THURSDAY THOUGHTS - Angels Among Us

I have to take a minute here and express my gratitude to our guest blogger, Kathy Christensen.  She always has a Thursday Thoughts post ready to go each week.  I've been so behind lately, that I've been forgetting to post her articles.  It's happened quite frequently.  I know from experience how much time it takes to prepare a meaningful post, and I want to apologize to her for taking so long to post her articles.  I always love to read Kathy's posts... they are straight from the heart, they have great advice.  Here is the post that Kathy sent me last week (that I promised to post... LAST week.  Again... sorry about that, Kathy)...

A popular writer once expressed the fact that expecting a trouble free life because you are a good person is like expecting the bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian. One fact is sure…..there are more than enough problems to go around. Nevertheless, I believe strongly that help is at hand and angels are available around the clock to help us in our times of need. I remember just over four years ago laying on  hospital bed in the ultrasound room when the radiologist said, “This doesn’t look good….we had better do a biopsy.” Of course, this unsettling news caused my mind to begin racing. At that very moment I was enveloped in a powerful cloud of comfort; a feeling a peace and love so strong that it was almost tangible. I remember thinking to myself, “If it feels this way to die….bring it on!” I still don’t know for sure the source of this incredible feeling, but I strongly suspect my Grandma Belle, who died in 1988, was there to calm me. Whatever it was, was not of this world and it calmed so thoroughly that I slept like a baby for two nights while I awaited the biopsy results. Of course, the biopsy revealed Breast Cancer, but we caught it early, it was treatable and the rest is history.

                The country singing group, Alabama, recorded a song entitled “Angels Among Us.” The chorus goes like this:

                                Oh I believe there are angels among us
                                Sent down from somewhere up above
                                They come to you and me in our darkest hours
                                To show us how to live, to teach us how to give
                                To guide us with the light of love.

                Recently, our family had another most touching experience. One of our many young cousins had just celebrated her fourth birthday. As she was talking about her party the next day with her mother she commented, “My favorite present is the invisible one from my Grandma.” As her mother asked her to expound, she replied,

“The Grandma who just died, ‘Grandma Joyce.’ She’s here all the time, Mom, you just can’t see her.” By now her mother was totally tuned in and asked, “What does she look like?” This small four year old continued by explaining,  “She looks like a ghost, but not a scary one.” I am sure my mom was present to give this little great granddaughter of hers, an extra measure of comfort in her life for reasons that may even be unknown to us.

                 It’s good to know that someone much wiser than we are is calling the shots and knows when to send us extra help. While it is true our complex society holds more than enough challenges for all of us, it is also true that help is available to guide us along if we keep our spirits tuned in.

Kathy Christensen

THURSDAY THOUGHTS - Angel Wings

I have long been fascinated with the concept of angels. I believe in them and feel that they are ever near to help us when our earthly journey becomes difficult or uncertain. When I was called in for a second mammogram because something didn't look quite right, I was uneasy to say the least. I forged ahead with the appointment where the technicians told me that I would need to undergo a sonogram. "No big deal," I thought,"at least know they aren't painful."

I laid there as they proceeded with the process. They then told me that I would need to have a biopsy to check a particular part on my left breast. By this time I was beginning to get more than a little nervous. Especially when I saw the size of the needle they were going to use. We were experiencing some other stressful situations in our life at that time and I thought that a Cancer diagnosis would probably push me over the edge emotionally.

At that very moment, I had an indescribable feeling of peace come over me. It was almost tangible and very real. I knew at that moment there was a presence in the room to give me comfort. All fear dissipated and I had the strong feeling that my diagnosis would be positive for Cancer but all would be well. Of course waiting for the results was a tense time for us, but each night as I went to bed, I remembered the feelings I had during the biopsy and I slept like a baby.

I don't know who that presence was in the biopsy room with me that day, but I know it was an angel of some kind, sent to bring me the comfort and courage I needed. Perhaps it was my grandmother who passed away about 16 years earlier. I will never know for sure. But the situation played out just like I was prompted that it would. I did have Breast Cancer, but we discovered it early, went through surgery and radiation treatments and I am now Cancer free. This experience was one that I will never forget and for which I will be forever grateful. I want to close with a poem about angels that made me think of my experience that day back in December of 2008:

Today I stumbled and once again
Was lifted up by an unseen hand
What comfort and joy that knowledge brings
For I hear the whisper of angel wings.

The guardian angels God sends to all
To bear us up when we stumble and fall
Trust Him, my friend, and often you'll hear
The whisper of angel wings hovering near.

--Anonymous--

Kathy Christensen
Sister Survivor Member
Guest Blogger