Angels: real stories from life. Life stories

Doreen Virtue is a Doctor of Philosophy and Psychology, a clairvoyant and the author of books about guardian angels, spirit mentors and ascended masters. According to Doreen Virtue, most people see angels, ghosts or spirits of their deceased loved ones every day. To some, ephemeral creatures appear in the form of classical angels with wings; others, in some incomprehensible way, enter into dialogue with relatives who have passed on to another world; for others, angelic visions are available only in dreams, but these dreams turn out to be not only very realistic, but also often prophetic. After reading How to See Angels, you will learn amazing stories of people who have experienced angelic visions or received vital messages from “the other side” in prophetic dreams. In addition, Dr. Virtue offers step-by-step guidance to help you make visual contact with Divine entities and learn to understand signs and messages from them.

A series: Angels

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The given introductory fragment of the book How to see angels. Real People Stories (Doreen Virtue, 2008) provided by our book partner - the company liters.

Part I. True stories of people who saw angels

Chapter 1. Stories told by adults who saw angels

Angel feather

Kate O'Riley's Story

This happened in 1998, after I was discharged from the hospital, where I was in the intensive care unit due to my pneumonia. I was then prescribed every conceivable and inconceivable medicine that had ever been invented to treat this illness, and was sent home to complete my treatment with instructions to adhere to bed rest and take medications regularly. When I left the hospital, I felt that I had been discharged early, but there were no more beds available, and I was told that, given my age and general health, I would be more likely to recover at home.

That evening I tossed and turned in bed and could not fall asleep for a long time before I fell asleep. At half past three in the morning I felt that there was someone in my room, and this woke me up. Opening my eyes, I first decided that it was one of the household wandering around the house, but, turning over on the other side, I saw two huge creatures. Looking at them, I couldn’t understand how they – of such and such size – could fit here, in my modest little room?

The figures made me understand that someone had sent them to protect me while I was sleeping. For some reason, I immediately knew that these were angels. One is male, about three meters tall (given that the ceiling height in my room is no more than two and a half meters), dressed in blue-gray clothes. His face expressed such love for me that it seemed that this alone was enough to help me get to my feet. The second angel was female and completely white. She radiated a gentle, caring energy and reminded me of the angels I read about as a child, human-like but with wings. I wanted to touch them and stretched out my hands to them - they immediately disappeared. And I fell back into my restless sleep.

When I woke up in the morning, I experienced strong emotional disturbance because of this “dream”. My daughter and granddaughter came into my room to check on me, and I told them about my night visitors. My daughter, as a fairly old person, was skeptical about my story, but my four-year-old granddaughter really liked this story. When the wave of excitement subsided a little and my daughter helped me get out from under the blanket so that I could go to the bathroom, the granddaughter’s jubilant squeal was heard. Getting out of bed, I followed me and pulled out from under the blanket a fifteen-centimeter feather that had apparently stuck to my foot, sweaty due to the high temperature, during the night! I'll be honest: we didn't know what to think. I was confused because we never had any feather items in our house. The daughter was speechless. And the granddaughter began to dance with joy because the angels left us their gift. She said that it was not a dream, because angels always come to people at night. And, of course, these angels were real!

I carefully removed the precious feather from my leg and placed it on my indoor altar.

The next night I felt much worse than the night before, as if I was getting sicker instead of getting better, and I decided to call the doctor if I didn't get better soon. At half past three in the morning, just like the day before, I woke up again due to the feeling of someone's presence. Turning over on the bed, I saw the same angels again! They stood opposite me, and suddenly the one who was male asked if I was ready to go to heaven with them.

The angels said that this time they were sent to help me decide whether I wanted to stay in my human body or leave the Earth. I thought about all my plans and unfinished business - it seemed that nothing mattered more to me than the opportunity to walk with the angels. The love and goodness they radiated was so attractive that I wanted more and more to go with them. Suddenly I remembered my seven grandchildren and how my friends always told me: “It’s no accident that you have seven grandchildren - there must be some special meaning in this. Perhaps you, too, are an important part of this very meaning.” I caught myself thinking that if I left now with the angels, I would no longer have the opportunity to gather all my relatives together to say goodbye to them, hug my children and kiss my grandchildren. So I told the angels that I wanted to stay here on Earth for a while longer.

The angels answered that if I decided to stay, the only way to escape would be to return to the intensive care ward in the hospital, and the sooner the better. Having said this, they disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared. Soon my eldest daughter took me to the hospital. There it turned out that my pneumonia had progressed and that I had arrived at the hospital just in time, otherwise there would have been no saving me.

The next night I woke up again at half past three in the morning, hoping to see my angels again, but they were not there. Perhaps they were confused by my move to the hospital room. I was sad to think that I would never see them again, and I began to think about how to get them back. I realized that I had to ask them a lot of questions, and I felt like I had missed the opportunity to do so. Doubting the correctness of the decision made the day before, I began to cry. Tears flowed down my cheeks as if I were mourning my old friends with whom I had spent the best years of my life.

A little later, my daughter and granddaughter came to me, to whom I told about angels. Since then I haven't talked to anyone else about it. I was so weak that I tried to direct all my energy to a speedy recovery. My daughter had a lot of problems of her own, and I didn’t want to bother her again. In the conversation, she mentioned a strange thing that happened to her early in the morning. She said that at half past three in the morning she was awakened by a strong feeling regarding an important decision that she had to make. She was puzzled and surprised by this overnight insight, but now, after many months of deliberation, this decision has been made. She finally knew what she needed to do.

I smiled. My angels have not left us. Despite everything, they were still with me and my loved ones. From then to this day, I have kept that gift of an angel’s feather as my greatest treasure.

Embraced by angel wings

Joan Scott's Story

Several years ago, when my mother was dying painfully from lung cancer, each new day brought new difficulties, and it was unbearable. I did not consider myself a good nurse and constantly repeated: “I can’t...”, to which I invariably heard from the visiting nurse: “No, you can...”

One night, lying in bed, I frantically whispered: “God, I need help!!! I need help, God!!!" – and almost immediately I saw a large accumulation of angelic wings, completely surrounding me and wrapping me in their embrace. I felt incredibly calm and supported and realized that I was not alone. It gave me the courage to move on and the strength to continue caring for my mother until the end of her allotted time.

Even after my mother went to another world, whenever I have serious difficulties, I know that I can always count on the support of those very angels with wings.

The power of our angels' love

I worked as a teacher's assistant. On the first day of classes, the entire team of workers gathered to get to know each other. We sat in a large circle and took turns talking about ourselves. My turn has already passed, and I said everything I wanted. It was the turn of the woman sitting slightly to my left.

As soon as she spoke, I saw two angels and thought that this woman was like the hot steam emanating from the asphalt road surfaces on hot days. The air above and around her seemed to move just like steam, after which it began to sparkle with many different colors and turned into blue wings, or rather, into two pairs of wings. Then I was able to see the formation to which these wings were attached. There were two of them. They stood on either side of the woman, very close to her.

My vision lasted a split second, and of course, when I came to my senses and tried to take a closer look, alas, there was nothing and no one else there. I was shocked. How similar it was to ancient witchcraft stories! I froze - alone - while the others continued talking as if nothing had happened. And I didn’t understand or hear a word of what they said. I felt as if I was momentarily suspended in the air. I tried to catch my breath and realized that I was still on the same wavelength with those wonderful, divinely beautiful creatures, and although I no longer saw them, I literally physically felt the immense love with which the angels surrounded the woman. Having come to my senses, I sat in a circle and recalled the experience in my memory. Tears welled up in my eyes - from the realization that next to each of us there are our own angels, whose love for us cannot be expressed in any words.

I only dared to tell a few people about this, but no stories can convey what really happened. It is incredibly difficult to recreate the feelings and emotions that I experienced then.

Angel trainer

Terry Walker's Story

Stephen, my eleven-year-old son, after playing football for several years, suddenly decided to play baseball during his summer vacation. Most of the guys on his team had been playing baseball for several years and were doing very well. Stephen also played well, but when he found himself on the pitcher’s mound, for some reason he always fell into a stupor and could not hit the ball with his bat. Needless to say, he had strike after strike. During training, everything worked out great for Stephen, but as soon as he found himself on the playing field, the boy’s nerves immediately gave way.

One day I sat in the stands and watched him play. Steven already had two strikes and was getting ready to go to the pitcher's mound again. I felt that his self-esteem was falling before my eyes; I really wanted him to hit the ball, and I began to pray to his guardian angels to help him hit the ball and run to first base.

At that moment, I saw an angelic being leaning over the shoulder of Stephen, who was already standing on the pitcher’s mound. The angel looked up, looked straight at me, gave me a thumbs up and smiled brightly. I just couldn't believe my eyes! I looked around to see if anyone besides me had seen this angel, but no one else seemed to notice him.

And then I heard the sound of a bat hitting a ball! Stephen hit the ball, and the ball flew between first and second base, straight to the right side of the field. Steve ran to second base, then to third, and then returned to home. The expression of joy on his face was beyond description! He was so proud of himself.

After the game, I told my son about the angel, to which he replied: “I knew something miraculous had happened then because I felt something holding my bat, and I heard someone tell me: “Hit!” - and I hit the ball! This just proves that the angels really want to help us, we just need to ask them about it. Since then, Stephen has been constantly talking to his angels.

Tara is my healing angel

The Story of Robin Anne Powell

One day, at the end of November 1998, my close friend sent me the audio program “Healing with the Angels”. I was glad to get her, since my health at that time, to put it mildly, left much to be desired. All the healing methods that I had already tried by that time only worked for six months, no longer.

I must say that angels have always been very significant to me. Long before I received Healing with the Angels, figurines and images of them, gifts from friends and relatives, were everywhere in my house, but I had never seen real angels, heard their voices, or received important messages, never tried to take advantage of their healing power.

I remember that when I played Doreen's recording for the first time, I fell asleep about half an hour into listening, and nothing unusual happened after that. But after about three weeks, my kidneys started to hurt badly. The year before, I got a bladder infection that I just couldn’t get over. Since then, the disease progressed rapidly, and I began to develop kidney inflammation. Eventually I had to get used to having to take antibiotics constantly to relieve the fever and relieve the pain. And now, on December 12, 1998, my kidneys started to hurt again.

My husband and I had a little fight this morning, and I asked him to sit next to me on the couch until I left for work. We made peace, I calmed down and closed my eyes. A few moments later I saw a truly magnificent female creature. She had long black hair; she was dressed in a snow-white dress. She said that her name was Tara, and that she would keep her palms on my kidneys all day, even when I was at work, in the store. She also said that I myself am an earthly angel. In incredible surprise, I opened my eyes and told my husband about what had happened. Shocked, he and I sat in silence for some time. Did this really happen? Or is this a figment of my imagination?

I went to work hoping that Tara would heal my kidneys, and after a few hours the pain actually went away!

A lot of time has passed since then, and the pain in the kidneys has never returned to me, and - I know this for sure - it will never return! I am sure that it was listening to Doreen Virtue's recording that helped me establish contact with my angel.

Angel in the maternity ward

The story of Jacqueline Regina

At that moment, I was in the maternity ward of the hospital, where my daughter was giving birth. She was in terrible pain, and I began to pray to God to give her strength and help us both get through it. Suddenly my daughter turned pale. She seemed so weak and lifeless, and her eyes seemed to beg me to somehow help. I didn't know what to do and felt even more helpless. I prayed: “Lord, help her!”

At that very moment, I saw a huge angel appear next to my daughter’s bed - so huge that it practically occupied the entire room. The angel looked down on my daughter and, a few minutes later, the baby appeared; his neck was wrapped in an umbilical cord, and he was turning blue before our eyes from lack of oxygen and was not breathing. Somehow the angel let me know that the baby would be fine. I understood and felt this perfectly.

I will never forget that beautiful angel who saved my grandson's life. I am grateful to him for his help!

Guardian angel

Mary Rao's story

When I was twenty-four years old, I lived with my brother in his three-room apartment. I had to leave my home because of my father’s cruel attitude - I grew up as a very frightened child.

One night, for some reason, I suddenly felt scared to be alone in the apartment that my brother and I shared - at that time he often stayed overnight with his girlfriend. And I didn’t go to bed in my room, but fell asleep in front of the TV on in the living room. But before I fell asleep, I remember I asked God to help me survive this night and make sure that nothing bad happened to me.

Around three o'clock in the morning I woke up with the feeling of someone gently touching my forehead. Opening my eyes, I saw a beautiful spirit hovering in front of me. I couldn't see his face because his features were blurry. The spirit floated across the room and then disappeared behind the door. I was no longer afraid that night. I am still sure that this was my guardian angel.

I brought you good news!

The Jennifer Kennington Story

One day, while taking a shower, I turned around and saw standing next to me, surrounded by a soft yellow light, a large angel, about two meters tall, from behind whose back large folded wings could be seen. I'm sure it was her.

Dressed in a snow-white long dress that shone faintly with a pale yellow light, she emitted a soft glow. Her golden hair fell in waves over her shoulders, and her head was crowned with a wreath of flowers. Her crystal blue eyes radiated love. Having spoken to me, she extended her hands to me, as if she wanted to hug me. She was so beautiful and realistic that I felt awe and great honor to be in her presence.

The angel spoke to me: “I have joyful news for you about the great happiness to come! You’re having a boy!” At that moment it seemed impossible to me, and I decided that this was just a symbol of some of my undertakings. However, a month and a half later, I discovered that I was nine weeks pregnant.

Angel on the highway

The Perry Cob Story

This happened in 1966 when I was living in Los Angeles. I was eighteen years old then. I didn’t go to school because the year before I had been kicked out for fighting. He worked at a gas station, although this occupation was unpromising. When my stepfather asked me to help my mother on a small farm in Missouri, I agreed: there was nothing else to do anyway.

Two weeks later I was driving halfway across the country in a Corvayer, which my stepfather had bought me specifically for this trip. Attached to the car was a one-wheel trailer filled to the brim with items intended to be given to the mother.

There was no speed limit on the highway, and I pushed it to the maximum: I drove one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour. When I put my foot on the brake pedal, the brake lights illuminated the tarp covering the trailer with a flickering red light. There was a difficult section of the road: I was driving down a steep slope, and therefore I had to keep my foot on the brake pedal almost all the time. I kept looking in the rearview mirror and suddenly... I saw a woman sitting on top of the trailer smiling at me. At least, it seemed to me that it was a woman. I quickly turned my gaze to the road. Then I opened the window, hoping that the cold wind would bring me back to reality.

I pressed the brake pedal again and looked in the rearview mirror again - the woman was still there. I saw her clearly in the light of the rear lights, although the lighting was red. She was wearing a long, light robe; her hair was hidden by a scarf. Continuing to smile, she waved her hand at me in a friendly manner. I thought, “That’s it, Perry, now you’re completely crazy.”

Gathering all my will into a fist and plucking up courage, I pulled off to the side of the road and stopped just before a sharp turn. I lowered my head to the steering wheel, gritted my teeth, sat there for a minute and got out of the car. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I collapsed: the entire road was covered with a thin layer of ice and resembled a skating rink! Somehow, holding on to the sides of the car, I got up and slid to the trailer. I lifted the tarpaulin, but found no one under it. This shook me up, to put it mildly, especially since just at that second the moon, which had been hiding behind the clouds all this time, suddenly rolled out into the sky and illuminated the road. Thanks to this light, I saw on the side of the road an orderly row of ten crosses placed in places where people died, whose cars did not fit into a difficult turn and flew off the road. Since then, I have been looking for that beautiful lady to this day.

However, once I had a chance to feel her presence behind me, but this never happened again, which is a pity - I really miss her.

How an angel helped me find my true name

The story of Uma Bakso

I've never liked the name Nancy Jane for as long as I can remember. I went through all the possible variations: Nan, NJ, Nancy, Nanny...

One day I decided to meditate on this topic while standing in front of the mirror in my bedroom. I meditated for some time with my eyes closed, after which I opened them and saw a beautiful woman with long dark hair standing in front of me in the mirror. I asked her: “Who are you? What is your name?" - and instead of an answer I heard: “Your new name brings light, it will be connected with light,” and I must say that at that time I just had blond hair.

I was dumbfounded, but a minute later I felt my body move towards the bookshelf, and the same voice said: “You will find your name here.”

My hand, as if guided by some force, rose and stretched forward. Chaotically touching the books, the hand chose the one that stood to my right. It was "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda. I flipped through it, catching Uma’s name with my eyes several times in a row. I then thought: “What a strange name.”

A few hours after the incident, I went to a yoga class I was attending, and there I asked the teacher what the name Uma means in Sanskrit. He replied that Uma was the goddess of the rising sun. And then I remembered the words of the woman I saw in the mirror that my new name would be associated with light. And at that very moment I fell in love with my new name - Uma.

Great Healing During the Great Tribulation

The Jennifer Helvey-Davies Story

For as long as I can remember, I have always been very close to my grandmother. It so happened that my mother was a single mother, and my grandmother helped her raise me, so I lived with her for quite a long time. My grandmother was, so to speak, a stabilizing factor in my life and was always there when I needed help and support. When I turned nineteen, I finally moved to live with her and my grandfather.

One night, about two years later, I had a nightmare: it was as if there was a snake in my bed. I woke up in such horror that I immediately woke up my grandmother and asked her to sit with me until I fell asleep again. The next morning I found her dead on the sofa: she died while reading a book. This event shocked me and unsettled me. I was heartbroken.

Kneeling at the grave of my dear grandmother, I looked up at the sky, sobbed and cursed God. I told him that I wanted my grandmother to come back. And at that very moment, something appeared from behind the clouds, shaped like a large star, rapidly increasing in size. I didn't believe my eyes...

What I saw took my breath away: from this star appeared someone with long hair, wearing rough canvas clothes tied at the waist. His arms were down along his body, and his palms were facing me. I couldn’t see his face, but I saw wings behind his back. As soon as I got up from my knees, I collapsed to the ground again, whispering in a frenzy: “You are real... you are here.”

Although I could not see his face, I felt that he was the most powerful being I had ever seen. He stood in the center of a star that had descended from heaven, and with all his appearance he made me understand that he could have a strong influence on my life.

I was scared and at the same time fascinated by this spectacle. And although I could barely see his features, I knew for sure: he was an angel. I understood this thanks to his wings and hands. Then I whispered: “You are an angel...” and tears flowed from my eyes in streams. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. The angel nodded to me in greeting.

His wings folded with a whistle, there was a ringing in my ears and a ripple in my eyes - I looked away from the clouds, and when I looked at the sky again, the angel was no longer there, only the outline of a star. Then I turned my gaze to the grave: it seemed that the grass on it had taken on some other shape. Looking closely, I saw the outlines of that same angel on the grass.

I placed the artificial rose I brought for my grandmother in the place where I saw the image of the angel. Now I knew that my grandmother had gone to that mystical place from where an angel descended to me. Completely stunned, I returned to the car and, before taking the wheel, I tried to reproduce the figure of that angel on the notebook page.

I left the cemetery with a strange feeling of peace and tranquility, which I had not experienced since my grandmother passed away. From then to this day, when I am going through difficult times or need peace and tranquility, I draw that angel on paper, and, surprisingly, it really helps me.

News about motherhood

The Sharon Blott Story

At twenty-seven years old, I was going through probably the most difficult time of my life. I was depressed about a failed relationship. Six years of marriage ended in nothing. I didn't know what to do or where to move next. I remember telling my mother that I felt dead. Plus, it turned out that I would never be able to have children.

I had to study for my final exams at the university, but my mother insisted that I go with her, my sister and her husband to Mexico, to Cabo San Lucas, in Baja California, for two weeks. At first I didn’t want to go anywhere and refused to travel, but in the end I gave in and agreed. In the first week of my stay at the resort, nothing unusual happened, except perhaps one thing: being away from my usual surroundings, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief for the first time there.

In the second week something happened to me that I can only describe as a truly spiritual experience. At night, on a full moon, during high tide, I was lying on the beach, and suddenly the heavens seemed to open up above me, and I was enveloped in a stunningly beautiful golden light, radiating such love and warmth that I had never felt before. I saw angels and heard wonderful music. The shining angels with long blond hair - there seemed to be hundreds of them - radiated an all-encompassing love and peace of such strength that these feelings easily penetrated into the very depths of my soul. But most of all I remember the children’s voices addressed to me, repeating: “Mom, mom...” The vision lasted a couple of seconds, no longer, but these moments seemed like an eternity to me; I wanted this to last forever: finally I felt calm.

Returning home, I visited the doctor, and he said that there was nothing stopping me from getting pregnant, and all my fears immediately evaporated. Eight months later I met my current husband and now we have two wonderful daughters; they were born four years apart.

I will never forget that their birth was a great life-changing miracle, news of which I received many years ago in Cabo San Lucas. And recently, my husband and I purchased a plot of land in Baja California, and now my dream has completely come true.

In bed with an angel

The Dana R. Peebles Story

I always believed in angels, but I had never seen them - until one night I woke up with the feeling of someone lying next to me on the bed. Since I lived alone, I understood that something inexplicable was happening. I lay in bed and was afraid to turn my head to see what was happening next to me. My heart was pounding, my forehead was covered in sweat. Finally, unable to bear the tension, I turned around.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a male angel sleeping peacefully on the other half of the bed! I was so amazed that I woke him up immediately. He opened his eyes and looked at me with a look full of sincere concern.

This angel was made of pure light, he was perfect from every point of view. He had neatly styled shoulder-length blond hair, was dressed all in white and was surrounded by some kind of glow, it seemed as if he was inside some kind of glowing bubble. I asked him who he was and what he was doing in my bed? To which I received the answer: “I am an angel sent by God to protect you. I will not offend you and will help you overcome difficulties. Trust me!"

Then I thought that I was dreaming, and all this was just a dream. Apparently, at that moment I fell asleep again, but for real - and in the arms of my guardian angel. It was so nice! I felt such an indescribable calm and peace that I had never experienced in my life, full of pain, fear and cruelty.

Angora – my angel of peace

The Diana San Clemente Story

For most of my life, I prayed to God to send me my guardian angel.

By the age of forty-five, I suddenly realized that I could no longer pursue my career because it was emptying me from the inside. I dreamed of quitting my job and thought about how to do it in the most painless way possible: my husband and I were paying off a house we bought on credit...

And suddenly one night I woke up hearing some quiet music and an angelic voice whispering in my ear: “Diana, you did not come to this Earth to work for the Boeing Company all your life.” I lay there in quiet amazement, feeling somewhere in the depths of my soul that a much more important mission in life should have been destined for me. But which one?

My spirit yearned for life and freedom. I wanted to shine and illuminate the lives of myself and my loved ones with my love. I had no more choice: I had to leave the Boeing Company, where I was simply suffocating.

So, in March 1995, I left a job that no longer suited me, without having the slightest idea of ​​what to do next. I prayed to God to show me the right path.

Now I could allow myself to sit in peace and quiet and reflect. I started getting up early in the morning and writing down my thoughts, fears, joys and everything that came to mind in a journal. Soon the realization came that I was recording thoughts that were being transmitted to me from somewhere above. I re-read what I wrote and was amazed. This surprised me very much, as did the whispers that I constantly heard next to me. Over time, I realized: this is how I established a connection with my angels. It’s interesting that every time they ended their messages with the words: “Love and Light to you. Your angels."

Several years have passed. We moved to Camano Island, near Seattle. For the first time in my life, I found myself in such a place - surrounded by nature - having previously spent forty-eight years in a stuffy city. I always dreamed of living somewhere outside the city and prayed to God about it. I spent the first summer in the garden working with the soil and really enjoyed it, and when winter came I realized that by spending five months outside working with the soil, I was able to connect with Mother Nature for the first time in my life. . My husband and I even built a small house where I could meditate in order to be closer to the living creatures around me, the trees and the beautiful earth.

A few hours later she said that she had to leave me for a while, but at exactly four hours forty-four minutes in the morning she would wake me up. I only needed to prepare a pen and paper in advance to write down everything she would say. I diligently waited for her then, and since then we have not lost contact.

Now, sometimes I don’t write anything for weeks, but Angora, God bless her, is always ready to come to my aid. I spend a lot of time talking with her. I can ask her for help and she will always guide me and support me throughout my journey. Angora told me a lot of new things about the structure of the Universe and endowed me with the gift of understanding the essence. She gave me the strength to do things that I would never have dared to do before.

I saw her in person only once, that distant July, but to this day I always feel her presence and hear her voice in my head. I spend most of my time listening to her.

I encourage you to open up and learn to hear this voice. The angels are just waiting for your invitation. They love you. Trust them and open your arms, and you will certainly receive angelic love and support.

Chapter 2. Stories told by children who saw angels

Giver or taker

The Lee LaHood Story

When I was eleven years old, my father committed suicide. My mother tried to drown out my grief with alcohol and could not help me understand what happened and cope with my feelings.

In Sunday school I learned that suicide is the worst possible sin. I kept thinking: what happened to my father? Did he go to hell? Was this my fault?

The only place I knew where I could get answers to my questions was the church, so I shared my experiences with the pastor. “Yes,” he answered, “your father is really in hell, and, moreover, now you will go to hell, and your children, your children’s children, - this will continue for four generations, since the sins of the fathers are passed on to the children.” In other words, someone had to pay for the sin committed, and that someone was me.

I was crushed. I had no reason to live anymore. There was no hope ahead, no meaning, nothing at all. Why would I have children knowing that they are cursed from birth and condemned to the worst? I returned home, sat down on the floor and firmly decided to die.

Suddenly I saw the light. At first I thought it was sunlight filling the room, but then I saw a very happy, smiling man in it. He sat cross-legged opposite me. He had stunningly beautiful long shiny hair.

We started talking. For some reason, it seemed quite normal to me at the time. He said that I, of course, could die if I wanted to - it was only my choice. He will neither judge me nor dissuade me, and no one will tell me whether it is right or wrong. Either way, I'll be fine.

The only “but” was that if I decided to leave this life then, I would have to come back again later to again be faced with a choice: stay or leave, and so on ad infinitum. I didn’t want a repeat and so I decided to stay.

After this, the angel said that now I must decide exactly how I will live further. I clearly saw two paths in front of me: the path of “the giver of life” and the path of “the one who takes from life,” and I had to choose one of them. And again, no one would judge me for the decision I made. The vision showed me exactly where each path would lead, and after reflection, I chose the path of the “giver.”

Angels protect us

Tammy's Story

Once, when I was still a little girl and sleeping with my older sister, I woke up in the middle of the night and, looking outside the door of the room, I saw a beautiful angel in a white robe floating up the stairs. This angel was female. Then, not far from the door, I noticed a boy who looked like he had just stepped out of the pages of the Bible - dressed like a young David or Jesus, with curly black hair. He was looking somewhere above me.

Now, almost thirty years later, I think that this vision was evidence that angels really exist and that they always protect us and communicate with us. I'm sure about it. Perhaps thanks to this confidence, I never felt lonely, because I was never alone.

Through the mouth of a baby

The Story of Doreen Vetter

More than anything, my two-year-old daughter Brittany hated going to bed. She always begged us to sit with her until she fell asleep. It was quite burdensome for my husband and I. And then one evening, when I was preparing myself for the fact that I would again have to persuade my daughter to try to fall asleep on her own, she suddenly told me: “Mommy, you don’t have to wait any longer for me to fall asleep, the angels will tuck the blanket in for me.” And Brittany described to me beautiful people in long sparkling snow-white robes who sang lullabies to her before bed.

Angel at the school desk

The Story of Jeanette Rodriguez

My son Matthew recently celebrated his fifth birthday and is starting to prepare for school. I was worried about him because I knew he had psychic abilities.

At home we always talked openly about angels and God. We shared our visions and dreams with each other. My daughter Faith had some difficulties in school for the same reason. Many people, even adults, are not always ready to accept who they really are, and children are often very cruel towards their peers who are different from them in some way. Therefore, Faith decided not to stand out from the crowd, closed herself off and was afraid to use her gift of clairvoyance and extrasensory perception.

This was also the reason why I was worried about Matthew. He is more talkative than his sister and can always say what he thinks, and this could turn him into a target for ridicule and bullying. I prayed to God for help.

And I definitely got my prayers answered! When I came to pick Matthew up from school on the first day of school, he ran up to me with an enthusiastic cry: “Mommy, my teacher believes in angels! She wants to talk to you! – and rushed into my arms.

I met Matthew's teacher, a very nice woman. She said that she was very glad that Matthew was in her class, and added that, in addition to him, there were six other children in this class who also openly talked about angels, and she herself accepted this circumstance as a blessing.

Now, when I take Matthew to school every morning, I hear the pleasant music that the teacher plays to create a pleasant atmosphere of peace and quiet. Many of these songs have the word "angel" in their titles.

Matthew said that they even have a chair in their classroom specially designated for angels, and that the children go to the cafeteria and eat with them.

Through the eyes of a child

Allison Ralph's Story

My friend is convinced that it is easier for small children to see an angel than for adults, so I asked my two-year-old son Christopher: “Can you see angels?” “Yes, of course,” he answered, “they are there, on the ceiling.” Naturally, this answer made my eyes pop out of my head - from surprise and amazement!

We don't go to church. No one in our family has any significant religious beliefs. Angels have never been a topic that we could discuss at home...

Visiting the Angels

The Pamela Weber Story

My six-year-old daughter Jessica told me that angels appear to her in her dreams and in reality. They come to her almost every night when she wakes up and sing beautiful lullabies to her until she falls asleep again. One day Jessica asked them where they were going when they left her room? Instead of answering, they asked if she wanted to see this place with her own eyes. Jessica happily replied, “Yes, of course!” - and the angels took her up with them.

She says that everything there shines with a pleasant pink and purple color and glitters. The daughter said that she saw adult angels, children and babies there. They all sang wonderful songs. Then Jessica was taken back to her room, and as they left, the angels entered a brightly lit, shimmering space. The daughter was so excited and happy about what happened that she now looks forward to new meetings with angels in her dreams.

I told Jessica that she was very lucky to have such friends and that now no one and nothing could come between her and her angels.

Angel in red

A story told by a man who wishes to remain anonymous

Once, when I was five or six years old, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw in my room a young man in a red church robe with a red prayer book in his hands. I got scared and started calling my mom and dad. And the young man (I am sure that he was my guardian angel) disappeared into my closet, while I ran headlong to my parents’ bedroom, where I spent the rest of the night.

Many years later, my mother and I were discussing a crack in the glass of the window in my room, through which my brother and I often climbed. I told my mother that I always wondered where she came from, since neither I nor my brother were involved in her appearance. And my mother admitted that a crack appeared on the window on the very night when I saw my guardian angel. She didn't tell me about this earlier because she didn't want me to be afraid to sleep in my room in the future. Now I am sure that that night my guardian angel saved me from some evil.

Chapter 3. Stories about strangers who appear out of nowhere, help, and then disappear into nothingness.

Stranger on a slippery road

Susan Daly's story

The chain in my husband's car, his name is Clark, came off. While trying to return it to its place, he slipped on the road, fell and was badly hurt. Having somehow walked up the mountain on which our house stands, Clark stretched out right on the floor in the hallway, writhing from pain in his back.

I immediately called an ambulance. At the other end of the line they told me that they would be happy to send the car to our address and hospitalize Clark, but if it turned out that he did not have any serious injuries, then we would have to pay five hundred dollars for the call. Since I couldn’t know for sure how serious and life-threatening Clark’s injuries might have been, and we simply didn’t have five hundred dollars, I decided to take my husband to the hospital myself. My son Scott also came with us.

While driving on a very busy stretch of highway, Clark felt sick and I had to pull over to the side of the road to stop. Then I tried to get back into the traffic and get into the flow of cars moving along the highway at high speed.

The night was dark, and as soon as there was a gap in the endless line of burning headlights, I began to maneuver, trying to get back on the road, when I suddenly realized that my car was stuck in the snow, and I simply could not move! Scott went out onto the road and tried to push the car, but in vain - the wheels slipped in the snow, and the car remained in place.

In despair, I lowered my head to the steering wheel and whispered through my tears: “Lord, help me! I really need your help! Right now!" And a moment later, a car pulled out from the far right lane of the highway toward us and stopped about three meters from our van. The surprising thing was that, as it turned out, I had not even thought about turning on the hazard warning light, which could attract the attention of other drivers; Only the high beam headlights were on.

A whole row of cars lined up in front of us. It was as if we were in a time hole, if not to say thrown out of the general traffic on this high-speed section of the highway. The road was slippery, and the fact that any car was able to stop next to us at all without creating an emergency situation on the road was already phenomenal in itself. I would even say that it was like a miracle, even if the road had been completely dry!

A man of average height, wearing jeans, a short jacket, gloves and a sports knitted hat, got out of the stopped car. I couldn’t see his facial features because the high beams of the car’s headlights were shining at his back, forming a shadow. Somehow, I knew that he had stopped precisely to help my son push the van, so I pressed the gas pedal and concentrated on getting out of the snowdrift.

When I felt that the van had accelerated enough, I shouted to my son to jump in because I was afraid that if I stopped, the car would spin again. Worry about my son jumping into the van distracted me from the man who was helping push him. The window was closed, my hand was on the gearshift knob, and I was just approaching the road fence in front of the viaduct - I was so busy that I simply physically could not free my hand, lower the window and thank our savior.

Later, when I asked Scott if he thanked the man who helped him push the car, his son said to me: “What are you talking about, Mom? Nobody helped me push. I did everything myself!” My fifteen-year-old Scott was deeply convinced that he was strong enough to pull a car out of a snowdrift on his own.

How often have I regretted that I could not thank the person who helped us get on the road then! However, I also often doubt whether it was even a person? I think it was an angel sent by the Lord in answer to my prayer. In the end, under those visibility conditions it was simply impossible to see us from the road, much less understand that we were in distress. Under those conditions and on that particular section of the route, it was impossible to stop the car, approach our car, much less pull it out of the snowdrift, then return to our car and drive away - all in such a short period of time. The only possible explanation for this can be only one: Divine intervention - an immediate response to my short, demand-like request-prayer.

At the hospital it turned out that Clark had a very severe back fracture. For several weeks he suffered from severe pain and was forced to wear a special corset. Now everything is all right. And for this we thank God again and again.

Angel Nanny

Katherine Lee's Story

Once I not only saw, but even talked to the guardian angel of my eldest son! We were living in Lubbock, Texas at the time.

Brandon was two years old; By this age, he was very successful in his favorite pastime - opening any doors, latches and locks. One Sunday our whole family went to church.

While the baby was at school in the nursery, I sat down to wait for him on a sofa located in the lobby of the church, since I was then eight months pregnant and all the chairs seemed terribly uncomfortable to me. My husband was sitting next to me.

I was looking at the windows on either side of the foyer's double doors when the door swung open and we noticed a woman approaching us. She was leading a little boy by the hand. It was none other than Brandon, our son. But how could this be, since we ourselves brought him here, to church, to classes?

The woman had white hair and a very pale face. She was dressed in a white suit with thin black trim. She asked: does the boy belong to this church? For a moment I was speechless. And the woman continued. She said she found him walking along the lake in the park behind the church and thought it was unsafe for him to be there. Brandon somehow managed to slip through several doors and locked gates to get out of the church grounds.

I whispered: “This is my child,” and the woman, handing him to me, disappeared behind the door. I realized that I didn’t have time to thank her, and ran after her, but, alas, she was no longer anywhere. This sweet old lady disappeared without a trace - just as mysteriously as she appeared. Brandon is now twenty years old; he works as a fireman and I really hope his angel is still watching over him.

Savior from nowhere

Sally Miller's Story

Twenty-eight years ago, when my daughter was two years old, she and I were leaving our grandmother’s house. The baby was sucking a caramel in her mouth, but I didn’t know about it. Suddenly she choked and began to choke, and there was no one around. I had a cast on my wrist.

I screamed in despair, and at that same moment a man appeared out of nowhere. He picked up my daughter, turned her over, shook her, and slapped her on the back with his palm. The candy immediately flew out of her mouth. When I turned around to thank the man, there was no trace of him.

Angel Doctor

The Story of James R. Myshrall

On December 22, 1995, I was in a car accident with my mother Hazel and my wife Beverly. Two people died in this car accident, but all four should have died. My mother and the man who caused the accident died on the spot. My wife suffered a severe injury to her kneecap and a severe injury to her forehead. My whole face was broken, I could barely breathe, choking on my own blood. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a doctor appeared in front of us in the most mysterious way! He entered the interior of my car through the place where the windshield had recently been located, wiped off the blood and bandaged it, thanks to which I was able to breathe.

This unknown doctor prepared me for the long ambulance ride that took me to the hospital. No matter how much I tried to find out what kind of doctor he was and where he could be found, I even turned to the editors of the television program Unsolved Mysteries for help - everything was in vain. There was no way I could not only contact him, nor even find out his name! He was not mentioned in the police report either.

The only conclusion I could come to was that he was an angel. Now I am alive and well - thanks to him!

The doctors said: my mother died instantly. I think she asked God not to take me away that time.

Rescue Angel

The Judy Garvey Story

That day, I went the usual route to buy groceries in my pickup truck. Suddenly the car suddenly stopped. Somehow I pulled over to the side of the road, took my wallet and was about to get out and call for help.

Taking hold of the door handle, I noticed a man dressed in a security guard's uniform, with a walkie-talkie in his hand. He turned the corner and walked straight towards me. Approaching the door of my car, he asked if I needed help. I said that I was just about to go look for a place where I could call the traffic police. The man replied that he could do it, and immediately contacted someone on his walkie-talkie, while I reached into my purse to get my driver's license. When I looked up to thank the man for such timely help, there was no sign of him!

In amazement, I looked around the street in all directions: he was nowhere to be found! But I noticed an approaching tow truck.

I began to think about the nature of what had happened and realized that in that area there were no institutions in which security guards could serve. Besides, this man just came around the bend and walked straight towards me. I am sure: it was a wonderful blessing from a real angel!

Angel for a grieving daughter

Carla Tederman's story

Seven years ago, my father left this world, having undergone three heart surgeries in one year. He and I have always been incredibly close, and before each operation he told his confessor: “I am not afraid to die. I'm only afraid for my daughter Carla. I know that part of her will die with me.”

He was right. Two days after the funeral, I seemed to have gone crazy: rushing to the cemetery in the rain, I cried and screamed, trying to dig up the grave with my hands. Suddenly a woman came up to me and hugged me tightly. She sat me down on my father's grave and we talked for three hours in the pouring rain. I don’t know what would have happened to me if she hadn’t appeared and helped me come to my senses. She said that her mother was buried next to my father, and gave her name and her mother's name. A week after that, I came to the cemetery again to find out how to find her. It turned out that neither she nor her mother were mentioned in the documents. I never saw her again. I want to believe that this woman was my guardian angel sent to me from above.

Someone saved my life that day

Justin Lindsay's Story

I was eighteen. I lived in Australia and had just finished school. Usually this is a great time for everyone, but not for me: I was tensely awaiting the results of my exams and, what was even harder, I caught my boyfriend, my first love, kissing another girl at the prom. And this was a few days before we were going to go on vacation together for a week.

These holidays turned into hell. We constantly quarreled and fought. He insulted me greatly, and this was the last straw: I rushed to the beach - I didn’t want to live. I ran out onto a deserted abandoned beach and began to climb a high steep cliff. I was hysterical, I cried and screamed. Suddenly someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and saw a sleek young man of about twenty-five with translucent skin and stunningly beautiful blue eyes. He asked if I was okay, but did it somehow silently. Looking back and remembering it, I don't remember him saying a word. I told him everything—absolutely everything—about what had happened to me since my parents divorced when I was twelve.

He didn’t say a word to me, he just carefully directed me towards the path leading from the beach straight to the house where we were staying. Then he turned me to face him, and, suddenly realizing that I had been talking for two hours without stopping, I began to apologize to him for taking up so much of his time, and to thank him for listening to me. I hugged him. He remained silent. I remember it seemed a little strange to me at the time.

I turned to leave, ran along the path a little, and then looked back to wave goodbye: the beach was completely empty. In bewilderment, I returned to the place where we had just stood and looked around: nothing... There were only my footprints in the sand, and they stretched to the place from where we had just walked with that man. I thought I was starting to go crazy and ran to the house.

This event changed my life greatly. Since then I have been constantly talking to my angel, although he no longer comes to me. Since that meeting, I have never again felt such despair as I felt that day on the beach. I get signs from time to time, but usually it only happens if I ask for it.

Angel filling with love

The Nancy Kimes Story

I will never forget that unusually hot day in mid-summer 1980! I was depressed: everything was not going the way I wanted, life was going wrong, including the relationships I was desperately trying to save. I didn’t know what to do and frantically searched for a way out of this situation. I prayed to God to help me find the meaning of existence. I was crying and talking to God as if he was standing in front of me, and suddenly there was a knock on the door. “God, what is this? – I thought. “Should I open the door?”

The knocking didn't stop. With tears in my eyes, I opened the door. In front of me stood a handsome, smiling man of about thirty with a tablet under his arm. He was wearing a white shirt with rolled up long sleeves and dark trousers. Apologizing for the disturbance, he asked me for a glass of water. I couldn’t refuse him, because it was hot as hell outside, and I asked if I should put some ice in the glass. He replied: “Yes, that would be great.”

When I opened the tap, I could almost say that I physically felt a weight lifted from my shoulders. He finished his water - I asked if he needed more. He nodded with great gratitude. And I poured him a glass of water with ice again. While doing this, I felt as if something was filling me from within, some kind of warm and pleasant feeling. My mood improved markedly and my depression seemed to subside. The man finished his second glass, but was still thirsty.

When I poured the water for the third time, I was filled with inexplicable joy, and I involuntarily remembered a quote from Holy Scripture: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Who was this man and why did he have such a profoundly positive impact on me? I was puzzled. And he finished his third glass and looked quite pleased.

He thanked me warmly and left. When the door slammed behind him, I felt such an inexplicable peace and inner confidence that all my questions would soon be answered, that my existence took on meaning for me. I rushed to the window to see which direction he went, but he was nowhere to be found. He couldn't have disappeared from my sight so quickly! However, a few minutes ago, having seen him at my door, in the depths of my soul I already realized that an angel had appeared to me in disguise.

Since that meeting, my life has changed dramatically. A whole new world opened up before me - love and forgiveness, the ability to listen and look at myself through the eyes of other people and, supporting them, help myself. And now, whenever something happens, if I feel broken, I feel the presence of Divine power within and around me, and this gives me energy and courage to cope with all the difficulties and continue to move forward, and also to know that I am protected every step of the way.

Mall Angel

Carol Pizzi's Story

On September 14, 1995, when I was driving in my car to work, I suddenly felt as if something was squeezing my chest, and a severe pain rose to my throat. Driving past the hospital, I decided to first get to the office, and then ask someone to take me to the medical room. However, after a couple of blocks, pain and weakness forced me to stop the car.

It was early in the morning, and the shopping center I was near was not yet open. There's no one on the street. Suddenly a man appeared out of nowhere - I asked him to call an ambulance. I remember he went into one of the stores in the shopping center to make a phone call. Soon an ambulance arrived and I was taken to the hospital, where a coronary angiography was performed. It turned out that I had a blocked artery.

I spent some time at home recovering from the operation, and then I arrived at that same shopping center to find and thank the man who called an ambulance for me that morning. Since I saw him enter the store before it opened, I thought he worked there. However, all the managers I asked unanimously stated that at such an early hour - it was ten minutes to seven in the morning - the shopping center could not be open and that there was no one among the employees who fit my description.

I think it was my guardian angel.

Pushing Angel

Birgitta Suur's story

At the age of sixteen, I, an ordinary Danish teenager, was on vacation in Poland with my parents. One clear day we were walking around Krakow, and I, not noticing where I was going, stepped onto the roadway. At that same moment, an elderly lady in a scarf pushed me with all her might back onto the sidewalk, and at that same time a tram rushed right in front of my nose. He probably would have knocked me down if that woman hadn't pushed me away.

I turned around to thank her, but she seemed to disappear into thin air. I think she was my guardian angel.

About the benefits of prayer

A story told by a man who wishes to remain anonymous

It was an ordinary spring day. My husband asked me to help move our old car from the carport to another location because the car was blocked by an overgrown hedge, and this circumstance prevented a tow truck from arriving to take it to the store to sell. It was assumed that my husband would push, and I would sit behind the wheel and direct the car. We tried to do this, but soon realized that my husband could not cope alone. He strained his back and I decided to get out of the car to help him. The problem was that I could not push the car and control it at the same time. It was incredibly heavy - a 1976 Pontiac. We decided that I would somehow have to jump inside as soon as the car started moving to stop it and prevent it from hitting my husband.

And then I began to pray to God to send angels to help us. While I was mentally reciting the words of this prayer in my mind, my husband was unsuccessfully trying to move the car, and a tanned young man was already running up to us from the side of the fence. When his loving blue eyes met mine, he nodded at me as if to say, “Don’t worry, I’m already here!” Having reached the car, he immediately began to help. The two of them quickly managed and moved it to the right place.

I was driving and trying to park carefully when that young man shook my husband’s hand with feeling, said something to him and, turning around, quickly ran away in the same direction from where he had appeared, instantly disappearing from our field of vision.

Looking at my husband, I noticed that his eyes were full of tears. I asked if he was okay. At first he couldn't say a word, but after a few seconds he muttered that he had never seen someone's eyes radiate such love as the eyes of this guy. I asked what he said. The husband replied: “He said that praying is good.”

Since then, we have never seen that young man again, but we have never forgotten about him.

Chapter 4. Stories about strangers who bring important news

Now or never!

The Carol A. Austin Story

One day in March, my friend Sandy and I decided to spend the weekend in Daytona Beach, Florida. When it was time to go home, I felt a knot in my stomach. Looking back now, I think it might have been an expression of foreboding. But then, despite this, we got into the car.

Sandy was driving and I fell asleep almost instantly. We had barely passed St. Augustine when she lost control and crashed into a road sign. I was not wearing a seat belt and fell; Sandy broke her nose. When the ambulance arrived, they had to break down the car door to get me out.

Besides the fact that my shoulder was completely crushed, my ribs and jaw were broken, my entire lower body was covered with multiple abrasions and bruises.

During my second week in the hospital, a young lady about my age came into my room. She said that now it is vitally important for me to get out of bed and sit on a chair for at least a quarter of an hour, otherwise I will never be able to walk again. I obeyed her and made an attempt to get up. It was very painful, but she helped me in every possible way, supported my legs and talked to me. She was so kind, sweet and accommodating that I didn’t even think about asking who she was and how she ended up in my room. Later, when she had already left, I asked the nurse on duty who she was. It turned out that there was no one among the hospital staff who fit my description.

I think it was my guardian angel.

Become an inspiration

Maureen's story

I recently had to admit my father to a medical and rehabilitation center for the disabled because he was seriously ill and was breathing only with the help of a ventilator. At the same time, my husband was hospitalized; he was diagnosed with kidney stones. When I came to visit him, I went outside to have a smoke (since then I don’t smoke anymore) and got into a conversation with an elderly lady who also came to visit someone and went out to get some air.

We talked to her and cried, after which I said that I needed to return to the ward to my husband, and then the lady took me by the hand and said that my father was very lucky to have me and that the Lord would definitely take him into his loving arms . She added that I was a real inspiration to her. And in parting she added: “It was nice to meet you, Maureen.” But I didn’t tell her my name! When I turned around, the woman was no longer there; At her age they don't run that fast. Then I realized that I was talking to an angel.

Don't forget to slow down

Patricia Karst's story

That Saturday afternoon I was driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, heading toward the Interstate. There was soft music playing in the car and my little son Eli was sleeping peacefully in the back seat.

I was thinking about something and had my head in the clouds when the driver of the car driving ahead suddenly braked! I was driving at a speed of eighty kilometers per hour and then pressed the brakes, but the distance was too short to avoid a collision.

It was flashing through my head: “Lord, am I really destined to die like this? What about Eli? Oh god, no, please!” And then I crashed into a car. The blow was very strong. I was shaking. I was afraid to look around, and only horror made me do it and move.

Finally, I gathered my strength: instead of a picture of a nightmarish tragedy, I saw a miracle. My son Eli continued to sleep in the back seat without a care in the world! I didn't have a scratch on me, which seemed completely impossible considering how violent the impact was.

While I was thinking about what had happened, a dark-haired woman approached me. Opening my car door, she led me outside, hugged me and said in a thick accent: “We all drive too fast. You're fine now, but let's not forget that sometimes you have to slow down." Then she added, “God bless you!” – and disappeared from sight. I was left standing on the side of the road in a state of shock. There wasn't a scratch on my car despite the serious accident we had just been in. Moreover, it turned out that the car was somehow neatly parked on the right side of the road, where I absolutely certainly did not go! I didn’t move the car anywhere after the collision. Logically, my car, smashed to pieces, should have been parked in the middle of the highway, forcing other drivers to maneuver to avoid us.

What was it? Miracle? Angel? What that woman said was too metaphorical.

I got into the car and slowly drove home. God helped Eli and me that day—I have no doubt about that.

Enough space for everyone

A story told by a man who wishes to remain anonymous

In 1995, I decided to move to New York with my then future husband. We rented a small apartment in the suburbs of New Jersey, and it turned out to be a real disaster. Many little things indicated that our move was not the best decision.

Just before the move, I got into an accident, then, on my first working day at the new place, my car was stolen, and I was forced to use public transport, where men unceremoniously pestered me. During that year, our cars were stolen four times. Eventually, the husband lost his job and, unable to find a new one with the same salary, offered to return to Washington. I chose to stay for a while and settled with a friend in Manhattan.

End of introductory fragment.

The publishing house of the Sretensky Monastery is preparing to publish a book Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) . It included real stories that happened in different years, which were later used in sermons and conversations given by the author.

Guardian angels not only instill in us good thoughts for eternal salvation, they actually protect us in everyday circumstances. The word “guardian” is not an allegory at all, but a living and precious experience of many generations of Christians. It is not without reason that, for example, in prayers for those traveling, we ask the Lord for special guardian angel care for us. And indeed, where else, if not when traveling, do we need God’s special care.

Probably thirteen years ago, we and our parishioner Nikolai Sergeevich Leonov, professor-historian, lieutenant general of intelligence, with whom we participated in the television program “Russian House” for many years, were in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. There Nikolai Sergeevich first met Father John (Krestyankin). As Nikolai Sergeevich himself later said, the elder not only made a huge impression on him, but helped him a lot with his prayers.

Nikolai Sergeevich in those years was just entering the life of the Church, and therefore he had many questions, including asking me to explain the Orthodox teaching about the angelic world, about guardian angels. I tried very hard, but, as annoying as I was, I still felt that Nikolai Sergeevich was disappointed with my inept explanations.

Early one summer morning, encouraged on the way by Father John, we left the monastery back to Moscow. The road was long, and before leaving, I asked the mechanics from the monastery garage to inspect the car and add oil to the engine.

We quickly rushed along a deserted road. Sitting behind the wheel, I listened without stopping to Nikolai Sergeevich’s story about one of his long-distance business trips. He promised to tell me about this story a long time ago. I have never met a more interesting storyteller in my life: you always listen to Nikolai Sergeevich with bated breath. So it was this time.

But suddenly, unexpectedly, I caught myself with a strange thought that right now, this very minute, something special and threatening was happening to us. The car was moving as usual. Nothing - neither the instruments, nor the smooth movement of the car, nor the smell - spoke of alarm. But, nevertheless, I became more and more uneasy.

Nikolai Sergeevich, it seems that something is happening to the car! - I said, deciding to interrupt my companion.

Leonov is a very experienced driver with many years of experience. After carefully assessing the situation, he eventually calmed me down, assuring me that everything was fine. But this did not make my inexplicable anxiety go away. Moreover, it intensified with every minute. I was ashamed of my cowardice, but fear simply irresistibly gripped me.

We should probably stop! - I finally said, feeling myself covered in cold sweat.

Nikolai Sergeevich looked carefully at the instruments again. Then through the windshield onto the hood of the car. I listened to the movement of the car. And, looking at me in surprise, he repeated again that, from his point of view, everything was fine with us.

But when I began repeating for the third time, without understanding anything at all, that we needed to stop, Nikolai Sergeevich agreed.

As soon as we braked, black smoke poured out from under the hood of the car.

We jumped out onto the road. I rushed to open the hood, and an oil flame immediately burst out of the engine. Nikolai Sergeevich grabbed his jacket from the back seat and started the fire with it.

When the smoke cleared and we were able to figure out what was going on, it turned out that the monastery mechanics, while pouring engine oil, forgot to close the engine cover. She was still lying next to the battery. From the open hole of the engine, oil poured all the way onto the hot engine, but due to the high speed, smoke spread under the wheels of the car, and we did not feel anything in the closed cabin. Another kilometer or two of travel - and everything could have ended tragically.

When, having put the car in order a little, we slowly returned back to the monastery, I asked Nikolai Sergeevich if he needed to add anything about the guardian angels and their participation in our destiny. Nikolai Sergeevich replied that it was quite enough for today and that he had fully grasped this dogmatic question.

Many Orthodox Christians can tell how their Guardian Angel saved them from a dangerous step, saved them when danger threatened, protected them in a difficult situation, and told them how to do the right thing. His voice is sometimes heard as real as the voices of those who are close to us. But even when he seems to be “silent,” but we unexpectedly act differently than we intended, contradicting our desires, he, our assistant and protector, guides us, the Guardian Angel. Here are some stories about this.

Story one. "I am your father…"

I was baptized late, at 15 years old. This happened at the urgent request of the mother. Then I was an unbeliever. After baptism, things began to happen to me that I could not explain from a physical point of view... I remember at the age of 19 I was standing at a bus stop. There were about ten people around, shifting from foot to foot, waiting for the bus. Suddenly, 200 meters away from me, I see a car flying at high speed. A voice sounded in my head: “Move away, otherwise she will run into you!” Moreover, this voice had such power that it was very difficult to resist it. And I jumped ten meters deep into the sidewalk. The car accelerated onto the sidewalk exactly at the place where I was standing five minutes ago. The hood opened with a clang, and a heavy rectangular box fell at my feet. Battery or something like that. That’s when I crossed myself with feeling for the first time in my life.

The explanation for all this came much later.

Another incident when my Guardian Angel reminded me of himself occurred after my first attempts to become a church member.

I once went to buy bread, taking my mother’s old bag. I look: an elderly, unremarkable man is walking towards me. And suddenly the same clear inner voice in my head again: “Look, this is your father!” (By the way, I had a long-standing childhood resentment against my father: “Everyone has it, but I don’t! Why did he leave me?!”) Against this background, the inner voice was so shocking that I immediately turned sharply in his direction , not understanding why on earth this rumpled, uninteresting guy should be my father. And she turned around again. I look: he is running towards me and waving his hand: stop, stop! Out of curiosity, I stopped. He runs up and says:

I am your father.

“I know,” I answer him.

You can't know me. You were one year old when your mother and I separated. I recognized you by your bag. Your mother wore it when she was pregnant...

How many times as a child did I imagine this meeting. How I will express to him all the resentment that has accumulated over many years. And then... I couldn’t say anything. Everything disappeared somewhere at the sight of a stranger looking away...

It was a different matter. The state of quiet spiritual joy, in which I was almost constantly then, was immediately replaced by a storm of condemnation and anger. I told this to my sisters in Christ and instead of sympathetic oohs and aahs I heard an imperturbable answer:

- That's how it should be. You began to pray for your parents, even through the stump of the deck, but still remember your father in the morning rule. So your Guardian Angel showed you the person for whom you are praying. And your condemnation is also understandable. This is just proof that your soul is still covered with layers of sin. You will still have to work on yourself to learn to forgive your debtors. Otherwise, there is no point in reading “Our Father.”

The second story. “Ask for forgiveness!”

Badri says:

– My father died during the Patriotic War. I was very worried about the poor situation I was in, and decided to become a pickpocket. Once I was riding on a tram and decided to open one gap for myself. And he was about to take out his wallet, if not for one priest. He sat and did not take his eyes off me. I waited for him to turn away, but he continued to stare at me. In the end he took my hand and we got off together at the bus stop.

When we were alone, he put a paper bill in my hand, crossed me and said: “May your Guardian Angel not leave you.” “What other Guardian Angel?!” – I shouted, pulled out my hand, hit the priest on the ankle with all my strength and ran away.

Returning home, I felt sick. Then he lay unconscious for three days with a high fever.

All this time, a boy dressed in white did not leave my side. He put his cool hand on my hot forehead and I felt relieved

All this time, a boy dressed in white did not leave my side. He put his cool hand on my hot forehead, and I felt relief.

I asked: “Don’t leave me.” - “How can I leave you? I am your Guardian Angel. And then I will be with you when others leave you. But if I protect you, you must help me too.”

After I recovered and started going to school again, I returned to the place where we “broke up” and began asking people. After a long search, I finally found that priest. He recognized me immediately.

“My Guardian Angel sent me to you to ask for forgiveness,” I said, looking away.

Maybe I would not have decided to tell this old story now if not for one recent incident.

I was already in my sixties when I had an accident - my car fell into a gorge and lay unconscious in intensive care for several days. Surprisingly, but true: all this time I saw next to me that same luminous boy who had not changed at all for so many years...

Story three. Rescue from terrorist attack

2004, August 31. This day is the patronal feast day of our church of the holy martyrs Florus and Laurus. I was at work in the morning, then got ready to go on the road.

And so I’m going to Sebezh to my friend’s dacha to work while they leave. I bought tickets for the Moscow-Riga train (Sebezh is a border town). I arrived at the Rizhskaya station long before the train. It's early to the station. I'm thinking of going right, to the Krestovsky shopping center. The thought arises: “Danger: terrorist attack.” I’m surprised at the unexpectedness of the thought, since I was thinking about something completely different. But I turn left, go into Rostix, get some ice cream... Then it boomed. Then she moved like a well-oiled computer: she had to quickly get to the station before traffic was blocked, and so on. I looked back: above the place where I was going first, there was a tall black pillar... A terribly vile impression... Then more than 10 people died.

I thought later why I ended up in a dangerous situation in the first place. Namely: did I mess something up by making the wrong decision? Then everything coincided: the trip turned out to be unsuccessful and unnecessary, I had to quickly return, and it turned out that I was needed at home...

Margarita
(Moscow)

Story four. "Don't touch your wife!"

I prayed: “Lord! After all, I have to fast, but I can’t fast...” The Lord sent an angel to my husband!

This was also a long time ago, 20 years ago, maybe more. My husband and I got married, and then we got married. And I remember that it was Lent. And then I became sad. My husband married me, but remained a Lutheran. And the post was incomprehensible to him. Neither physical nor spiritual. Then I prayed: “Lord! What should I do? After all, I have to fast, but I can’t fast...” The Lord sent an angel to my husband! That's how it was. Unfortunately, I no longer remember the details; then I should have written everything down in detail. Now I regret not doing this. But what happened is very remarkable.

The husband then slept alone on the second floor due to renovations on the first floor. In the morning he comes running with bulging eyes and tells me. An angel came to him at night, as he later understood. At first, my husband thought, half asleep, that it was I who had come to him, because the angel’s voice was subtle, like a woman’s. Then I realized that it was not my wife. The angel asked if my husband believed in God. To which my husband allegedly replied that it’s not really true…. They discussed something else, I don’t remember. But I remember well how the angel strictly ordered the husband not to touch his wife for another 40 days because he had broken the fast three times. My husband was quite scared, and I also felt somehow uneasy. I told everything to two priests, who took the angel’s ban very seriously and advised me to fulfill the ban.

On November 21, the Church celebrates the Council of the Archangel Michael and other ethereal Heavenly Powers. We decided to ask our shepherds what the role of angels is in our lives, and do they know any specific examples of the help of angels?

Maybe that time it was the angel who saved me from falling?

Priest Valery Dukhanin:

– Angels are disembodied spirits, invisible to our eyes, and therefore their help is often invisible. Dark thoughts and evil desires washed over you, and then suddenly, as if a light shone in your soul - the Guardian Angel saved you from sliding into the abyss. Of course, it can be difficult to understand whether a person himself has changed for the better, or whether he was inspired by angels. But sometimes more obvious help is provided.

There was only one incident in my life - in my early childhood years, long before Baptism. The family was an unbeliever, an ordinary Soviet family. Nobody said anything about God and the spiritual world. That is, everything religious somehow passed us by. That’s why I couldn’t understand what happened then, and I didn’t give any assessment to it. Actually, there was no large-scale miracle.

In our two-room “Khrushchev” apartment in Orenburg there was a desk. He stood against the wall, closer to the window. Above the table, the parents attached a tear-off calendar to the wall. I was about five years old. I didn’t know how to read, but I already knew that every day a piece of paper was torn off the calendar, and I hurried to do it.

A small child had to go a certain way to get to the calendar. That is, first climb onto a chair. From the chair to the desk. There I stood up to my full height, took a few steps, and then a calendar appeared in front of my face, which I carefully examined, and then performed what seemed to me a significant action - I tore off a piece of paper. But one fine day, having climbed onto the table and taken a couple of steps along the edge, I turned to the wall and suddenly decided to look back. I stood on the edge, and when I looked back and down, I felt dizzy. I was small, but the table was big. I staggered, even twitched and closed my eyes. That's when the inexplicable happened.

Actually, there were no images, visions or bodily sensations. But it was as if someone very warmly, with affectionate care, took me into his arms and gently sat me down on the floor. I repeat that there was no actual sensation of someone’s hands, or anything physical at all. At the same time, a peaceful, quiet, joyful feeling arose inside, there was not the slightest fear, as if someone had shown their kind, loving protection.

Vincent Van Gogh. “Half-figure of an angel” (based on an original by Rembrandt), 1889

As children, we all stumble and fall. What happened at that moment turned out to be a stark contrast. Only many years later, when I was baptized, the same feeling was repeated in my heart - as we would say now, the feeling of God’s grace. What I remember most of all was this feeling in my heart. And I really wanted this to happen again.

How did I react to what happened at that moment? First of all, I was at a loss as to what it was. Secondly, I wanted it to happen again. And I, being a child, didn’t come up with anything else, but tried to imitate it: I climbed onto the chair again, from it onto the table, took two steps along the edge, turned around and looked back and down - this time I didn’t feel fear, but no one felt wonderful about me. I didn’t pick it up any more. Then I quickly went down myself and sat down in the same place to reproduce the former. But even my careful attempts could not repeat that gentleness and that heartfelt feeling that had been experienced before.

Having already received Baptism and visiting the temple, I began to think: maybe that time it was the angel who saved me from falling? Why, why? Don't know. Moreover, the height of the table would not cause any special physical injuries, but only severe fear. But throughout the rest of my life, already baptized, I fall every now and then. Either physically or spiritually. And I don’t observe any similar miracles.

Or maybe the whole point of what happened is that even when we grow up in an unbelieving family, when we ourselves know nothing about God and have not yet been granted the sacraments, then even then God, the spiritual world and angels are present next to us. We are given evidence that there is something higher that cares about us, and this helps us subsequently understand that we have no reason to be discouraged.

An angel in a painting by the French artist Gabriel Ferrier, late 19th – early 20th century.

One of my friends told how his neighbor Nina, with whom he visited the temple together, became very ill. Doctors discharged her from the hospital as hopeless. But she was very prayerful and continued to turn to the Lord. At some point, very briefly, she saw an angel above her. This brought joy to her heart, and from that moment she began to recover. She lived another ten years.

More. A woman I know who studied at the Higher Theological Courses, Nadezhda, told how, on the eve of her 33rd birthday (this was in 1986), she ended up in the hospital on the operating table. During the operation, she saw her body from above and the doctors, who were talking worriedly. Then she saw angels - bright, incorporeal, light - they lifted her up, so that she herself experienced lightness. The angels said: “To us, to us.”

As Nadezhda says, she heard heavenly music, saw amazing beauty, and was overcome with such joy that she completely wanted to stay there. And she had children - the eldest son was six years old, and the youngest was four. But she was ready to part with them, believing that everything would be fine with them.

Paul Gustave Doré, engraving, 19th century

And only her father, who came to her, stopped her: “Nadezhda, it’s still too early for you, you have small children.” After this, the angels began to move away, the heavenly singing died down, she woke up in the ward and decided for herself that she would go to church every Sunday.

By the way, the doctor asked Nadezhda twice if she saw anything during the operation, but she answered that she did not, because she was afraid that she would be taken to a mental hospital. And I actually started going to church every Sunday. Thus, angelic participation was revealed during clinical death.

But in general, of course, I would like to conclude with a warning:

Don’t specifically look for miracles.

Angelic help is extremely rare. There is a great danger for us to fall into delusion. So let the help of angels continue to be mostly invisible, and we will try to pray to them from the very heart to protect us from sin. These are the truths that should be the subject of our constant reflection

Archpriest Vladimir Sedov:

– The word “angel” means messenger. Angels bring us messages from God. The most important message is the Good News, in Greek the Gospel. The good news is that Christ the Savior, who is also called an Angel, is coming to us on earth from Heaven. Great Council Angel. God knew and knows in advance everything that happened and will happen to us, all our falls into sin, and at the Eternal Council it was decided that the Lord Himself would come to save man - His beloved creation. And in order to prepare people for the coming of the Savior, another Angel is sent before Him - Saint John the Baptist, the Angel of the Desert, the preacher of repentance. These are the most important truths of our salvation (and how can we not mention the “chief”, that is, the beginning of our salvation - the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Most Holy Theotokos?).

These truths should be the subject of our constant reflection, the content of our spiritual life. Why do we always want to hear how an angel with wings appeared to someone? From lack of faith and idle curiosity. In addition, due to the Fall, we became closer to the fallen angels - demons, spirits of self-will and pride.

“Six-winged seraphim (Azrael)” M.A. Vrubel, 1904

We want to see angels in order to think about ourselves that we, if not saints, are at least on the right path; and which way is correct? They say that the one who sees his sins is higher than the one who sees the angels. After all, even an angel appeared to Valaam’s donkey, but this was not her merit. The Holy Fathers advise to “keep your mind in hell,” but not to despair, hoping for God’s mercy. This is the right way. The more we are forgiven, the more we love, and love for God is our main goal.

How to find out the will of God in private matters? They say that a wise man can learn from a fool, but a fool cannot learn anything from a hundred wise men. The Lord promised us His presence with us until the end of the age. In the midst of two or three, in the Church and its sacraments, in each of our neighbors, who is the image of God and can proclaim His will to us, if only we are ready to accept it. But our neighbor can make mistakes, so how do we know whether to accept his advice? And if we see an angel in a dream or in reality, how can we know whether it is a spirit of evil that has taken on “the appearance of an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14-15)? How not to fall into delusion?

We should accept a message or advice not by its packaging, but by its content. What leads us to repentance and self-condemnation comes from God. That which inclines one to narcissism and pride is from the evil one.

Angels rule the universe, give good advice, strengthen us to do good deeds, protect us from evil spirits, and all this is mostly imperceptible to us. We will see this component of our life in the next world when all this is revealed. There are, of course, such cases in modern life, but for the most part their witnesses, the true servants of God, in their humility hide them.

Artist Vladimir Lyubarov “Guardian Angel”, modern painting

But this is what happened in our time in one of the monasteries.

The young novice was tasked with bringing donated cement to the monastery, which had to be loaded into bags. The work was very dusty and dirty, and he was not given any tools at hand. Having grumbled in his soul, he turned to leave, and at that time he saw that in his place the Savior was loading cement. He immediately returned and with great sweetness in his heart completed all the work, losing all concept of time.

Angels have never appeared to me myself, but there was one interesting case. Once I had such troubles at my parish that I was stunned. I got into the elevator at my entrance, and a girl about 7-8 years old came in next. The elevator moved, and suddenly she began to sing: “How brightly the sun shines after the storm...”. I got off on my floor, and she went higher. Was it an angel, or was she just walking home from music school?

Holy Archangel Michael of God with all the Heavenly Powers, pray to God for us!

Angels guide us to repentance

Archpriest Vyacheslav Davidenko:

– Personally, in my life and in the lives of my loved ones and acquaintances, there were no cases of visible help from angels. However, I am sure that they are constantly not only present nearby, but also protect us and guide us to repentance.

A very edifying incident is from the life of a holy ascetic who saw an angel of his church during the service of the liturgy. One day a priest he knew came to him and told him that he was making a mistake in his ministry. He was embarrassed and at the next service he asked the angel if his friend was right. The angel said that his friend's remark was fair and true. Then the ascetic asked the angel why he had not given him the proper reprimand all this time? To which the angel replied that he was not sent to teach and correct him, this should be done by people just like him.

I would like to draw the reader’s attention to the fact that each of us can be an angel—God’s messenger—to our neighbor. In search of supernatural miracles and phenomena, we forget about what is more important - love for God and neighbor.

Angels in modern painting, artist Anatoly Kontsub

Again, when the rich man in hell asked Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers and warn them of the coming torment, Abraham replied that they would not listen to the one raised from the dead if they did not listen to Moses and the prophets (cf. Luke 16:19-31) . In other words, if we do not live according to what is written in the Gospel, then we will not listen to the angels who appear to us miraculously.

Without our Guardian Angel we cannot defeat demons

Priest Lev Arshakyan, confessor“House of the Deaf-Blind” in Puchkovo:

- The invisible world, which we cannot see with ordinary vision, exists. And all the most important events take place there. And often we think that we are sighted and so smart, but we break our foreheads, seemingly seeing everything and understanding everything. How often it turns out that all our logical reasoning and actions lead to what is succinctly expressed by the famous phrase - “we wanted the best, but it turned out as always”... Because we do not understand the features of the invisible world in which angels live. It is very important to know that this world exists, so it is important to be in contact with it through your Guardian Angel.

I discovered some interesting stories. I present them to your attention.
Nora

On the astral plane, Angels look like a white cloud above their heads, or somewhere to the side. Angels do not have a material body, and therefore cannot get sick. I have 3 Angels, but only one is always with me, the other two fly about their business, they have many responsibilities. They all gather together in case of the slightest danger. I love them very much. They saved my life many times.
They not only help me, but everyone, people just think that this is a happy accident, or just luck, or something else.

For example, just recently I got into the car, turned on the ignition, and suddenly the right window opened (there were no such cases before, and everything was ok with the electronics in the car). I had to back out of the parking lot, so I put the car in reverse and set off. And suddenly I hear with horror that someone squeaks from behind, I look at the brakes, and there are two children of 4-5 years old who decided to walk behind the car, and if the Angels had not opened the window for me, it’s scary to imagine what could have happened.
And when I got into the car, there wasn’t a soul within a radius of 50 meters.

Two stories about September 11

I have several friends who witnessed September 11th in America at the Trade Center. They returned and told interesting things.
A man renowned for his punctuality overslept. And he didn’t come to sign the contract with the Japanese. The Japanese waited 15 minutes and left. They were very offended. The employees (since there was no boss) ran off to do their own thing, and 0.5 hours later a plane crashed 2 floors higher. And if I hadn’t overslept, I would have just signed a contract with the Japanese. Everyone remained unharmed. The Japanese called him in the evening, and the next day they signed a contract in some restaurant. The Japanese believe in fate, and declared their gratitude to him for saving them.

And one more took the day off and decided to have fun with his mistress (in America). His wife watches TV in a panic (in Russia) and calls him. He calmly replies, “I’m at work, dear, I’m having negotiations, you’re disturbing me. She told him - look out the window! Your building has already collapsed, and you’re telling me that you’re signing a contract!” She, of course, was very indignant.
They barely calmed her down. But most importantly, this man couldn't read the signs. The first time I went to America, I missed the plane (the plane fell into the ocean). The second time was September 11th. An angel guarded him. He decided to leave for America forever. I sold everything and was left with an empty apartment. We were waiting for buyers for the apartment. The bandits have arrived. He has about 40, she has 27 stab wounds. On our anniversary, we asked ourselves a question - what if he had not decided to move to America for permanent residence? Or he simply tested his angel all the time, and he no longer had enough strength.

Around 1970 or 1972 I had an incident when I remember that it became scary again.
I was either 14 or 16. I was on vacation in Sochi. The plane was delayed for 2 days. We are sitting at the airport, it is hot. And suddenly they announce that there are tickets for a night flight, and you can exchange tickets. Of course, I quickly made a fuss, especially since there weren’t many people willing to fly at night. The plane arrived at 4 in the morning, and there was no way you could get out of the airport before 6. Only by taxi for VERY BIG money. And in those days, people left the resort with just enough to get home.
I take 2 steps away from the ticket office, and suddenly they announce that there are seats on the plane that is NOW flying to Moscow. And a thought or a voice (male) appears in my head: " Better go to the beach and lie around for an extra day". Within a minute, while I was thinking, a queue formed, they pushed me away. And the one who pushed me away took the last ticket. Everyone else wandered to the beach.
As soon as we got settled in, spread out the cards, the plane took off. We looked at him longingly. In 2 hours they will be home. And here the plane falls into the sea before our eyes. No one was saved. And what was that? Lucky case? I believe more in the Guardian Angel.