Proof The Bible Is True

Six years after we were married, my 29-year-old husband was fighting leukemia. Pain dulled Chris’ blue eyes; he was barely able to move without help. Doctors offered little hope, and for months I slept on a cot alongside his bed at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. At 3:00 a.m., I was shaken awake by an alarmed nurse. “We can’t find Chris!” she exclaimed. My eyes darted to his bed. The sheet was turned back; the bed empty. How? I jumped up and raced past the nurses’ station outside the room, then ran down the hall. As I [More]

For those of you who really enjoy angel stories like I do you’ll love the books written by Joan Wester Anderson. She has written several containing hundreds of remarkable stories of encounters people have had with these Heavenly beings. You can find them on Amazon and other online booksellers, just search for her name.

Saturday morning and all I had in the house was a half box of rice. What am I going to do for the rest of the week? I thought as I cooked it up for my three children. On my salary, the last week of the month was always a struggle. This month it seemed impossible. I sent the kids out to play and took a walk on the docks. Tourists strolled past. I dangled my feet in the water and tried to figure out how to make ends meet. Read More  The Miracle of the Fish – Guideposts.

A heavenly stranger saved her life that summer vacation. Few things in my childhood were more fun than getting together with my cousins from Canada. One summer break, when I was about eight years old, we traveled to the “Great White North” to visit my relatives. We decided to take a day hike to Jasper National Park in Alberta to see the glaciers. Our older cousins and my brother Chris and I took off ahead of our parents along a snow-packed trail up into the mountains. We ran a good mile or two up the path. An iced-over lake was [More]

My husband, Don, retired 10 years ago. Soon after, we bought a three-quarter-ton Chevy Silverado and a fully equipped travel trailer, and set off in search of adventure. Our eventual goal was to visit all 48 continental states and Canada. We saw New England and New Mexico, and everything in between. One night, deep in Wisconsin wilderness, I marveled at how safe we always felt, no matter how far from home we roamed. “God’s angels are with us,” I said, and Don nodded, knowing I was right. Once in Colorado, Don wanted to ride a 19th-century train between Durango and [More]

Oklahoma was my new home now that I was retired from my pastoral work, but as my wife, Ann, and I watched the news one night, I felt more like we were living in Egypt during the time of the 10 plagues. “Another hailstorm,” I groaned when we saw the warning scroll by at the bottom of the television screen. “Oh, no!” Ann said. I looked up sadly, thinking of our roof. Just that afternoon I’d admired it gleaming in the sun. It ought to gleam–it was practically brand new. Our third new roof in four years, in fact. Each [More]

My husband, James, was a drinker. We’d been married 15 years, and every day he wasn’t working he hit the bars as soon as they opened. Beer after beer washed down shot after shot of whiskey. Then he’d come home and scream at me, “You’re nothing!” That particular summer afternoon, James stumbled in and snarled, “Gimme some money.” I didn’t have any. I was terrified he’d start hitting me. Again. Abruptly, James staggered toward me and knocked me over. Then he went out, slamming the screen door behind him. I heard his truck squeal out of our driveway while I [More]

One of the first things I bought when I found out I was pregnant was a five-by-seven-inch picture mounted on a piece of blond wood. The plaque showed a guardian angel guiding two children across a rickety old bridge. My husband and I hung it on the wall in the freshly painted nursery. I often sat in that room daydreaming about motherhood. This was something we’d wanted for so long, and I could hardly believe that after three years of hoping and praying, our wish was finally coming true. Our joy was doubled, literally, after learning I was carrying twins. [More]

I pulled into the hospital parking lot while it was still dark. Four a.m., when the halls were quiet, the lobby was empty, and only a skeleton staff manned the ward. That was how I preferred to see my older brother Marshall. It felt as if there was no one around but just the two of us. Too early for visiting hours, but the nurses wouldn’t stop me. They knew Marshall’s time was short. My brother was always the one who could make me laugh, cheer me up when I was sad. Now, at age 49, he was on a [More]

I didn’t take very good care of myself after my wife died. I slept erratically, ate junk food, cut myself off from friends. One night I flopped into bed, not even bothering to unmake it. I couldn’t believe she was gone after battling a host of medical problems. It should have been me. I stared at the ceiling and thought back to my past–the dark years of my addiction, and the girl who changed everything. I was at my lowest point yet, sitting on the hardwood floor of my one-room apartment in the roughest part of town. I’d spent the [More]

According to the clock on my computer, I had 10 minutes before the kids got in from school. I finished processing one final order and then logged off. Ten years of running a catalog business out of my home had taught me how to put away my work at day’s end and concentrate on other things. It wasn’t always that way. My husband, Herbert, and I started Spencer Associates after our second child was born, so that I could contribute to our income and stay at home with the kids. Despite the encouragement of our friend and business advisor, Bob, [More]

Heavy fog shrouded the mountaintop. I stood there, my feet just inches from the edge, peering down below. The forest was barely visible through the mist, the treetops swayed with the howling wind. Suddenly, someone came from behind and covered my eyes. Terrified, I froze. “Please, let me see!” I begged. “It’s okay, my child,” a woman whispered. “Be calm and you will see what is before you.” Her voice was soft. Melodic. Otherworldly. It instantly calmed me. I couldn’t see her, yet somehow, almost involuntarily, I trusted her. I took a deep breath, then another. Ever so slowly, my [More]

The phone rang just as I was climbing into bed. My wife rolled her eyes. I knew what she was thinking. In my job, a ten o’clock call meant only one thing: an issue over at the Air Force Base. A problem that needed my attention, my expertise. A problem people were counting on me to get fixed. Pronto. I grabbed the receiver. One of my coworkers wasn’t feeling well. He begged me to relieve him. “I’ll be right over,” I said. At least it wasn’t something worse. “Anything I should know?” “Boiler’s acting up. I can’t get it to [More]

Sunday morning I was relieved to have the pew to myself. I had too much on my mind to deal with small talk or pleasantries. My granddad was near death. Will today be the day? I wondered as the pastor walked in. Mawmaw and Granddad had practically raised me, and I’d built the house next door so I could care for them in their old age. After Mawmaw died I saw Granddad every single day. I couldn’t imagine life without him. My husband promised that he would help me through my grief, but no one could understand how I felt, [More]

“Now, try to relax.” Relax? How could I relax with the dentist standing over me with the biggest needle I’d ever seen? I stiffened and pulled back, gripping the arms of my chair. The dentist lowered her needle. “Did you take the prescription I gave you?” I nodded. “That should have helped with your anxiety.” But it hadn’t. “My sister Lori is in the waiting room. Can she come in while you work on me?” “There’s just no room,” the dentist said. The dentist leaned in with the needle. I closed my eyes. God, get me through this. I felt [More]

A day of swimming! My friend Melinda and I giggled as we splashed in the swimming hole of the Siletz River in Siletz, Oregon. Her mother and uncle waved from the bank. We weren’t the only ones who’d decided to make the best of a sunny summer afternoon—the swimming hole was crowded with adults horsing around in the water or dangling their feet over the edge of the rocky Siletz riverbank. One couple in particular caught my attention. They were sitting on the rockiest slope, and the man was wearing swim trunks. I’d never seen a man so muscular! To [More]

I could barely make out the keyhole in my front door through my tears as I fumbled with my keys. What am I going to do? I thought. I’d just been terminated, along with all of my coworkers. The family-owned car dealership where I worked was shutting down for good. In an instant, we’d all lost our jobs. Now I had to face the future alone. It was times like this I missed my husband most. Together we could beat anything, but Warren had been dead for 16 years. I still miss you, I thought. Warren, I wish you were [More]

My 24-year-old son, Lynn, was born deaf. In the small rural community where we used to live in Iowa, there was no one his age with whom he could speak sign language. Conversation was always difficult. Although Lynn’s father and I had no trouble with his distinct way of speaking, others had a hard time understanding him. Lynn had learned to read lips, but people often didn’t think to look directly at him and enunciate clearly. When he wasn’t with his dad or me, or on shift at the tire factory, Lynn spent most of his time alone. An emergency [More]

A two-year-old’s guardian angel watches over her when she gets lost in the woods of rural Pennsylvania. “This is a new recipe,” my grandmother said, setting a pan of pastry down on the table in front of me and my great-aunt Gertie. “Tell me what you think.” At 80, my grandmother, Loretta “Rita” Shultz, was as fearless as ever, always trying new things. I wished I had her confidence. “Tell me again about that time you got lost in the woods, Gram,” I said while she dished out our dessert. Gram and Aunt Gertie shared a conspiratorial smile. I’d heard [More]

She prayed for God to watch over her daughter in neonatal intensive care, and years later, it’s confirmed for her that angels were indeed there. The scent of gardenias wafted through the window as a breeze billowed back the curtains. I rocked my 3-year-old daughter, Kenly, slowly in our La-Z-Boy. Such a simple thing, holding your daughter in your arms, feeling the softness of her skin on your own, the warmth of her breath on your neck. For me it was the most precious part of being a mother–something I could never get enough of. Maybe it’s because I didn’t [More]

I lived with ugly for a long time and it had become invisible. Trash is normal. Unwashed dishes are something I should take care of, and I would. Later. The laundry piled in corners didn’t matter because those clothes were out of season anyway. We bought our sofa at a garage sale, and it was a little shabby then. Why should I bother dusting tables or removing the blankets from the floor? There can be many reasons for a young family to live in filth. None of them are good. For me, it was a combination of depression and revenge [More]

Should I chance it? The puddle blocking the entrance of the doctor’s office parking lot had to be at least a foot deep. It practically made waves. The cars in front of me didn’t share my hesitation; they drove straight through. I pressed down on the gas and followed. The engine died. The dashboard lit up. My car wouldn’t budge. Sudden tropical downpours are a danger in South Florida, especially for someone in their seventies. The whole drive here, I could scarcely see more than a few feet in front of me through the rain. Now, half of my car [More]

“Wow!” was all I could say about the large silver salmon my husband had just caught. The fishing trip was going great–so why was Darryl packing up his equipment? “Don’t you want to keep fishing?” I asked. We were out on The Queen Charlotte Strait, off the coast of Vancouver Island, in an aluminum boat just big enough for two. My company had rented a lodge and sponsored a fishing trip for employees, and my husband and I were thrilled to get a weekend away from the house and the kids. A group of us had spent the morning fishing [More]

The sun was just beginning to come up as I pulled into the ER parking lot. The morning started smoothly enough, with only a handful of routine cases. I was coming out of room 4 when Virginia, the head nurse, walked over, glanced at the empty major trauma room, and motioned for me to follow her. “Dr. Lesslie,” she began. Her voice was somehow different, and it surprised me. She was speaking quietly, but with a definite seriousness, and there was something else there. It was a gentleness, something I couldn’t remember hearing before. “Do you believe in angels?” Read [More]

Jim Snyder would consider himself an ordinary man living an ordinary life, surely not one that involves angel sightings. But when his young wife died of pancreatic cancer, Jim was devastated by her loss. He tried to hold everything together and deal with his grief. But as months passed and Jim’s heartache continued, “I began asking God for a sign that everything would be okay, and that I would eventually get through this,” Jim says. Read More  Vision of God’s Love – Guideposts.

During a book signing in Lexington, Kentucky, a group of women gathered around my table to tell about their neighbor, Barbara, who had not been able to come and tell me this story herself. Barbara was driving her six-year-old son, Benjamin, to his piano lesson. They were late, and Barbara was beginning to think she should have canceled it. There was always so much to do, and Barbara, a night-duty nurse at the local hospital, had recently worked extra shifts. She was tired. The sleet storm and icy roads added to her tension. Maybe she should turn the car around. [More]

Daisies are my favorite flower. Anything with daisies gets my attention–even the word on my computer screen. “Please help save Daisy the Dog!” my friend Judy had posted on Facebook. The message included a picture of a pit bull mix. She looks a lot like Allie, I thought. Our beloved Staffordshire Terrier had died a year and a half before. I couldn’t imagine replacing her. But I also couldn’t stop myself from reading the post. The picture had come from a Facebook app called Pet Pardons, which helped people find homes for shelter animals scheduled to be put to sleep. [More]