Guardian Angels: By Anne Hinton Pratt

Guardian Angels: Loving Protection from Unseen Beings

By Anne Hinton Pratt · May 6, 2020

In this telestial sphere, there are so many ways we can injure our mortal bodies or die before our time. The solution God gives us is angels. How many stones have been taken off our paths to spare us nonessential suffering? How many times has our life been spared? We may never know, but I’d like to share five marvelous accounts where people did know!

Protected from a Fast-Moving Train

David Curneal has had angels bless his life on numerous occasions, but one time was quite extraordinary. Angels saved his family from certain death when a train was headed straight for their car. He writes:

“February 18, 1995 was a day that would never be forgotten. My wife and three children were in the car with me as we approached the freeway. We could see that the road was backed up, and suddenly we found ourselves on train tracks with no way to go forward, or backward. Seconds later the train arms came down trapping us on the tracks with a train coming fast!

“My wife could tell that impact with the train was unavoidable and started yelling that we needed to get out. Two of our children got out, but one was in a car seat. My wife was feverishly trying to get the seat belt open, but it was stuck! I hit the buckle with all of my strength and it finally broke, freeing my little one from the car but not from her car seat.

“I jumped back from the car just as the train hit. (The sound of the horn, crushing metal and screeching brakes, wake me up still in my dreams).

“As I was trying to get my senses back, I saw my daughter’s car seat flying through the air. Over and over it tumbled as it gained altitude, almost spinning! All of a sudden the very violent way it was traveling slowed to a level glide and it landed gently on the pavement. It was like someone caught the flipping babe and delivered her safely to the earth.”1

David and his family were recipients of miraculous help. It was not his daughter’s time to go, and she was incredibly snatched from death by guardian angels as was his entire family.

Dallin H. Oaks taught about the protection that guardian angels bring us. He said,

“All over the world, faithful Latter-day Saints are protected from the powers of the evil one and his servants until they have finished their missions in mortality. For some the mortal mission is brief….But for most of us the mortal journey is long, and we continue our course with the protection of guardian angels.” 2

Trapped Under a Boat

Cheryl Martin found herself in a life-threatening situation when she was in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic several weeks ago. She was getting out of a boat at the shore when a big wave came and pushed her back down into the water. Her head hit the side of the boat and she was sucked under.

Cheryl was trapped under the boat for a few seconds and couldn’t move. Another wave came and almost set her free to swim out, but just as she began to emerge, another big wave hit. This one rammed into her, hurting her left shoulder and arm, trapping her yet again.

In spite of everything going on, Cheryl felt a beautiful peace fill her soul, and suddenly knew what she must do. As the next wave slightly moved the boat off of her, she was able to change her position under the boat and edge over by feeling the underside of the boat guiding her to safety.

When Cheryl surfaced, someone extended an arm to help her. She grabbed the arm and stood up, but no one was there. She walked to the other side of the boat and ask a man in the area if he knew who had helped her. He told her that no one had helped her and that she had emerged from under the boat by herself. But she KNEW that she was somehow coached how to get out from under the boat and pulled to safety. The most important thing however was the peace she felt through the whole thing. She said,

“I feel so blessed to know that there are angels around to protect us. I was hurt badly but I survived. I am 65 years old but know I have more to attend to on this Earth. When this accident happened to me I was not frightened but had peace that all would be well. I’m forever grateful.” 3

Cheryl obviously was not finished with her life mission. Her guardian angels saved her from death although they didn’t save her from the pain. In some cases, however, as in the following story, angels do save from suffering.

Angels Lifted Car from the Middle Lane

Diane Blakely had an experience that defies explanation, unless you factor in guardian angels. She wrote:

“In 2005 I lived in Walnut Creek, California. My daughter & her family lived in American Canyon, about 25 miles north. I went to visit them one day and had to cross a bridge that was in construction mode. There were three lanes and I was driving in the center one. There was a car to my right about even with me, and a flat bed truck several feet ahead of it in the right-hand lane. I didn’t notice any traffic in the left lane, and there wasn’t time to check, when all of a sudden that car to my right started to pass me and began moving into my center lane with not enough space to do it.

“I grabbed the steering wheel as tight as I could and held it rigidly while applying the brakes. I wasn’t sure if anyone was close behind me. Suddenly, I felt my car being moved to the left about 1 to 2 feet, and after that car passed me and moved into the middle lane in front of me, my car was moved back safely behind it. The front of the car had overlapped my car by about 1 to 2 feet. If we had touched I would have spun out. Only angels could have made that happen.”4

Diane’s life was spared that day, and in the process, she was a witness of the goodness of God and His angels.

Saved from 15 Car Pileup

Helen Condon had a hair-raising experience where she knew angels protected her from being sandwiched between cars during a pileup. She writes:

“One day in the late 1990s, while driving on I-84 in a typical Portland, Oregon downpour, I found myself in the middle of a multi-car pile-up as first one, then another car, slid into each other. I was hit from behind and pushed into the car in front of me. Our little truck, ‘Bucko,’ was slammed backwards and forwards across the freeway, but I was completely calm. I amazingly felt as though I was in an armored tank and did not experience the slightest moment of my all-too frequent anxiety. ‘Bucko’ was towed home, then to the wrecking yard, crumpled almost beyond recognition and full of shattered glass. The only damage I sustained was a tiny cut in my brand-new skirt. There must have been a battalion of angels with us that day!”5

Helen was also not finished with her mission on earth, and angels went to a lot of trouble to leave her alive and without a scratch.

In my final story, there was unexplainable protection in the natural world that left one young man alive.

Saved from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

In 1969 when Eddie Jones was a young boy of fourteen, he had a miraculous experience where he knew his life was saved by angels. He was from an agricultural community in Northern Mexico that grew apples and peaches. They had a new co-op (Empacadora Paquime), where they packed and stored the fruit.

On this Saturday afternoon in June, his father drove into the parking lot and noticed that things were in a big mess. Bins of fruit were stacked all around the yard and in the cold room in a Helter-Skelter fashion. Eddie’s dad who prided himself on being neat and orderly became upset. He instructed Eddie to stay and run a forklift until everything was tidied up.

Eddie began by moving the bins of fruit from the outside yard into the refrigeration rooms. First he brought every bin inside, then he began arranging them into rows according to grower in the two rooms.

Time flew by and he was completely engrossed in his task of stacking the bins. He remembers looking at his watch and seeing that it was after midnight.

Around that time, he heard a voice telling him to stop immediately and get down and go outside. He recalls beginning to climb off the forklift, but after that, he lost consciousness. The next thing he can remember was feeling dizzy and disoriented as the night watchman was shaking his shoulder asking if he was ok. He found Eddie outside the heavy doors of the cold room slouched against the wall. Eddie explains:

“The doors to the cold room were huge and very heavy having to be swung outward to open. I remember having to exert almost all my strength every time I went in or out as a young boy, but when the watchman found me, the door was closed. How could I unconsciously have opened and closed those heavy doors on my own? Someone had to have been with me to perform that feat and get me out. No way did I do it on my own!

“The watchman called my Dad who came and got me. I was diagnosed with Carbon Monoxide Poisoning and placed on Oxygen. They were very concerned I might not make it through the night. When I began working that evening no one thought of Carbon Monoxide levels in the cold room from the gasoline engine of the forklift.

“I later learned that when the Watchman entered the cold room, the Forklift was still running, and no one was in it. It had four bins of fruit raised to its maximum height, lined up perfectly to set on top.

I know I had angels help me and save my life that night.”6

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland reminds us of the angelic help we can depend on:

“In the gospel of Jesus Christ, you have help from both sides of the veil, and you must never forget that… if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection [2 Kings 6:16-17]. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham’s seed.” 7

How precious our lives are! We come here to this plane of existence to learn and grow, with an appointed time for us to die. Angels are agents of peace and protection to ensure that we stay on earth precisely as long as we are intended to be here, through our faithfulness. They have the power to take away obstacles and dangers from our path, and often get permission to do so.

Do you still have more mission to fulfill in this life? If so, you will be protected as David, Cheryl, Diane, Helen and Eddie were, by beings whose mission is to guard and protect you.

1 David Curneal, Story used by permission.
2Dallin H. Oaks, “Bible Stories and Personal Protection,” Ensign, Nov. 1992,p. 39. Italics added. 3 Cheryl Martin, Story used by permission.
4 Diane Blakely, Story used by permission.
5 Helen Condon, Story used by permission.
6 Eddie Jones, Story used by permission.
7 Jeffery R. Holland, BYU Devotional Address – March 1980

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