Guardian Angels: Loving Protection
from Unseen Beings
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