Proof The Bible Is True

I relaxed in our backyard under the shade of a big tree, while my five-year-old daughter, Paula, splashed and laughed in the pool. After a while, she hoisted herself up onto the edge for a quiet break. The sun shone bright overhead, our dog asleep in the grass. It was a perfect moment, everything hushed. A peacefulness hung over the entire yard.   Read More: 5 Comforting Stories of Angel Encounters with Children – Guideposts

I had never been more homesick or stressed than that Christmas in 1981, the year my husband, Charles, and I pulled up stakes and moved to the Texas badlands to work in the vast oil fields of the Panhandle.   We were thousands of miles away from home for the first time. Our relationship was young, so we didn’t have the comfort of long years of habit to smooth over the bumps in life. Money was tight.   If I hadn’t been madly in love with the man with the turquoise-blue eyes, I would have run home to Mama. As [More]

“Race you to the water!” my cousin Emily yelled.   My cousins Emily, Meridel, Hannah and I were at the beach, having a blast on our family vacation. The four of us splashed into the ocean and started swimming, and pretty soon we were in water up to our chests.   Suddenly, Meridel and Hannah screamed, “Wave!”   Read More: Danger in the Water – Guideposts

My wife, Linda, and I planned to drive through the night from New Orleans to South Carolina to visit our parents for Christmas. Linda worried about our car. My Mercury was 11 years old, with no hubcaps and an exterior dinged up worse than a boxer. I insisted it was in good running condition, though. “Just missing a spare tire, that’s all.”   Two in the morning, somewhere in Alabama, I heard a loud bang, followed by a flapping sound. It was just our luck—a tire had blown out.   Read More: The Light of God’s Grace – Guideposts

Emergency medicine doesn’t take holidays off, but this was the first time I’d pulled an EMT shift on Christmas. Already we were racing to a studio apartment in an independent living community to answer the night’s first 911 call. I couldn’t help thinking this was supposed to be a night of miracles, not injuries.   The ambulance had barely come to a full stop when my partner, Dan, and I jumped out with a gurney. A staff member from the facility waited at the apartment door.   “Miss Lily had a fall,” she said as we knelt down around the [More]

On the drive home from a fishing trip with his best friend, a teenage boy is protected by a guardian angel.   Church on Sunday couldn’t compete with a pond full of crappie. That’s where my best friend, Johnathon, and I were headed if the minister ever finished his sermon.   “Take a good look around you,” he went on. “Think the people you see are the only ones in this church today? Think again. There are angels in our midst, watching over us, waiting to perform one of God’s miracles in our lives.”   Johnathon gave me a smirk. [More]

I wasn’t as spry as I used to be, but I liked to walk, rather than drive, around my small town. Shopping, the doctor’s office, the bank were all nearby, clustered around a busy five-way intersection that connected to the thruway.   Seeing the traffic as I strolled back home, I was glad to be on foot.   Then I heard a growl. A dog—not looking quite right—stalked toward me. I backed up. Grrrrr! A snarl from behind. I nearly jumped out of my skin. At my heels was a second dog, as angry as the first. Oh, no, I’ve stepped in the [More]

The new sanctuary of the Bettendorf, Iowa, church where I pastored was nearing completion. As we drove up one Saturday afternoon, my wife and I saw smoke pouring from the open windows.   My wife called the fire department from our house next door, while I ran into the church to try to stop the blaze. Inside I threw a flattened box over the flames, stomping on top as fast as I could. This was a losing battle.   Read More: Angelic Assistance To Fight the Flames – Guideposts

Look at these fish! A fat one with a yellow back and white spots, so close I could touch it. A school of skinny silver minnows, glinting in the sunlight that penetrated the clear water. I couldn’t believe I’d never snorkeled before. What fun!   My husband and I were stationed overseas in Naples, Italy. A couple we’d met, Sonnie and Al, invited us to a secluded Mediterranean beach. “Joyce, you have to snorkel,” Sonnie urged.   “I’m not much of a swimmer,” I said.   “We’ll stay together, close to shore,” Sonnie said. “We’ll be there to help.”   Now [More]

Everything—my whole world—felt gray, colorless, flat. The beeping machines of the ICU. The doctors and nurses who came in and out, sounds and images. All dim. Like I was trapped in a thick, inescapable fog.   I’d struggled with depression for years so I recognized the signs. I looked over at my husband, Rob, asleep in a chair in the corner. These last two weeks had been an ordeal for both of us. Why was I not getting better?   Nothing made sense. The doctors couldn’t even tell me what was wrong. I clenched my hands into tight fists. I [More]

I walked out into my front yard, hoping that some fresh air would lift my mood. Ever since moving from the city to the country a decade ago, taking a stroll around the five acres I called home always gave me a feeling of peace and serenity.   But not today. The economy was bad and my business was slow. With Christmas weeks away, I had barely saved enough money to buy a little tree and some treats for my cats. I only had a small safety net left for emergencies.   Please don’t let anything go wrong, I told God. [More]

We all struggled when my husband died, but my youngest daughter, Jill, simply couldn’t bring herself to talk about it. My prayers were for God to bring her comfort.   One evening after visiting with her children, she got in the car to leave and began crying.   Read More: Till We Meet Again: Angel by Her Side – Guideposts

The only place I’d seen military aircrafts, tanks or jungles in my small hometown of Oelwein, Iowa, was at the local movie theater. Iowa was more a place for ice cream vendors in the summer, hay rides in the fall and Salvation Army bell-ringers at Christmas.   But as I headed over to the mess hut for my morning coffee that day in 1945, I barely noticed the jungle. My months in Burma airlifting supplies through China to the other Allied forces had gotten me used to airplanes and tropical birds. But still I missed the little things. Like a [More]

John was a teenager in the ‘70s, raised in a very religious family.  But he was more interested in hot cars and pretty girls. “My faith was very superficial,” he says, “consisting mostly of a strict adherence to the rules except when my parents weren’t looking.”   Shortly after getting his driver’s license, John landed a well-paying job at a local grocery store chain.  Soon he talked his dad into letting him buy a motorcycle.  “Now, my independence was complete,” John explains.  “I earned my own money.  I was buying my own vehicle.  I felt like an adult.”  (And at [More]

Skiing was all I had on my mind.   There was nothing I liked more than grabbing my cross-country skis on a sunny winter day and leaving everything else behind. I drove out to the local nature preserve. There was real freedom in being out there alone, just me, the snow and the sky.   The day was so beautiful, I stayed out way later than I should’ve. How can I go back to my day-to-day life when I’ve got all of this? I thought as I whizzed down a small slope. The sky darkened and the wind picked up. Better get home [More]

It was the 16th of February, 1985, on a cold, dark Saturday in Red Bank, New Jersey, and I was determined to die having a good time.   I had nothing to live for. Just a thankless job as a gunnery sergeant in the Marine Corps. I was going to go to every bar I could find and drink myself into a stupor. Then, defiant in the face of my misery, I’d tell the world that I just didn’t care anymore, and hopefully end my life for good.   This is fitting, I thought as I swung a leg over [More]

Up here on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland February blizzards come up right quick, and when they do, watch out!   Snow blows in heaps from the northeast, pack ice piles up and you can’t see five feet in front of you. A man can lose his way just walking to a neighbor’s house. It’s weather you don’t want to get lost in.   I should know. I had my own brush with a blizzard when I was just 25. It happened on a chilly February Saturday here in Raleigh, where I’ve lived all my life.   Read More: Snow [More]

“Think I’ll do a little yard work,” my husband, Gary, announced. It was early Monday morning, and I caught myself grinning as I opened the cupboards to get out the ingredients to make pancakes while Gary got to work outdoors. I could relax and enjoy myself knowing Gary would be around the house a few more hours.   But it would be time for him to leave for work soon enough. Gary was a foreman at a plant with lots of big, dangerous machinery, so ever since we got married I said the same prayer when he left the house [More]

I fretted as I felt my five-year-old daughter’s warm forehead. All day she had been sick with a fever. I checked her temperature again. Still high.   It had been nearly four years since she had a seizure, but still I worried. The doctors had never figured out what triggered her off-and-on seizures as an infant. I lay down beside her and dozed off   A piercing scream jolted me awake. I knew that scream. I grabbed for my glasses and shoved them on. Celina was deathly white and her eyes were glassy and fixed. Her body was stiff. Her [More]

I dropped my husband off at the trail at around 8:00 a.m. He got his lime-green mountain bike off the rack and checked it for readiness. “Are you sure this is the right spot?” I asked.   “It’s the Colorado Trail, Ruth,” he said. “Tons of people use it.” He kissed me, then got onto his bike. “I’ll see you at the parking lot at the North Pass in about six hours.”   I watched him head off, then got on Highway 50. I had a nice picnic lunch packed, might take a hike, or just sit in the sun [More]

I come from a family of rescuers. My two sons are officers in the military—one in the Army, the other in the Coast Guard. They come to the aid of those in need every day. You could say it’s in their DNA. My Dad was a “lifer.” He served first in the Navy during World War II, and then the Coast Guard, where he spent the remainder of his military career conducting dangerous air search and rescue missions for lost mariners. But the most important rescue mission was one that my family, more than 60 years later,   Read More: [More]

Diana T. was a happily married mother of two daughters, working at a grocery store, when she slowly slid into a depression. Like many in this situation, she did not know why, so she eventually changed jobs, hoping her spirits would brighten.   But they didn’t. And one day on her new job, she was hit in the head with a heavy box. While in the hospital emergency room, Diana’s doctor told her that she had a buildup of fluid in her skull. This could lead to swelling in the brain, he explained, and she should consult a neurologist if [More]

Shirley Miller of Pittsburgh had received a phone call from her brother in Phoenix, which had left her alarmed and upset. “Our 96-year-old mother was in the hospital, and wasn’t expected to live much longer,” Shirley says. “The family was gathering, and I needed to fly out as soon as possible.”   Fortunately she was able to find a seat on a flight later that day. A friend took her to the airport and dropped her in front of her airline checkpoint. So far, so good. But when she arrived at the security line, her heart sank. Passengers were in [More]

I’ve been a “water bug” for as long as I can remember. My dad taught me to swim when I was 10 years old, and I’ve been swimming almost every day since. When I was in my 40s my teenage son taught me to bodysurf. The idea is to catch a large wave at its crest. Just as it foams over, you flop on your stomach with your arms stretched out in front and ride that wave to the shore for all it’s worth. There’s no thrill like it.   In 1990 my husband, Donald, and I were vacationing in [More]

Just a few more minutes and school would be over for the day.   I packed up my books and straightened my uniform, the same one worn by every girl at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School in St. Louis, Missouri. Finally the bell rang. “Bye, Sister,” I called as I passed her at the door.   I followed the crowd down the hall, jostled and carried along to the front door. Once outside I ran down the steps and over to the church, where I waited for my father to pick me up.   Inside it was quiet and peaceful. Statues [More]

Everything in my life was falling into place. I’d found David, the man of my dreams. We had just gotten married and moved to Hays, Kansas, where David was president of Hadley Regional Medical Center.   One Friday afternoon I went to the medical center for an appointment. David promised me a romantic lunch when I was done. It was just a follow-up to my annual physical. My regular doctor had noticed symptoms that might indicate multiple sclerosis, and he recommended an MRI to rule it out.   After the MRI, David and another doctor were waiting for me. Something’s wrong, [More]

My baby sister, Rachel, had respiratory syncytial virus, which made it very difficult for her to breathe. My parents had to watch her every second. One night I awoke after midnight to an extraordinary sight   Read More: Kids and Angels – Guideposts