“The veil is thin.”
I heard that phrase when I was little but had no idea what it meant. I asked, but the explanation confused me even more. My mother tried to explain that heaven is actually here, all around us. When loved ones leave this world we think they are gone, but in reality they are still right here, we just can’t see them because of a thin veil that separates their world from ours. I looked at the empty couch cushion to my left and wondered if a spirit was sitting right next to me and I didn’t even know it. It kinda creeped me out. What about when I went to the bathroom? I really hoped places like that were off limits.
As I got older the idea started to make a little more sense to me. At least it made a lot more sense than the idea of angels flying around with wings and playing harps. I hated playing the violin, if I had to sit around playing a harp when I died that would NOT be my idea of heaven. Flying would be pretty cool though.
When I lost my cousin Jessie I was sure he missed us as much as we missed him. Wouldn’t he want to be around us still if he could? I heard others talk about how they could “feel” loved ones who had passed on. Were they allowed to come visit as they liked? Did they come and go as needed? Did they visit with a purpose?
Then I thought of this HUGE job Heavenly Father has of caring for all His children. It seems impossible. The only thing that makes it possible is us. “We are His hands.” At least that is another phrase I heard often and found to be true. Many of my prayers have been answered through the actions of another person in my life. Wouldn’t it make sense that when we leave this world the same thing applies? Our angel family members aren’t sitting playing harps. They are busy serving; on the Lord’s errand; answering the prayers of others. Their care and concern for us still exists even though they are no longer physically with us.
Satan has quite the army himself. Those that chose to follow him. They are working hard to pull God’s children away from light. It seems like a smart battle plan that the Lord would enlist even more on the side of good. He doesn’t leave us here on our own. He is with us in more ways than one.
I don’t know when the idea came to my head, but for a long time I’ve had this thought. When I die if I get to ask any question or see things I couldn’t see here on Earth; I want to see all the times I was directed, protected without even realizing it. I’d want to express my gratitude for the angels unseen who blessed my life. I’d want the opportunity to do the same thing for others still living.
My father had an experience when I was only 4 that helped me see the reality of the Lord’s help and protection in our lives. Who knows how many times we’ve been protected without our knowledge but this particular experience left no question that God intervenes on the behalf of His children.
Here is his experience in his words:
On a mid–day in the summer of early 1980’s I was driving to our home in Placitas, NM. After grabbling a few tools and a sandwich I jumped in my truck and headed back to work. Driving no more than about 100 feet the impression came to stop and secure whatever it was that was sliding in the back of my truck.
Seeing nothing obvious, my journey continued. The impression to stop came a second time. I got out and checked the back of the truck again. Nothing?! Trying to head out yet a third time, a very strong impression to, “STOP!!!!” came again. Exasperated I hit the brakes, turned off the ignition, and got out of my small Mazda pick-up truck.
Then I saw it. Two small hands wrapped over the top of the truck’s tail gate. It was the tiny fingers of my 2-year old daughter Michaela. The details of my emotions in the moment I saw my little girl clinging to my truck I will leave to the imagination of the reader.
In the few minutes I had stopped at home she escaped the house, completely naked, in the middle of a diaper change. She wondered outside, and decided it would be fun to climb on the back of my truck. It was a miracle she hadn’t already lost her grip as I drove down the bumpy road. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if I had ignored the multiple impressions to stop. I don’t believe my daughter would have survived once her hands became too weak to hold on any longer.
I quickly wrapped her up in my arms with a depth of gratitude that I can’t describe. I returned home to her mother who burst into tears at the thought of what might have been as I explained why Michaela was in my arms. What could have resulted is our day-time nightmare whenever we think of it.
It was a miracle. My sister’s life was spared. My father often tells the story in family gatherings when we are talking about promptings of the Holy Spirit. I sometimes wonder if it could have been his own mother who had passed on years before shouting in his ear to “stop” as she tried to protect her grandchild. Either way, I am glad for the Lord’s mercy in that moment and in more ways than we will ever be aware. In my father’s words it is, “A debt to our God that can never be repaid.”
On the other hand, it can be easy to only see the times that it seems God didn’t intervene. There are so many instances that had only one small thing gone differently a life would have been spared, a life altering event would never had happened.
No matter how much sadness we see in the world I hope we will always believe and find peace that for every tragedy there are countless lives protected and spared.
Perhaps it would be easier to hope if we could see all the ways the Lord intervenes but…
We are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Romans 8:24
And for those of us who it seems were not spared from tragedy; hopefully there is peace in this scripture.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
2 Corinthians 4:17
One thing is for sure. God sends us angels.
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