Her wings spread wide and ready for flight
Is my guardian angel so full of light
So radiant her face is to me
Such pure beauty for me to see.
Her hair like strands of liquid light falls to her waist.
A wonderful glimpse of heaven for me to taste.
Under the shelter of her wings
All peace and beauty sings.
She is watching all the day and night
Always keeping me in her sight.
She communes with God above
Showing to me his wondrous love.
She is there to guard, tend and care
Always for me I know she will be there.
I know when I see her all things will be alright.
To safely guard me through the darkest night.
God has commissioned her work here on earth.
he gave her to me at the moment of my birth.
Its a wondrous thing she's stood at his throne
Now here with me I am never alone
Wings wide spread and ready for flight.
Bathe me now in Angel light.


by Charlotte Eiland








UNDER ANGELS WINGS!

Hide me under the shadow of thy wings.., psalms 17:8

From an article in National Geographic several years ago..

After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise.

She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.




"GOD MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS, AND HIS SERVANTS FLAMES OF FIRE".... Hebrews 1:7



What kind of beings are the angels?

'Angel' is a term for Messenger that is found in the Biblical tradition, where it usually refers to a more-than-human being that is a servant of God. It may also rarely refer to a human servant or messenger of God. Thus some 'angels' are human, and some are super-human and among these, there are many kinds and grades from elemental and planetary protectors, to transcendent beings in the highest heaven of heavens, who are very close to God. Angel or Messenger is really a very generic term, and is used as such in the Bible. It may be used for every kind of celestial and actually heavenly (transcendental) being, and even for human messengers of God.

The English word "angel" comes from the Greek angelos, which means 'messenger'. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for "angel" is malak, also meaning 'messenger'. The English word Angel is related linguistically to the Anglo-Saxon word Engel, the Latin word Angelu and the Greek word Aggelos or Aggaros. Aggaros should be compared to the ancient Persian word for a mounted courier, and to the Sanskrit word Angira-s. All these forms of the word retain the same meaning, which is Messenger. On pages 21 and 22 in Skeat's Etymological Dictionary (Oxford), the etymology of Angel is given with the meaning of Sanskrit Angira-s as "a messenger from the gods to men."

It is believed by most Christians that there are uncountable numbers of Angels in Heaven, ever praising God, that these Angels are created by God to serve, worship and adore God; some of whom behold the face of God (Mt 18:10). These spiritual beings comprise the celestial court and carry out missions at God's command; in order to complete these missions, they can at times assume bodily form.

they are the "...mediators between the world of Men and the Gods."

In Judaism's oldest scriptures the Angels are called Malak in Hebrew. Aggelos is used to translate the Hebrew Malak many times in the Greek 'Old Testament' Bible Septuagint and Apocrypha. In the New Testament Aggelos is translated 'angel' 181 times and 'messenger' 7 times. Beginning in the first Book of the Bible Genesis (compare Janus and Ganesha as the Patrons of Scripture, Writing, and all Creations and Beginning endeavors) the Hebrew word Malak is translated as Angel 111 times, as Messenger 98 times and as Ambassador 4 times. Malak is also associated with royalty (as ambassadors of God), see 'begin to reign' 284 times and to 'make king' 39 times. (Find any of these numbers in a good Biblical concordance with a Greek and Hebrew Lexicon.)

In Jewish Mysticism there are also 72 Angels with the Names of God. These Angels' Holy Names contain elements of the El (Hari) Name, and the Yahu (Vasu) Name. For example Michael is a compound of the Names Micha and El. There are scores of such compound Theophoric Names in the Bible and Jewish / West Semitic Sacred tradition. Each one of these compound El and Yahu Names reveals something else about the Eli-Yahu Godhead. In the Judeo-Catholic tradition, the angels were also revealers of God, and the guides and protectors of creation and humankind. Angels like the so-called 'Solar' Vasu Devas, Suras or Adityas presided over all of the elements, every organ and limb, every person and family, house, community and nation, planet and universe.

Catholic doctrine maintains that there are 9 choirs of Angels in heaven. These are, in their hierarchical order: Seraphims, Cherubims, Thrones, Dominations, Powers Virtues, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels proper. God's divine assistants were often more than mere messengers. Cherubim and seraphim, for example, never function as God's messengers.

These beings who brought God's messages to humans are typically portrayed as anthropomorphic in form, and such a being may often be called a "man" (Gen. 18.2;Josh. 5,13; Ezek. 9.2, 1 1; Dan. 9.21; 12.6-7; Zech. 1.8; Luke 24-4). The members of God's council are the envoys who relay God's messages and perform tasks appropriate to their status as messengers (i Kings 22-19-22; job 1.6-12). Angels have limited knowledge (Matt. 24-36; 1 Pet. 1. 12), and when they appear to human beings, they may be described as descending from heaven (Matt. 28.2. John 1-51; cf. Gen. 28.12). Although Jesus alludes to the absence of the institution of marriage among angels (Matt. 22.30), angels are sexual beings (Gen. 6-4; Zech- 5-9). Some Jews, particularly the most conservative, denied their existence (Acts 23.8). But among Jews and Christians in general, angelology continues to develop.

In the New Testament the angel Gabriel appears to Mary in the traditional role of messenger to inform her that her child will be the Messiah, and other angels are present to herald his birth.

 

Does every person has his own angel protector?

Yes. Such angels came to be called 'guardian angels' in elaborate Catholic angelology. The doctrine of these guardians in relationship to protecting devas as the good agents of GOD in Vaishnavism has been examined by Vaishnava Vedic Astrologers and Jewish Scholars like Isa Dasa (Jewish) and Jeffrey Armstrong (Astrologer). It has always been agreed that these protecting planetary, personal and elemental devas are the same as some of the presiding or guardian angels of the Judeo-Catholic tradition.

Should we pray to them?

It is believed that these radiant beings, through their understanding of the Divine Plan, help guide both nature and the human kingdom. The Bible depicts them as subordinate and in no way comparable to the God of Israel. Their existence is assumed at the earliest times. We should never pray to them as separate from or, equal to the Supreme Lord, but we can venerate (not 'adore') them, and pray to them as great devotees and agents of the Lord. Thus the Catholic Church actually encourages praying for the help of one's guardian angel. (It is a common tradition among all christians to request from God the intervention of God's Holy Angels on behalf of a right cause.)

There are many other beings generally called 'angels' in the Judeo-Catholic tradition. Some of these are hierarchically ranked as (highest to lowest) Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, then Dominions, Virtues, Powers, and lastly Principalities, Archangels and Angels. They may be venerated (worshiped appropriately) by the faithful, just as Saints may be venerated as the servants, sons and daughters, friends, parents or even brides of God in the Catholic tradition. (Perhaps it should be made plainer in that this is NOT praying TO angels, it is praying along with angels)



 

~~*~~

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
“Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From Heaven’s all gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever over its Babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.



I have often felt the presense of angels around me--even to feeling their hands resting on my head or shoulders. When my first grandaughter was blessed, I attended the service and saw a huge angel standing over by the windows where the roof is the highest--this angel's head brushed the exposed beam rafters of the sanctuary. I believe what I saw was the attending angel of that particular church. On several occassions, I am sure my husband and I have "entertained angels unaware" when we were led to stop and help people who were in our path. One was a lady we saw downtown who was distraught--her car was broken down and she had lost her purse. We were low on gas and had no money ourselves--in fact we were concerned about getting home. The lady told us she lived in a community about 30 miles outside of town--in the completely opposite direction from where we lived. We took her to where she directed--and way out in the country, she told us to stop, this was where she was going. There was nothing there but fields. She walked over to a barbed wire fence and stood by it and waved to us. We started to drive off and made a u-turn--I took my eyes off her for an instant and when I looked back, she was gone! She just disappeared like a puff of smoke. We made it home--well over 30 miles with a gas guage that said "Empty" and when we got there, my husband found a $5 bill in a place that both of us had scoured earlier looking for some coins to use for getting gas for the car. Neither of us ever put bills there--only coins. But it was there nonetheless. I have more angel stories-- I hope everyone responds to this thread--it is a perfect topic for the Christmas season!! Thanks for starting it, Sojourner.

Blessings, MudPie: Manager at Goddess Aware Christian Women

I believe that most angels are the unseen kind, as in the form of spirit guides. I look at amazing coincidences as the work of angels. However, I am sure that there are angels among us walking around also! I have two stories I wish to tell, but they are not what you might think of as conventional angel stories.. ;-) Once upon a time.. lol me and a friend where walking in the forest talking about angels, when she asked me if I thought that animals had angels too. I said that I didn't know for sure. We kept walking deep into the forest and started to hear a dog barking very far away. We were going that way so kept walking even deeper into the forest. Finally we came upon a very old dog which was shaking from cold and fright. We calmed the animal down and treated it kindly and it started to follow us. We stayed in the forest for awhile and then returned home. It took us an extra long time to walk back out of the forest because we had to constantly stop and wait for this poor old dog to catch up. Just as we were reaching our truck. another truck came by that very moment, looking for their dog. This very same dog! They told us that they had been looking for days and that this was the very last time they were going by. I guess animals have angels too… Another time I was alone in my house suffering from a very deep depression. I was very angry with God/dess because I believed that I had followed her directions and waited faithfully for her promised blessing and had been forsaken. It seemed that everything had gone wrong and I had waited, and waited, and waited.. I had not cleaned my house for days on end and there was a dead beetle lying on its back under my coffee table. I had seen this beetle lying there for at least 3 days and probably longer. Finally in a burst of rage I shouted at God/dess out loud, " You left my hope as dead as that beetle!" That very instant the beetle started moving, got up and started to walk away!!! There was not doubt left in my mind as to the miracle of it! I really hope everyone will share some story of their own on this thread too! Merry Christmas!

o4therainbow

Angels, Angels, Angels by Jackie Woods Angels have been a part of my life ever since I can remember. When I was a little girl there was an angel that held me in love. I had no disappointment or hurt too great for that love to soothe. Being a psychic child meant that in addition to the angel, I also saw a large Indian guide who taught me about the energies around me. He taught me how to identify what I was seeing, and what I could and couldn’t do to change the energy patterns. My third guide was a hawk. His purpose was to make me aware of spiritual truths as I went about my day. For instance, he would sit on my shoulder when I was in church and tell me what the preacher or teacher hadn’t quite understood. My entourage of three spirit beings was around me at all times. As you can tell, seeing etheric beings wasn’t new to me, but in July of 1990, the power of my angel experience was life changing. I had gone away for a few days with a friend to meditate and gain strength from the mountains. I was very tired because I had been overriding my physical body’s need for rest for about five years. Being called to the mission of healing, I was totally driven. I did not realize at that time how dishonoring I was being to myself, God, and others by pushing my body so hard. It was on the drive home that the car accident happened. Rain was coming down in torrents, and as is often the case, people’s need to be on time overran their need for safety. Traffic was heavy. Out of nowhere, a car hydroplaned across the median and crashed into our car. First I was hit head on, which threw the car into the next lane of traffic to be hit again in the side. By this time, I had left my body and was watching it all happen from an aerial view. The third impact was about to happen when an angel came to hold the oncoming car back. That car barely touched ours. When the emergency squad came to cut me out of the vehicle, I was told by an angel to go back into my body so I could tell the paramedics not to strap down my leg because it was broken. One of the paramedics argued that I had to be strapped down but another kept saying, “she said not to.” The doctor later confirmed that the small bone that goes into the hip socket would have broken off had they strapped me down. On arrival to the emergency room, I was told by an angel what to say to the doctor. He listened, wrote it down, and did what I asked in the order I told him. Amazing? No, not amazing when you consider how many Angels were there to help. My lung had collapsed and it was very hard to speak. Had there been any argument or resistance from the doctor I would have passed out, but everything went as smooth as clockwork. Doctor Ryan treated me in a very thoughtful and gentle way. He came daily to see me even though I wasn’t assigned to his care. Later one of the nurses asked me what kind of spell I had put on him because he didn’t normally act like that. Thanks again to the work of Angels. For the next several days, I was in tremendous pain. I kept leaving my body so I wouldn’t have to feel all the discomfort, but there was an Angel who regularly told me when it was time to go back into my body to give it more vital life-force. It was during this time that I was considering the options of staying alive or dying. Again I had the guidance of Angels to help me. They said I had a couple more commitments to fulfill on earth. One was to learn to honor my body as part of the total physical earth. This I was told could be learned through nursing it back to health or by coming back in another life, probably as a physically handicapped person so I would be forced to listen to and attend to my body. The second commitment was to several students who I had agreed to help grow. I could have kept this commitment by psychically helping from the other side, but teaching physical ears is usually easier than getting people’s attention psychically. It was my decision to make, but the Angels helped me to see all the options. I decided to stay, even though the doctors said I would probably never walk again. Then began my long journey back to health. Friends turned out in droves to help. People stayed with me day and night, lifting me in and out of the tub every two hours to ease the pain since I refused to take painkillers that would interfere with my healing. They prepared all my meals, massaged me, and loaned me money. My heart nearly burst from all the gratitude I felt. Angels can use our physical hands and hearts when we let them. One night an American Indian Spirit came to me. He held out his hand and said, “I bring you the healing energy of the Indians.” When I reached for his hand a shock of energy shot through my arm all the way to my pelvis. The accident had caused so much torque to the pelvic bone that I could only walk with a walker. The Indian’s gift caused my whole body to ripple and then ended with a loud audible pop. There was someone with me at the time resting his hand on my stomach. He was thrown back from the force of the energy rushing through me and startled by the loud pop. From that time on I could walk. Angels come in many forms! I always knew there were Angels, but the power and magnitude of their support changed my life in so many ways that I wanted to tell everyone. Of course, I did tell all my friends and students but I wasn’t sure how else to get the word out there. I tried to share it with a local church but the minister thought the story was too far out. Here it is over ten years later and I still feel the need to share my story. My thanks to you for listening. It is my hope that Angels will be acknowledged and welcomed into your life from this moment on, in whatever form they choose to take.

© Jackie Woods, founder of Adawehi Healing Center in Columbus, NC, has been a spiritual teacher for over 20 years. Jackie has published two books, Journey to Ultimate Spirituality and Spiritual Energy Cycles; an audio tape, Mediation & Needs; and a CD, Four Way Mental Communication and Emotional Sharing. She can be contacted on the Internet at www.jackiewoods.org/ or by telephone at 828-894-0124. framegirl73@yahoo.com

THE COMMAND TO ENTERTAIN STRANGERS..

A Flower in a Broken Pot

Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.

One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. "Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old," I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw.

Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'til morning."

He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success, no one seemed to have a room. "I guess it's my face.. I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments..." For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: "I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning."

I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. "No thank you, I have plenty." And he held up a brown paper bag.

When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was preface with a thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.

At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair." He paused a moment and then added, "Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind." I told him he was welcome to come again.

And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.

In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden. Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.

When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. "Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!" Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.

Recently I was visiting a friend, who has a greenhouse, as she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, "If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!"

My friend changed my mind. "I ran short of pots," she explained, and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden."

She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. "Here's an especially beautiful one," God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. "He won't mind starting in this small body."

All this happened long ago -- and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand.

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

Friends are very special. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear and they share a word of praise. Show your friends how much you care.... Pass this on, and brighten someone's day. Nothing will happen if you do not decide to pass it along. The only thing that will happen if you DO pass it on is that someone might smile (because of you).

Make someone smile today!

=====

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While praying, listen to the words very carefully. When your heart is attentive, your entire being enters your prayer without your having to force it. ~
 

 



 

Sanctuary   About/Contact  Work


* HOME * Google * Yahoo! * MSN Search * AOL Search * AllTheWeb * AltaVista * AskJeeves * MetaCrawler * Lycos