Angels Always Watching

There is a very cool story about angels my sister-in-law sent out to our family the other day. I believe very strongly in angels and that they are present in all we do.

The story was linked from a series of links beginning at my SIL's blog, Obsessed With Life. It gave me goosebumps ...


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So many of you have heard me tell the story, but I wanted to pass it along anyway to those who didn't hear it and for those who wanted it in email.

A couple of Wednesdays ago, I got an evening phone call from the pediatric ICU at Presbyterian Hospital, where I work as a child life specialist. Usually when they call at night, it means something bad has happened. This, however, was different. My coworker told me that the most amazing thing had just happened and she just had to call to tell me.

We had a patient who has really grown up in and out of the hospital. All the staff knows her and her family. She had been in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for about a month, and had been intubated - on life support. She was not doing well. The doctors had approached mom about taking her off life support the Saturday before. Mom was okay with it, and said that she'd been through so much and if was her time to go she wanted to honor that. So they had taken her off.

It was Wednesday and she was still alive. Amazing. The doctors approached mom about taking off her oxygen mask. Mom was supportive, and began praying over her daughter. The mother of another young patient who was in the bed next to her began praying with her.

The nurse practitioner went to the nurses station to chart that she had taken off the oxygen mask. While doing so, she looked up at the security monitor that videotapes the double doors leading into the PICU. It records anyone who may be waiting outside the doors to get in since it is a secure unit. She saw a man standing there, and it looked a little funny to her, so she decided to walk down the hall to open the double doors personally. When she opened them, no one was standing there.

She walked back down to the nurses station to finish charting, assuming he had walked away, but saw him still standing there on the monitor. So she opened the doors with a button near the nurses station and leaned over to see him walk in, but no one was standing there.

She pulled over another nurse and both stood staring at this man on the monitor and opening the doors to find no one there. The nurse practitioner leaned in closely to look at the man on the monitor and said, 'Oh my gosh. That's an angel. You can see his wings!'

They said that the sun starting shining so brightly and the whole PICU was strangely filled with light. They said he was a tall man and you could see wings behind him.

They pulled over all the staff of the PICU and the two praying mothers and everyone was staring at this man on the monitor and opening the doors to find no one there. Crying, everyone pulled out their camera phones to take pictures, but no one could get it to show up on their camera. The mother of the girl pulled out her camera phone and finally got a picture of the angel who was guarding the doors to the PICU. He turned out as a man of light. I have attached the picture from her phone.

The girl was later discharged from the hospital to go home.
A Miracle.

This story makes me so grateful for the way that God reveals himself to us, and the how Great He is really is. We have much to be thankful for this holiday. :)


--
Katy L. Field, CCLS
Certified Child Life Specialist
Presbyterian Blume Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Clinic
Charlotte, NC

Angels Watching Over Me

I am a strong believer in angels of all types. I think God's angels were working overtime this week for us. I had a fabulous birthday on Wednesday and was on a high from the love and all the special things my friends and family did to show they cared for me. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect birthday. Truthfully, I went to a conference a few weeks ago and ever since then I have been in a really good place spiritually and was feeling stronger and stronger so my birthday just topped it off.

Then Thursday, I was heading 25 miles away for an appointment for my son to see another specialist for his breathing problems when my car literally died in the middle of an eight-lane highway going 60 mphs while I was in the center lane. As I was pushing the gas pedal as much as I could and only hitting 10 mph the traffic suddenly came to a stop and I was able to quickly make my way from the fast lanes to the side of the road and get off at the next exit. I prayed the whole time my car would make it and it did, literally until the end of the ramp where it died and never started again. I couldn't move it an inch after that, but God got us to a safe place to await a tow truck and my husband.

Then Friday, I was making dinner when my youngest started choking on apples. I had cut them up pretty small but he tried eating several pieces at once. I tried unsuccessfully to dislodge them and then called 911. He began turning blue and gray and by the grace of God I remembered the class we just had to take on infant CPR and choking when he was in the NICU a few months ago. I got four pieces out just as the first EMT ran up to our door. He apparently was off work, but lived around the corner and heard the call over the radio. He helped me get the rest out and as the ambulance and cops arrived, we just had to listen to him and get him calmed down.

I truly believe God gives you the peace of mind to clearly think though those situations when you have to and He gives us the people to help us as well. The EMT who lived nearby took over as he ran in the door and left as soon as the rest of the guys got here. What a blessing for him to be off work and listening to his radio at the time.

Throughout the last few days a part of a verse from one of my favorite Amy Grant songs kept running through my head:

God only knows the times my life was threatened just today.
A reckless car ran out of gas before it ran my way.
Near misses all around me, accidents unknown,
Though I never see with human eyes the hands that lead me home.

When everyone left, I felt the gravity of what had just happened and thankful for what didn't. The EMT told me what I did saved his life, but I honestly believe it was God and all those angels he sends to guide us- if I had had to rely on my own resources, I would have been a nervous wreck.

I've been asked by skeptical friends how I see God in our lives and why I believe in angels, this is why. I truly don't think things happen because you're lucky. I have had so many close encounters with God and angels in my life and honestly don't know how I could believe any other way.