MOM'S ANGEL

A Crazy True Personal Story

MOM’S ANGEL

I’m sure I’m being totally objective when I tell you that my mom was an amazing woman. She was marvelously maternal. Gave birth to six children, all of whom are almost as cool as I am. Almost. They would all agree with me as to her exceptional love and care for each of us. A model mother she was, in my highly esteemed opinion.

After my youngest sibling was of school age, Mom decided to change things up a bit. Thus began a new and challenging chapter in her life. She finally learned how to drive and got her driver’s license in her mid-thirties. She then decided to go back to school, which I thought was very impressive. Who knew where this might lead? To some people my mom came across as kind of a dumb blond (sorry about that sexist stereotype), but it turns out she did extremely well in her new school classes. She was actually very brilliant. That might explain how I came to be such a highly evolved human being.

Mom decided to take courses in computer programming, of all things (she must have had a premonition about how this field would explode). After she graduated from Seattle Community College in Computer Programming (she was one of the first three women that graduated in this department) she got a job as, guess what, a computer programmer, at General Telephone in Everett. Her commute from our home in Issaquah, took her through Redmond and onto the newly completed I-405 Freeway.

On one particularly memorable morning, on her way to work, she was driving her little VW bug, enjoying her commute. Traffic was surprisingly light that day. She happened to be driving in the left lane of the freeway. As this was literally the infancy of her career, she was thinking happy thoughts about her new well-earned job. She was so proud of the way her life was shaping up. But those thoughts were suddenly and dramatically interrupted when a strange out-of-the-world occurrence happened. Something she would remember the rest of her life.

Out of nowhere, she suddenly heard a voice whispering urgently to her. Mind you, no one else was in the car. The voice said, “You have to get out of this lane and move to the right lane! NOW! There’s going to be a car coming the wrong way in this very lane at a very high rate of speed. If you don’t move out of this lane you will likely have a head-on collision and die!” As far as I know she had never had such an experience before or after. Very bewildered, she looked around the car, as if expecting to see someone there. No one else was in the car. Understanding that even if she was just having a weird fantasy, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to change lanes, so she did just that. Thank God!

A moment later, a car came racing down the wrong way in the very lane she had been in. Just as the voice had warned. I have to repeat this. A car came racing down the wrong way on the freeway in the very lane my mom was driving in. My mom watched in baffled amazement. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Exactly as she had been warned. She couldn’t reconcile the experience she had just had. It was unworldly. She was literally shaking, knowing that a couple of moments ago she could have died in a fiery crash. How often do you see a car driving the wrong direction down the freeway? Virtually never.

She never forgot this. She told me about it forty years later.

My mom was never one to tell untruths or exaggerate in any way. She just quietly shared it with me matter-of-factly, but also as an extremely profound personal spiritual experience. Her life had very likely been saved. As to the voice? Certainly, nobody can ever prove anything, however I believe my mom’s story. I believe it was an angel on assignment. Protecting her.

You can believe what you want. I happen to believe in Almighty God and His host of angels. Many of those angels are on assignment here on earth for our benefit. There are numerous accounts in the Bible of this kind of angelic activity. I’m just glad they were looking after my mom that day.

In Billy Graham’s book, ‘Angels, God’s Secret Agents’, he comprehensively explains the purpose of angels in our world today. Many people think of angels as fairies or mythical creatures but I believe that the highly respected Billy Graham gives them their due creedence. He provides many compelling real life stories of angels coming to the rescue of His people. He emphatically states that “Millions of angels are at God’s command and at our service.” He also states that “God has commissioned these angels to aid His children in their struggles against Satan.”

There are over three hundred places in the Bible referencing where angels come to the aid of His children. For example, in Acts 27:23-25, Paul exhorts his shipmates on a ship about to be shipwrecked, “Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’”

If you believe in the birth of Jesus, then surely you must believe in angels. In case you’ve forgotten, the angel Gabriel visited Mary announcing she would conceive Jesus by the Holy Spirit. An angel visitied Joseph, reassuring him to take Mary as his wife. An angel appeared to the sheperds to announce the birth of a Saviour, which was followed by a ‘multitude of the heavenly host’ praising God. Later, an angel warned Joseph to take Mary and Jesus into Egypt to escape King Herod’s plan to kill Jesus.

Besides the multiple stories of how angels were involved in Bible times, there are countless testimonies in contemporary times as to the action of angels, generally to protect or lead God’s children. While I won’t write about any of these accounts in this article, I will share a story that a church friend of mine shared with me. She was a policewoman at the time this took place. I think it’s an amazing story, but you be the judge.

This is what she told me:

“In the mid 90’s while working the midnight shift, something unbelievable happened. I was working as a training unit. I was the trainer. It was the trainee’s very first shift. We were dispatched to an apartment complex. The call was described as a very large fight in the parking lot.

According to the caller there were three separate buildings and all the people in the buildings were fighting. Several broken beer bottles, a machete, several bricks and anything people could find to injure each other with were being used in the fight. Also, the caller said there were at least fifty people fighting. Fifty! There was no back-up in the area that we were working, so any back-ups had to come from another team, which would take a while.

I explained our options to my trainee. We could wait until back-up showed up and risk serious injuries to the people fighting, or we could respond. This was a teaching moment. I couldn’t let the fight continue. So, we drove to the apartment as a ‘code 3’, which means light and siren.

We drove into the parking lot fast and slammed on the brakes. I told my trainee to point his gun at people but not to shoot anyone. I used my PA system and told everyone to get on the ground. We got out of the car leaving the emergency light on. I yelled at the people again, telling them to stay on the ground. We were extremely outnumbered and back-up was still 10-15 minutes away.

To my surprise, the people obeyed and stayed on the ground until help arrived. Arrests were made and injuries treated. Several of the combatants wanted to know where the other people went. When I asked for clarification, they all said that they saw an army of people standing behind my car. The people did not want to fight anymore as the people behind us were very large and strong.

I knew that God’s army showed up to protect not only us but the people there. I believe God saved us that day.”

This is from a friend I personally know and, like my mom, wouldn’t exaggerate or tell an untruth. God loves us so much He sends His angels for our protection. There’s likely millions of such stories but oftentimes the beneficiary may not even realize the help or protection he or she is receiving. Hebrews 13:2 says “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” How many times have we been helped by angels without even realizing it.

I worship you Jesus for Your amazing and creative plan for us. Thank You Lord for assigning Your angels to lead us and protect us.

Photo by Adrian Balasoiu on Unsplash