Angels

Angels are a topic people are fascinated with. Who are they? What do they do? As I recently had a true story published in Adams Media Cup of Comfort Book of Bible Promises about an angelic intervention, I thought I'd share an abbreviated version with you.

There are many misconceptions around as many folk pray to angels, or believe their loved ones become angels when they die. But from the best authority, the Bible, we know they are created beings who worship God. They are given special assignments. And among many other things, they minister to believers by guarding and protecting them. And it's that last, specific duty of theirs that will remain with me forever.

My husband and I were the devotional leaders at a wilderness youth camp. All week long we'd been teaching how we need to trust the Lord in every one of life's challenging situations, using Mark Chapter 11 where Jesus tells us we must have believing faith enough to move mountains.

We set off in the heavily loaded LandRover packed with excited teenagers. That day we went caving in non-tourist caves wearing overalls and emerged in the afternoon covered in gluey mud. Deciding to pitch camp for the night, we drove down closer to the river and cleaned up.

The next day the young people, carrying their water bottles, were to hike up the mountain on the trail to rejoin the road above. My husband and I, a girl with a sprained ankle, and Les, the driver, decided to relax and leave an hour or so later when we'd catch up with the other group.

We finished our tea and were ready to go, but the heavily loaded vehicle would not budge. Its weight had caused it to settle overnight into the soft, grassy ground. After several attempts to start the engine, Les quit so as not to flood it. He said we'd have to push it along so he could clutch-start it. We three softies trying to push that great heavy thing?

Our cell phones were out of range and we felt sick about these young people who might have been stranded if we didn't turn up. How could we have been so naive? Well, we tried and tried, and tried...Nothing! It just sat there, totally immovable. It was time to prove the Lord meant what He said. We prayed earnestly, acknowledging our helplessness and our heavenly Father's might. We asked the Lord for His help as He already knew about our impossible situation and after all, He was in control of our lives.

Feeling slightly foolish, but eager to put our faith to the test, we got behind that stubborn metal mountain again prepared to exert our puny strength to the limit. We yelled at the top of our lungs "Push!" and had barely laid our hands on it when it moved as if we were pushing a child's bicycle! Staring at each other, we laughed as that ponderous vehicle easily coasted along the soft earth, and listened, astonished, as the engine roared to life.

With hearts full of joy, we reached our students and shared what the lord had done. And to this day we remember the impossibility of the situation, and how the Lord spared one of His unseen angels to give us that miraculous push.