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Angels Continue to Play a Key Role
TRAVERSE CITY, MI (December 23, 2004) - Editor's note: In preparation for
the Christmas observance, Covenant Communications is sharing seven
devotionals that originally appeared in local church newsletters and are
being published here by permission. The following comes from Cathy
Lautner of West Bay Covenant
Church.
By Cathy Lautner
My mom taught me a lot about angels over the years, she just didn't know
that I was paying attention.
I look back to a December day when I was in grade school - you know, the
kind of day where it gets dark before suppertime. The weather had turned
foul, with high winds and thick, slushy snow. My mom and sister had just
returned from a shopping trip.
Mom came into the kitchen and put her glasses on the counter. She talked
about an anxious moment when she lost control of the car and a
semi-truck was heading her way. Then she calmly said, "There must have
been a guardian angel on each bumper of the car to get us out of that
one." I envisioned four white angels with wings and long hair lifting
her car to safety, and they were beautiful. Then I was on my way.
Move ahead to the early 1990s. I am no longer in Nebraska, but married
and living in Michigan. It was the Christmas season once again, and dad
called to say that mom had experienced a mishap, but that she was going
to be alright. She had decided to put a
Christmas bell on the light in the stairwell to the basement. Alone, she
set up a ladder on the steps and leaned it against the wall by the
light. She lost her footing and fell essentially two stories to the
cement floor below and hit her head. Long story short, she took an
ambulance ride to Lincoln, was stitched up, and returned home. On the
phone that evening, she just laughed and said that her guardian angels
were working overtime for her.
Now it is December 1996. Dad called to say he had some news about mom
and it was serious. She had been slowing down for a few months without
any real diagnosis of the problem, but that morning a neighbor called
dad at his gas station to say that the house
lights weren't on and she was worried. Upon returning home, dad found
mom unconscious in bed. The diagnosis was a serious viral infection in
her lungs. One thing happened after another and mom fell into a coma and
my two sisters and I were called home.
When I initially saw her in intensive care, there was a sense of shock,
but I also knew that I had to do the angel thing on my own this time and
I envisioned her beloved angels surrounding her. Problem was, I didn't
know if they were there to take her or heal her. But there was a sense
of peace about it.
Dad was eventually asked to decide if heroic measures should be taken
should an emergency arise and my vote was "No." I told him that we just
couldn't be selfish and deny her angels if they were there to take her
home. He tearfully agreed. But mom conquered this battle and returned
home three months after it began.
When the time was right, I called and asked her what it was like when
she was in a coma. She was reluctant to tell me, but did say that she
often heard bells ringing in the distance. As for me, I just smiled . .
. and knew it was the bells of the angels.
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