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In my previous post, “Beliefnet’s Interview with Joan Wester Anderson,” I mentioned that I would be interviewing Joan Wester Anderson the Friday before Christmas to get my Beyond Blue readers in the mood for the nativity story.
Joan is one of my very favorite people because she’s so real and generous and loving—always trying to spread hope of God’s love to anyone she meets. As I mentioned earlier, she is like the Dalai Lama of the angel world—with 15 books out, two of which stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year, and all the radio and TV shows she’s been on. All of her accolades warrant a big head. But she’s not that way at all. She’s sweet and down to earth.
Joan and I connected awhile back, when I was thinking of compiling “St. Therese” stories, much like her angel tales. The editors of Loyola thought we would make a great team. Ultimately we never did the project, which was best given that I had a major breakdown a few months later. And Joan needed to focus on her family. I’ll never forget what she said: “I’m trying to concentrate on my grandkids now, because I’m trying to make up for all those times I fed my kids cookies to keep them quiet as I was on the phone doing a radio interview.” Whenever I get frustrated by these two miniature people keeping me from work, I remember her response.
Because we are only three days away from Christmas Eve, my favorite night of the year, when I light all the candles in our house and think about miracles and angels and holy stuff, in general, I thought Joan would be a fitting interview for today.
1) Joan, I posted the interview you did with Wendy Schuman of Beliefnet back in 2002, and the responses were interesting. I hate to throw Beyond Blue reader Larry Parker at you, but I think he asks a good question when he wrote this:
Her answer to “how do you get in touch with your guardian angel” smacks a bit too much of the Prosperity Gospel. I mean, really. Why should G-d intervene to let you get a parking space ahead of someone else who misses it?
Frankly, why should G-d care?
How would you respond to such a question?
Why should God care, Larry? I don’t know. But He does, because He told us so in countless comments in His Bible. Nothing is too small for Him to notice or care about. And remember that He wants us to approach Him as little children would—joyful, confident and innocent—so obviously He concerns himself with the little things in our lives. In other words, he gets down to our level, like a Daddy would. (When Jesus taught the people how to pray the Our Father, the Aramaic word he used for “Father” was “Daddy.” This is apparently the relationship he wants us to have with him.)
Now this relationship is hard for many people to believe or sustain. Harder still is the idea that each of us possibly has his/her own guardian angel, or at least has access to help from the angels. So one way I suggest that people “test the spirits” is to ask God or his angels to give us something—a little sign, a comment from a stranger, yes, even a parking place (especially if we’re running late!). This builds our faith, opens our closed emotional doors, if only for a moment, and shows us some possibilities. The parking place isn’t what’s important; it’s the personal “hug from heaven” that hopefully reassures us that’s there’s more going on around us than meets the eye.
As far as the Prosperity Gospel is concerned, I’ve never really understood it that well. Yes, I think we are meant to be joyful here on earth no matter the circumstances, but bad things do happen to good people, and a closeness to God is not an exemption from trouble. I’m not real sure where the P.G. fits in the question above.
2) Other responses of your interview were testimonies of angel experiences, such as Barbara’s, which I’ll feature as separate post coming up. Do these angel stories in some way comfort you, especially in times of doubt or confusion, when you can’t see God’s hand in anything?
The only thing I know for sure about life is that it is constantly changing. So when I go through a period of doubt or confusion, I know I just have to hang around for awhile, keep busy and eventually things will look a little better. During times like these, I sometimes do go back and read some of the stories that I published a long time ago (my first angel book is fifteen years old!) and have half-forgotten.
Sometimes just remembering the circumstances of how that story reached me, or something in my notes triggers a good memory, and I am reminded again that God was there then, and He is here now. This is handy when I can’t summon His presence via my feelings and I have to walk by faith instead.
3) When you were asked where the angels were on September 11, you said this:
Right where they always are, with us. There are stories already circulating about strangers guiding people down the stairs of the WTC buildings, then disappearing. The question really is: Why didn’t the angels step in and save those victims? I don’t know why–people have free will, it’s out greatest gift, and God will not thwart it. But He can also bring good out of any kind of evil, and although we may not see anything good yet, I am sure it will come.
Is that how you would answer the person who is severely depressed and wants more than anything to end his life? When he cries out to God and can’t hear anything in response, how does he go on believing in miracles?
Truthfully, I would be scared to death to answer or attempt to influence anyone who was contemplating suicide; the responsibility, given that I’m an untrained non-professional, would be enormous. Nor do I think that stories of miracles, no matter how moving, would/could reach someone so deeply in pain.
When my five children went through the teen years, I worried that one or more of them might one day become depressed and think about suicide. I put all my fears on the table with all of them, and I made them promise two things to me: one, that if they ever thought about suicide, they would wait just one day before taking any harmful actions. Just one day. I always kid that I raised my children using “guilt therapy” so they OWED me that one day. The second thing they would do would be to tell a trustworthy adult how and what they were feeling. They all promised, and none of them ever experienced more than the normal emotional ups and downs.
So if I were dealing with someone who was deeply depressed, I think I would acknowledge that this situation is beyond me, and take that person for help. If I were talking with him, I would simply ask him to hold on for another day, and ask if, in the meantime, there is anything I could do to relieve his suffering. Lame, I know, but the truth.
4) In an e-mail to me you asked me a question that I’ve been stewing over for a few weeks now:
When you contemplated taking your life, how did you rationalize what would happen afterwards, i.e. condemned to hell? I’m talking about your spiritual life, not the impact it would have on your kids.
This is what I wrote to you in response:
I guess I was in so much pain that I figured God would understand why I wanted to be dead. And I felt pretty abandoned by him, so burning in hell seemed like it would hurt less than going on with life. Boy, I guess I was really low.
My therapist at the time tried to play up the whole “damnation to hell” with suicide, partly because she knew I was so Catholic, and if anything would keep me from doing it, that would. But I guess that just tells you how sick someone is when they are severely depressed … I didn’t really care if I was going to hell, because I was convinced hell was better than what I was feeling. For those who do commit suicide, what do you, as a good but compassionate Catholic, believe happens to their souls?
Years ago, the Catholic Church changed its official stance that people who commit suicide are committing a mortal sin and are thereby lost forever in hell. Now the belief is that, although taking a life is a serious sin, people committing suicide are not behaving rationally and thus cannot give full consent to this sin. To me, this is much more humane—and probably much closer to the truth—than the former stance.
This question comes up from time to time from my readers, and I’m always interested in their experiences. One young man had been mourning his sister who had taken her own life; not only did he grieve her loss, he also worried that she might not be in heaven. He told me that one night he had a strikingly-clear dream that his sister was on her way to a banquet and invited him to go along. He was struck by how beautiful and happy she was, but when they got to where the banquet was being held, she told him that she had to wait awhile until it was her turn to go in. She was not concerned about this at all, and looked forward to great happiness inside the banquet hall, but it just wasn’t her turn yet.
Now, people can argue that dreams are just meaningless fragments, but if we consider that God used dreams again and again to communicate with His people in the Scriptures—and God does nothing by chance—dreams may be a very accurate way of perceiving the truth. This young man recognized that the banquet was most certainly a symbol of heaven and that his sister, for whatever reason, had to wait awhile to enter, but was calmed and comforted by her obvious peacefulness. I have come across other very similar stories, and I do believe that this take is more in line with the compassion of Jesus.
5) Christmas Eve is the anniversary of the miracle that inspired your work with angels. How do you celebrate it? Any special rituals or traditions to remember that fateful night?
It was my son’s “adventure” with an angel on Christmas Eve in 1983 that actually opened my eyes to their presence in our lives. Of course I believed in angels because I was taught about them, and they are mentioned in Scripture over 300 times. But angels inserting themselves and their help into the ordinary problems of human beings? It had never occurred to me.
But that event started me on my path of researching and writing about angels, and brought me into a new career just when I had decided to give up journalism. Looking back with the clear view of hindsight, I realize now just how specifically God had prepared me for the work I started in the 80’s, work I still do today. So of course Christmas is a special time for our whole family, because it is the anniversary of when my new work for God began, and it’s also the anniversary of the best Christmas we ever had.
Actually, Christmas vacation itself was difficult that year. It was so cold that our cars wouldn’t start, parties were cancelled and we all got rather sick of each other and were relieved when it was time to go back to college or work. But later, when I heard the story of Tim’s rescue and realized how close I had come to losing my son, I realized that there was a diamond buried in all that mess, and that Christmas of ’83 was by far the most beautiful ever.
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On Groundhog Day: 12 Winter Depression Busters
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6 Ways to Stay Resilient in Stress
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Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
Meet others on the journey in
Therese’s community group
Ask Therese to be your friend
Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
posted December 21, 2007 at 11:19 am
Joan, we will have to agree to strongly disagree.
But let me clarify on two counts:
1. I do believe that a parking space is trivial, and thus G-d and guardian angels really should have no role. You believe it is not trivial (and that my human “should” doesn’t matter — maybe a fair point) and that it is ultimately a matter of a small blessing given by G-d and the angels to that person in the car.
OK. If I don’t fight you on that point, though, then we have a much bigger problem …
2. Believe me when I say, as someone working retail at a mall this Christmas season, parking spaces at malls are zero-sum games. That is, if G-d and the angels are giving a spot to one person, THEY ARE TAKING IT AWAY FROM ANOTHER PERSON. That is indisputable.
And here’s where the “Prosperity Gospel” comes in. If you say a parking spot is a blessing, you are saying G-d is giving a material benefit to one person for virtue **by taking away a material benefit from another person for vice.**
I realize the virtuous are rewarded and the wicked are punished — in the next world. But MATERIALLY? Here on earth? That’s the claptrap that religious charlatans in America from the Puritans to today’s televangelists have preached, always (sadly) to a willing audience.
And if the fire and brimstone stemwinders are on the odd chance right, I would find such a G-d monstrous.
I do (on an offputting but sincere note) wish you a very Merry Christmas.
posted December 21, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Of course I can’t get past the spending time with my grandchildren part. So well done, what a marvelous woman.
posted December 21, 2007 at 4:01 pm
After my son’s friend (at the ripe old age of THIRTEEN(!) hung himself in his family’s pole barn, the suicide-prevention professionals in the kalamazoo area held several workshops with the parents of the area. One of the things they taught us was EXACTLY what you proposed to do, Joan! Ellicit a promise to wait a specific period of time (be it an hour or a day) according to those “professionals, if you can get that promise it gives you a “grace period” in which to have professionals intervene in the person of therapists, doctors, hospitals, etc. another thing we were taught is to tell our children who had lost a friend and had begun to use the phrase, “Fine, i’ll just kill myself” as currency to get their own way in disputes that we would take those threats extremely seriously, and if the words were uttered again, we would commit them to the psychiatric ward of one of our local hospitals. I can only speak for myself, and i don’t honestly know if I could have followed through, but I evidently convinced my son, because he stopped throwing those words at me as soon as we’d had that discussion. The very next time he started, he caught himself, looked me in the eye and said, “Okay, I didn’t mean it, I promise you that I’m not going to do that!” Trust me, there are no more frightening and manipulative words a teenager can say to his/her parents after one of their number has actually carried out the act in front of everyone, and teenagers being teenagers will say WHATEVER in an attempt to win an argument!
posted December 21, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Joan Wester Anderson’s books are hopeful reading. First, because the stories come from the personal angelic experiences of others. Second, because she is such a wonderful story-teller. One of the major points you notice from the stories, is the response of the receiver. You never get the feeling that people think, “I deserved that” intervention or rescue. There is no sense of boast at all. It is instead a feeling of wonder, gratitude, and humility.
Larry, the whole point of the parking space example, is the smallness of it. The loss or gain of a parking space is not a life/death situation. I know you have a problem with the Prosperity Gospel, but she is just telling the story, and letting the reader decide. Joan’s first book came out before the idea of angels became the late 20th century “fad.”
An example of what I believe was an angelic encounter happened in the 1990s when I was serving as a music director at my church on a volunteer basis. I did it because it was my gift to God and the congregation. People, however, are quick to complain, but slow to offer a kind word. The pastor was critical and even said he never paid any attention to the music. There were several people who constantly complained about everything I did.
Anyway, at this time I was pretty depressed because I put so much work and prayer into each week’s Mass. One day as I entered the narthax, an old woman whom I did not recognize (and I knew almost everyone) came up to me and said how much she liked the music. I said thank you, but then she began to tell me all the things she knew that went in to my music selection — details no one but God knew — that is the important part; things I told no one. I didn’t know what to say, but “thank you,” and continued on into the church. If my life depended upon recognizing her, I’d be dead because I almost immediately forgot what she looked like. God found a way to let me know that if no one knew or appreciated the amount of work I put in, God was pleased with my imperfect efforts. Those words gave me hope, and that is what I believe the angels do. Being a person of weak faith, I need constant reminders that even when others abandon me, or don’t seem to know I am alive, God is always present. I don’t understand it, or deserve it, but I believe it.
posted December 21, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Hi. Nice and reassuring. this is a time of weakness with the holiday season, doctors etc and darkness. I try/want to believe but something holds me back. I must learn how and throe the doubts aside (my OCD?)There is a lot more than what we can see. I must remember that. Our vision is limited, literally.
posted December 21, 2007 at 9:25 pm
‘Now we see through a glass darkly…’ I believe St. Paul said this.
And I say it to myself when I lack understanding–about anything. When I was so sick during my breakdown two years ago, I couldn’t understand why I was going through what I did. I repeated this statement to myself, and the promise that God would not give me more than I could handle….
posted December 22, 2007 at 1:05 am
Babs:
I simply cannot believe in a G-d who will give people parking spaces but will not cure children of cancer.
That G-d would be a hideous monster.
posted December 22, 2007 at 2:50 am
Larry: But there ARE children who are miraculously (at least in the sight of medical professionals) cured of cancer! Not all, I grant you, but I persobally know of at least two situations the medics said were”terminal” and “hopeless” before they went into a remission which has lasted for years and years!Kids who were given months to live in elementary school who have now graduated high school and gone on to college! Mind you, I don’t understand why some and not others, but it DOES happen. (Generally not on stage at a revival or “healing”, either!)
posted December 22, 2007 at 12:55 pm
I meant all kids, obviously …
posted December 22, 2007 at 11:24 pm
God makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. you can call him a hideous monster, he can take it, he has been called worse. Some are healed, some are not. Some are protected some are not. We don’t know the big picture. We are usually afraid, God tells us not to be, more often than he tells us anything else, Be not afraid. Nothing is near as bad if we are not afraid. He says love God, love your neighbor. What would life be like if we really did these three things? “All things work together for good for those who love God”.
Bad things still happen. I know this well. God is love, I know this well, too. I cannot completely reconcile this. But He is God, I am not. I know with all certainty He lives within me. And others, all others, some just don’t know it.
posted December 23, 2007 at 1:02 am
Marquos:
I think you misunderstand.
I can deal with G-d not curing kids’ cancer. As long as, as you say, the rain falls on the just and unjust.
What I can’t deal with is G-d not curing kids’ cancer AND giving away parking spaces to his favorites. That is simply unfathomable to me.
posted December 23, 2007 at 5:03 am
Larry,
I tink you’re getting too hung up on the parking space thing. Unless I’M misunderstanding, I think Joan’s whole point was that god’s love for us is so deep that he cares about even the most trivial details of our lives, kind of like “…numbering the hairs on each of our heads…” Obviously, we’ll all have trials and tribulations; He doesn’t “bribe’ us to accept Him. If that were so, EVERYONE would “believe in order to reap the side benefits! Regardless, He knows our pain and frustrations and he CARES! I can, however relate to your point. when I first began working on my post stroke regabilitation, my new neurologist/psychiatrist gave me the standard depression inventory where there are all those questions about whether or not you feel you’re being punished for past actions.(I’m sure you’re familiar with it.) I answered those in the affirmative because my lifestyle obviouslt DID have bearing on my condition. My wonderful psychologisyt, who worked in tadam with the psychiatrist, questioned me about it and pointed out to me the difference in accepting responsibility for our actions and BLAMING ourselves. As she so succinctly put it,”…there are lots of people who are overweight, smoke and don’t get enough exercise who DON’T have strokes, and blame conotates intent, which i surely didn’t have. That was a lesson I badly needed to learn as it was contriburing heavily to my depression, but it had the unfortunate side effect of sending me into the “Why ME?” ARENA, NOT A GOOD PLACE TO even VISIT, le alone DWELL.; VISIT, LET ALONE live1 so, I DO get your point; sometimes it DOES feel like God “plays favorites” in spite of the proclaimed common rainfall. It took mr a lot of prayer and journaling to get through that particular pity party and reach a place where I wasn’t damning myself for my condition but was willing to face the contriburion my life style had made in terms of accepting culpability. that IS a tough one to sort through, but calling Him names doesn’t solve anything either!
posted December 23, 2007 at 11:09 am
Marquos and Margaret:
I was trying to be polite about this, but I guess I’ll just have to say it.
I happen to think Joan Anderson is wrong about this.
Dead wrong.
Period.
posted December 23, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Larry,
GOT IT!!! (But since when has politeness strained your responses? Don’t mean to be rude, I just thought we were beyond that need! Merry christmas anyway, my Irish cyberfriend!
posted December 23, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Dear BB community –
As I posted a couple of days ago, I need your prayers. I am suffering a wretched depression, which abated abruptly and was gone the day I first posted and the next day. But it has today returned full force. My family is nearby and my husband will be home from the road shortly. The problem isn’t them; it is me, and I don’t understand why I am so low. I’ve been pretty impatient with everyone today (think of George in “..Wonderful Life” snapping at his kids and you will get the idea of what I am like now). I feel like the depression is one of those 80ft. waves they had in California last week.
Please pray for guidance,relief, and the ability for me to pray for myself. Your prayers meant so much to me a few days ago, and the change was immediate. I need some peace right now.
posted December 23, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Larry,
You’re right, God is unfathomable. And I don’t think the parking spaces go to his “favorites” at all. The next time you won’t get it you didn’t the time before. Providential circumstances are sometimes a sign from God you’re on the right track. I don’t know why every child is not cured, I don’t know why every woman is not saved from rape. I don’t know why I was raped as a child. God can seem abominable. perhaps he is at times. he is totally beyond understanding. But I do know he has always been with me, has offered me comfort and guidance when no human would or could. He never promised me a free ride, in fact he told me I would suffer, and I have, long and often. I still love him. He loves me. And sometimes the elevator in my building is waiting for me on my floor when I get there and I thank God. I know its at least absurd, perhaps abominable in logical terms. He defies logic.
marquos
posted December 24, 2007 at 1:40 am
“I know its at least absurd, perhaps abominable in logical terms. He defies logic.”
OK, at least we agree on that, Marquos.
But my mind literally falls apart at the thought of a G-d who values parking spaces and elevators over saving kids from cancer and the vulnerable from rape. Even the latter I might be able to understand (much as you and anyone abused has my compassion), since free will means there will be evil rapists, but …
If someone were able to PROVE to me that G-d is like this (which fortunately, perhaps, cannot be done), I would become a Christopher Hitchens/Sam Harris atheist in a minute — the newly proven existence of G-d be (literally) da*ned.
posted December 24, 2007 at 1:43 am
Babs:
You have special prayers from me this dreadful Christmas for you.
But I also have to ask, medically as well as spiritually:
Do your doctors have any idea what is causing this? Did you change medications (or just your routine) lately? Or is it just one of those inexplicable nightmares that probably has hit all of us at one time or another?
Also, do your doctors think you can be stabilized enough to stay at home rather than be hospitalized?
Take care of yourself (as best you can), my sparring partner AND FRIEND.
Larry
posted December 24, 2007 at 8:35 am
Babs: I’m about to put in an EXTRA prayer-journaling pweiod in just for you. I’ll be including you in my nightly entry as well, since that’s generally my prayer hournaling time, but THIS one will be dedicated SOLELY to your relief from whatever is causing your extra-terrible depression at this time. I’m glad larry asked you all thoses questions, and I’m going to trust you enough to believe that you’ll follow WHATEVER your docs advise you to do even though nobody wants to spend Christmas in the hospital! Please keep us posted so we know what is up with you~ It’s gratifying to know that you experienced at lwast a short respite when we all lat lifted you in prayer Wish I was geographicaslly close enough to bing you a pot f my legendary homemade chicken soup whivh is great for WHATEVER ails you! (Throngs of satisfied customers can’t ALL be wrong!)
Larry: Two things: I can agree with your latest statement, so we’re back on even footin(Ar lwast IMO! hAVE A WONDERFUL, FAITH-FILLEDcHRISTMAS! Maybe the child will be reborm within your heart this year That will be my prayer anyway (But AFTER I finsh with my special petition on our friend babs’s behalf)
posted December 24, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I don’t know if anyone will see this, but I appreciate the prayers, and concern. I have been in contact with my counselor and returned my antidepressant to the previous level. What is happening is some conflict coupled with grief a loss I suffered which changed Christmas for me forever. I have gotten some advice, and though I am not happy, peaceful or content, I will make it through this dark period.
Larry – thanks and wishes for a Happy Christmas to my combative FRIEND.
Margaret – I am so comforted to know that you have been praying for me and that I am in your prayer journal.
posted December 24, 2007 at 6:55 pm
God does not value such trivial things over saving children. God is not making a choice to give a trivial gift to one and with hold a great gift from another. These small gifts are given to absolutely everyone at one time or another, not so many notice them or attribute them to God. Greater gifts, such as healing or safety are often given, often not, I cannot say why just know that there are a great many happy healthy children and give thanks for that. Were my own grandchild to die of cancer I would be incredibly angry with God, perhaps my relationship with Him would never recover, I believe I would still love him, find a way through the pain and grief, others have, but not having faced that situation, I don’t know. I do know He would reach out to me, I just don’t know if I could accept the offer.
Mark
posted December 24, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Babs
So glad you are feeling better. Glad also you found a rationale for your depression, that sometimes helps one to pull out of it I think, gives you something to work on and not just a stark, black chasm pressing in on you. Keep in contact, keep asking for help, try not to let it get so bad before you get help. You don’t want to get below the point of problematic return where the cognitive strategies don’t seem towork anymore and all you can do is hold on and pray and meditate and yell help to anyone who will listen. Keep praying , keep talking, keep writing. God bless.
Marquos
posted January 2, 2008 at 8:28 am
Barbara, just last night I felt a deep powerful depression overtake me about my life situation, that I sat down and cried. I felt the tension building in me to the point that a possible breakdown was imminent, and the despair I felt seemed to have no light of hope. After sitting alone and thinking and praying for awhile I thought of the good things I do have in my life and I concentrated on those. I asked for signs from God at that moment to point the way, and now, this morning, I feel like my having found this site with the interview with you when I did, is the answer from God that everything will be alright for me. I am more aware that He is sending his angels to surround me! This isn’t my first encounter with angels, Other family members as well as myself have had many experiences throughout our lives that tell me that angels are real and are with us always. Also, by the way, about a week ago I finished my second of your angel books. Now I know that I will have to get a copy of each of the rest of your books to lift my spirits and give me the confirmations I seek.
posted January 2, 2008 at 9:31 am
I was feeling a bit low this morning…. I came across your email purely by accident. I was getting ready to delete it and a “word” caught my eye that started me to read the article.
I realize we all have our moments of depression and I always call on
my lord to pull me out of it. Your article was a validation (my angel)
to my belief that “yes” there are angels in our lives that pull us out
of these momentary periods of dispair.
posted January 2, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Everyone assumes they know what God wants, but to God no matter is trivial in Gods sight and he knows what his children want and need for peace. We need to understand that when ever people are determining what Gods going to do for his children they seem to continually include blessings for satans children as well. And God has no obligation and no desire to bless satans spawn. Let that devil take care of his own….
posted January 2, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I found this article extremely captivating. I escaped 911 by working for the Board of Elections Mayoral Run-off. Opposed to my 9-5 as bus dispatcher for Wall Street crowd located at Liberty and Court Streets directly in front of World Trade Building One. My answers to where was god during these attacks?. He was holding up the infrastructure of N.Y.C.s subway lines running under the buildings 1-7. He was holding up the weight of lower manhattan and not allowing it to crack AND FALL INTO THE HUDSON RIVER.PLUS HE STOPPED THE BUILDINGS FROM SWAYING OR FALLING INTO ANY OF THE SURROUNDING BUILDINGS, WHICH WOULD HAVE CREATED A DOMINOE EFFECT ON THE AREA AND WOULD HAVE BEEN WHAT THE TERRORISTS WERE DREAMING OF. IT WAS NOT ALLAHS PLAN, BUT THAT OF DEMONIC POSSESED EXTREMISTS IN THE NAME OF ISLAM. BLASPHEMY. WELL, I KNOW THAT THOSE WHO DOUBTED GOD HAVENT TRUSTED IN HIM. I HOPE THAT PEOPLE START USING REASON AND FAITH HAND IN HAND.I ALSO HAD MY DOUBTS ABOUT SUICIDE AND A PRIEST FRIEND OF MINE EXPLAINED THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMAS THAT DEPARTED SOULS LIVE THROUGH BEFORE COMMITING SUCH ACTS. BUT IT TAKES MUCH PRAYER AND INTERCESSION FROM BOTH HUMANS AND ANGELS.TO WELCOME THEM TO HEAVEN. THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATION. TRULY, MANNY R. AKA THEORACLE04@HOTMAIL.COM
posted January 2, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I have believed in angels all of my life, even as a
child. I also am a chronic depression sufferer, but
with medication I can usually handle whatever comes.
I have dozens if not hundreds of remembered experiences
where I “just knew” that I had my angel with me…
I also believe that angels come often in human form,
even if we don’t realize until later who they are …
I have been uplifted, encouraged, carried and helped
by many people in my lifetime … and I am thankful
for each and every one of them…
posted January 3, 2008 at 2:15 am
All human souls have the power of free will and this was also the case for those who departed the earth on 9/11. They chose to depart for reasons we cannot judge. I honor their choice and release to peace.
As far as suicide, it is my understanding there is no such thing as hell. Therefore, the deceased will go to heaven but will take their issues with them and need to work them out on that plane or reincarnate to try again. Now about depression, this is a matter of repressed deep grief. Start the process of healing by asking the angels to help you resolve this. Each is a personal journey and they will know what to do. Please do not have fear for the outcome is certain and God does not go back on promises. I think good thoughts of any seeker out there. Love
posted January 3, 2008 at 10:01 am
I just recently started reading books on angels because I lost my five month old grandson in September and have started reading about Heaven/The Other side, etc and I find that knowing angels are really here to help us gives me a sense of peace. Is it fair to ask them for help with my grief? I ask them each night for a moment in heaven with Dominick just a quick glance at his face, one more kiss- I ask for a sign that they are here and am not sure if I receive my answers or not- How do I know if its really my angel and not my imagination. Can you give me a list of more Angel books to read-
thank you,
J
posted January 4, 2008 at 5:56 am
I am really impressed with this wonderful group of people. We have all been “through the valleys” at one time or another. That’s life. I just think what a privilege it is to have God by our side! (I will never leave you..)
Marquos, your faith and love of God shines through!
May God bless each and everyone of you.
MB
posted January 4, 2008 at 9:40 am
I’m 49 and to this day I can still remember the soft voice that told me to lay down as I sat on a sofa in front of an open window during a thunderstorm when I was 7. Because I heard and obeyed the voice I am here today, lightening came through the window seconds after I laid down, and if I hadn’t moved that bolt of lightening would have struck the back of my head instead of a lamp across the room.