The Role that Family Angels Can Play
in Our Lives
By Anne
Hinton Pratt · March 12, 2019
Has an
angel ever helped you? The answer is a resounding yes, although you may not
have known it at the moment. It’s our privilege to receive help from
these devoted beings. It’s all part of a grand scheme to build upon
relationships by assisting and sustaining each other through various estates of
life. We’re currently in our “Second Estate” but have a lot of family
that previously lived on this earth and now are in their “Third Estate.”
They are often given power to help us.
We Live In their Presence
One of
my daughters was always close with my mother and has cherished that
relationship. After my parents died several years ago, this daughter has
had special experiences where she has felt them near. Last week this
daughter was in Morocco. As she came across one especially stunning
sight, she exclaimed, “Oh, mom and dad would love to see this. I wish they were
here!” Suddenly, she heard her grandma’s voice say, “Well,
I’M here!” and she heard her grandpa say, “And I’M here!”
It made her chuckle with delight to feel them near. It made me laugh to
hear about it, because it was just like my mother to say that.
Joseph F. Smith had a lot to say about
those we have known in this life who have died. He said:
“I
believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly
messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separate from them… we
are closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors, to our friends
and associates and co-laborers who have
preceded us into the spirit world… They have advanced; we are
advancing; we are growing as they have grown; we are reaching the goal that
they have attained unto; and therefore, I claim that we live in their presence,
they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than
ever.
Family Angels Can Help Us
Because
these angels know us and love us, they WANT to help us. They are aware of
our needs and are sometimes allowed to bless us in a variety of ways.
They Can HEAL and SUSTAIN
I have
a good friend, (Jill), that shared this poignant experience where she received
strength from departed parents. She said:
“I’ve
been partially debilitated by a strange and little understood illness for
several years. As is common with chronic illness, I’ve been isolated
and even ridiculed by a few people.”
“My
mother and father were recently deceased. No parents were more interested
in what I did, in my stories, and everyday experiences, and I was blessed to
have them as part of my life until their mid-nineties.”
“One
evening when I had become discouraged and had felt particularly weak, I found
myself in our living room in the presence of a number of people but not engaged
with them. That night I barely knew what was going on around me and
suddenly felt that maybe I was dying at that moment. I
felt completely alone, but almost grateful to have my illness at an end.
Just as I felt I was slipping off the couch and into oblivion, I looked across
the room. There stood my deceased mother and father!
They were plain as day!
Their posture, clothing, and facial expressions were just as I
remembered them. My mom wore her usual navy-blue
polyester pants and red
sweater. She had one hand on her hip like she commonly did. Mom was
conversing with dad and had a very concerned expression on her face. I
knew they were there because of me.”
“Perhaps
they have been here all along during my illness, and I have not been in tune
enough to understand the ways Heavenly Father has watched over me through them,
but I now know with certainty that they’re not gone. They’re still my
loving mom and dad. I was recently sealed to them, so we will always have each
other.”
Although
Jill wasn’t healed from her affliction at that time, she was able to receive
the courage and strength to go on in this realm, carrying out her earthly
mission. It was a gift of love and sustaining, and a tender mercy that
she was able to see them.
Talking
about dear departed family members, Joseph Smith taught:
“Enveloped in flaming fire, they are not far from us, and know
and understand our thoughts, feelings, and motions, and are often pained
therewith.”
(TPJS, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith p. 326)
Annie’s Healing Angels
Another
dear friend (Mary) related this amazing angel story with me just the other
day:
“When
our daughter Annie was 8 months old, she had to have open heart surgery to
correct a congenital heart defect. The surgery was absolutely necessary for her
life. Thankfully, the surgery was successful and after 12 days in the hospital,
we were able to take our sweet baby home. We were truly sustained by the Lord
during this time.
“Fast
forward about 3 years. Annie would often go around the house saying, ‘My
mother is dead.’ We couldn’t figure out what she was trying to say because I
was well and alive and right by her side. One day while I was away running
errands, Annie repeated to her daddy,
“My
mother is dead.”
He
reminded her that I was just away, not dead. She then said:
“Not
THAT mother. My OTHER mother!”
My
husband then asked her about her ‘other’ mother.
“Does
she have a name?”
“Sally”.
“Do we have a picture of her in the house?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
“Sally”.
“Do we have a picture of her in the house?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
Our daughter then took her dad and showed him a picture of my paternal grandmother Sarah, who was known as Sally to some. She had been dead for about 16 years.
“How do
you know Sally?”
“She was with me when it was heavy on my belly.”
“She was with me when it was heavy on my belly.”
(As we
thought about her words, we realized that it was ‘heavy on [Annie’s] belly’
when she had her surgery. There were many tubes and drains laying on her belly
during, and as she recovered, from surgery. Her dad probed a little bit
further).
“Was
there anyone else there with Sally?”
“Yes.”
“Did they have a name?”
“Yes.”
“Did they have a name?”
“E-mer…
O-mer.” (She had a harder time saying this name.) My paternal
Grandfather’s name was Elmer.
“When I
returned from running errands, my husband told me of this incredible
exchange. Annie would have had no memories of a living Grandma Sarah.
And certainly, she would not have known about the nickname Sally.”
“I am
convinced that my paternal grandparents were with our sweet baby when she
underwent this serious surgery. I am so grateful that even though I could not
go through the hospital doors and into the operating room to be with and
comfort my baby, my sweet grandparents could be there for her.”
“As a
side note, this same experience also convinces me of the strength and validity
of temple covenants. My grandparents had divorced a couple of years before I
was born. After their deaths, my father and his siblings had their parents
sealed together and then they were sealed to them. That my
grandparents were together helping our Annie, has been a sweet testimony to all
of us of the power of temple covenants and the scope of the Atonement of Jesus
Christ.”
President Harold B. Lee taught a very
Interesting and Reassuring Doctrine:
“And if our eyes could be opened, we could see those who have
departed from us – a father, mother, brother, a sister, a child. We could
see them, and sometimes when our physical senses are asleep, sometimes our
spiritual self – and we have ears, spiritual ears, and spiritual eyes –
sometimes they will be very keen and awake, and a departed one may come while
we are lying asleep and come into our consciousness. We’ll feel an
impression. We’ll wake up. Where does it come from? It comes
from the spirits of those whom we are sealed to.” (The
Teachings of Harold B. Lee, p.
58)
Family Angels can Expand our Minds
Many
years ago, there was a missionary who was struggling with German while on his
mission. He just couldn’t get the hang of it. It was a source of
great frustration and seriously interfered with his ability to serve the people
in Germany. He went to a little grove of trees that was near where he was and
prayed with all his heart, pleading with the Lord to help him. While
there, an unusual thing happened. His mother, who was dead, was
allowed to appear to him and have a long conversation with him. He
related that beautiful experience:
“Thus,
two or more hours were spent together, by far the most memorable of my whole
life. Mother said she knew I was having a hard time with the German
language and asked me to meet her at the grove again the next day at the same
hour as she also wanted to be helpful to me in this. She explained that
I would not see her again just as I saw her that day, as this personal
appearance and visitation was by a special and divine appointment.
Then my mother disappeared exactly as she had come – almost unperceived.”
“The
next appointment was sacredly kept, and after my humble prayer of gratitude, my
mother began to communicate with me again. This time I could not
behold her person nor hear her voice just as I had done on the preceding day,
but there seemed to be just as divine a presence and an unquestionably clear
conversation under a much higher law than we could possibly enjoy in
our communications with each other here. We understood and exchanged
thoughts more rapidly, clearly and satisfactorily than is possible with human
voices, for there was no worry about what to say and just how to say it to be
properly and clearly understood.”
“Exactly
all that took place on this occasion, I do not remember, but I do know that
something did transpire whereby I was able from that time to easily understand,
to read and even write this new language (German) and in a most surprising
manner to myself and those with whom I came in contact.” (Joseph Heinerman,
Spirit World Manifestations: Accounts of Divine Aid in Genealogical and Temple
Work, 1986. pages 185-189)
We Have the Right and Privilege to ASK for Angels to Help Us
Angels,
and especially Family angels, have a vested interest in us. They know us
through and through discerning our faults and imperfections, but love
us anyway! They have an arsenal of additional help that we can ask
for. I love Sister Wendy Watson Nelson’s feelings about asking for
angelic help. She said:
“Now,
I’m not talking about praying to fantasy angels with wings to magically
fairy-dust our problems away. I’m not talking about praying to angels.
I’m talking about praying to our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ,
for those on the other side to be “dispatched” (Elder Holland’s word) to assist
us. Perhaps a departed loved one could be sent to help you with
whatever you need.”
“So,
could you use a little more help in your life? If so, keep your covenants
with more exactness than you ever have before! And then ask for angels (a.k.a.
your ancestors and other loved ones) to help you… Or ask for them to be
dispatched to help those you love! (Wendy Nelson, “How Angels Can Help Us More
in Our Lives”)
Has an Angel Helped You in some way in Your Life? You Can
Be Sure Of It!
And
chances are that you will help those after you depart this sphere. It’s
all part of a grand scheme to build upon relationships by assisting and
sustaining loved ones through various estates of life. It’s our privilege
to ASK and receive help from these devoted beings, because they never stop
loving us and many are given power to help us.
After this life we’ll be reunited with all these family members
who have watched over us, and they’ll be delighted to recount all the times
they saved, healed or loved us while we were struggling on this earth.
What a reunion that will be!
https://ldsmag.com/the-role-that-family-angels-can-play-in-our-lives/
