One thing that has always bothered me about many angel stories is that angels come to the aid of people in sometimes relatively mundane circumstance, such as a stalled car in a snowstorm. Obviously, there are many people in much graver need of help. Why do you think some people are aided by angels and others are not?
I don't think it has to do at all with one's "worthiness" or "saintliness." I've heard plenty of stories from people who were actually angry at God or estranged from him when an angel came. But I do believe that prayer can change things. People who regularly ask angels for protection, who try to live good lives and help one another, etc., seem to feel confident of angelic help, and perhaps that's why they receive it. But we must remember that bad things do happen to good people; angels will not always be able to keep such things from happening, because angels do not and cannot interfere with our own free will, or the results of others' free will (most of the time). But they will be with us to comfort us when suffering is inevitable.
Will you relate one of your favorite angel stories - one you think is compelling?
My son's story is my favorite, of course. He and two friends were traveling across country on a terribly cold night. Their car broke down in a deserted cornfield and they would probably have frozen to death there (some people did that night). But a tow truck driver appeared, hitched them up, took them to safety and when they got out of the car and turned around to pay him, he was gone, and so was his truck.
This is compelling because:
- there was more than one person seeing the same thing
- it was a state of emergency and no rescue vehicles were then on the road
- there were no tracks left in the snow by the truck
- it was my son!
I have also loved the story of the two pilots in a very small plane flying in fog, and unable to land. A voice came over the speaker and talked them down into a small airport, where they landed safely. They discovered as they got out of the plane that the airport was closed, and no one was on duty. Further, they were so off course that no other airport could have contacted them.
Author and lecturer Joan Wester Anderson's books include: Where Miracles Happen, Moms Go Where Angels Fear to Tread, Where Angels Walk, Angels and Wonders, In the Arms of Angels, and Guardian Angels.
One of her books, Forever Young, the life story of actress Loretta Young, was published by Thomas More Publishers in November, 2000. The actress had read the angel series, and requested Anderson as her biographer.
