of his experience... another friend lost a child during her last trimester of pregnancy, but went on to have another very healthy child who she thanks God for everyday). I don't mean to seem and don't feel as if I am being "Pollyanna" believing that good comes out of everything bad (I have experienced it more times than I can count... my life is a series of never-ending tragedies and pain, but also outstanding and overwhelming joy).
Frankly, it's just my personal belief, which I shared with you on my blog. You don't have to agree with it... Tragic things happen in life... I just happen to think it's our choice what we do with the lessons imbedded in the experience. There is a lesson to be learned from every experience, whether we like it or not.
God didn't give us life and promise that it would be easy or full of joy. He just gave it to us as a gift, along with free will to live it the way we chose and believe whatever we want.
I am so sorry for the loss of your niece. And for your grief. And for your family's grief. The death of a child is never a good thing. I didn't mean to infer that it was. I am sure if I lost my own child in such a way, I'd be screaming to the heavens at the unfairness of it all and my anger would know NO limit, towards God, towards life, towards everything. However, I'd hope and pray that if I tragedy like that happens to my family, and God knows it could, that I would be able to dig down deep and use the experience to help others - to be an inspiration and vehical for knowlege, love and peace.
I have read your blog lots of times and respect your point of view (even if I don't always agree with it). I really didn't intend this to get into a religious or theological debate... I was just hoping to hear of other tales of miracles and unexplained phenomenon. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping my thoughts and opinions to myself. But I learn so much when someone differs from me and points out their point of view, and I relish that feeling of seeing the other side of the coin and understanding it. Thank you for giving that to me today.
My niece didn't die. She's still quite alive.
I know you didn't mean to offend. And yep, it's your blog, but you knew how I'd respond when you sent me a private message about this post. ;-)
Oh I misunderstood than. I just realized now how I found you, through your sister's blog. Gosh I feel like a dunce. I am familiar with the story and have had my heart ache reading it over the last year. Your sister is of amazing strength, not only for what she has went through with your niece, but all the others things as well. Not to be disrespectful... but her blogs about that journey have taught me SOOOOO much about myself, my parenting and my own children. And even about my relationship with my ex-husband. So in a strange way, the painful journey you, your sister and your niece have been on have touched my life in a deep way. And if it's touched my life, I know it has touched others as well.
And actually I sent everyone in my nieghborhood a message about my post, as I was honestly looking for everyone's experiences and an open dialogue about them. Thank you again, Farfaraway, for participating. And again, I am sorry.
Nah, that's okay. I knew you just forgot. No harm done. I'm still glad my niece is alive though. ;-)
Two things came to mind...I was laid off at my job Feb '07 the very next day my recruiter called to let me know that a job I interviewed a year ago has new offer for me..that is how I ended up in San Diego the timing was impeccable.
Also when I first moved to San Diego I was driving and due to the glare drove through a red light. My car was totalled I did not even have a bruise. In fact the cops and firemen kept on asking me if I was ok because if I was in that car I should not be ok.
As I said, we didn't speak for about an hour or more afterwards.