Angel Vision

I often pray Psalm 91 over my boys and even myself at times. This is a very encouraging Psalm of protection. This is not for just anybody, however, but offered to those who love the Lord, ending out the Psalm with “BECAUSE he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him…” (Vs 14-15)

In the early summer of 2004, I was nearing the end of a bad marriage, in which my husband had started becoming physically abusive with me. We were just a few months from moving out of state and I was waiting for the move to make a fresh start, hoping we could work things out after the move, but unfortunately the change of scenery did not help. Anyhow, right before we moved, I had often prayed that God would surround our home with angels and protect me from my husband until the time was right to either go our separate ways or get things worked out. At that point, I was becoming afraid of him. Just the way he would look at me with hate in his eyes at times sent chills up my spine. I was holding on to a shred of hope and was very determined that our marriage was going to work out because we had two small children to think about.

One evening when I went into my oldest son’s bedroom (who was 7 at the time) to say our nighttime prayers, he started talking about the angel he had seen the night before in our driveway after I left the room. He said it was glowing brightly and just standing in the driveway. At first, I kind of shrugged it off saying “are you sure you didn’t just have a dream about an angel or maybe you saw something else?” However, he was very, very insistent that he had seen an angel the night before looking at the house and would not deviate the least bit from this story. I just thought he was too young to understand something like that besides the fact he did have a very creative imagination too.

However, the more I thought about it, I began to remember back to my continuous prayers of the previous few months of asking God to send his angels to protect me and our house and then I got chills (the good kind). I had never even told him I had prayed that specifically and then thought, maybe he did see an angel, the one I had prayed for. Sometimes we write young kids off when they say something out of the ordinary, but I have always seen evidence of and believed that my son (who is now 18) had a special “sixth sense.” Whether in fact what he saw was a real angel or not, I do know that God answers prayers. He very easily could have answered that specific prayer of mine and allowed my little boy to see a glimpse of it so he could tell me himself what he saw, confirming in my mind that God was in fact going to keep me safe from my husband.

Fourteen years later, I still remember that as if it were yesterday whenever I read Psalm 91. God has definitely had his hand of protection over me and my boys in some sticky situations that could have turned out very badly had God not intervened. Although I am living in one of the most dangerous cities in America, I have felt God’s strong, protective hand over me in a special way, almost like there is a shield around me. More than once, I have driven up to a place (one time it was where I was working at then) only to see the police wrapping yellow tape around the surrounding area and cop cars everywhere. Had I only been there a few minutes earlier…who knows?

Three other separate times while working at that same place (a hospital in the hood), I had men come up to me wanting money or to “walk me to my car” (in a very small parking lot) and as I said no thank you and picked up my pace, they finally walked away. One other time, there was a group of guys sitting on the hood of a car hollering out to me to come over there and I just ignored them as I speed walked to my car. I saw one of them get up like he was going to come over to me and just then, the security patrol stopped him and told them to leave me alone.

I am not a scared person by nature and maybe actually too brave for my britches sometimes, but God has also given me a strong sense something is not right (discernment) that has definitely protected me before things could turn bad.

So, although I do believe we have to be smart and use the brains God gave us to avoid potentially dangerous situations (because stupid choices do have bad consequences), I also believe that God protects us in ways we may never see. When we are committed to him, there is nothing he will not protect us from that would otherwise destroy us.

My favorite part of Psalm 91 is where it says, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” (Vs 4) Whenever I think of a possible dangerous situation or if something is coming up in my life that I am worried about, I picture this verse in my mind.  I am a very visual person, so when I read this verse, I see myself warm and protected as I lay comfortably under his faithful wings, hidden from all that could harm me. This gives me enough comfort and peace to have the courage I need to face whatever is coming.

I encourage you to start praying Psalm 91 over yourself, your spouse and/or your children regularly. If you do not have a Bible, go online, pull up Psalm 91 and copy it down to keep as a reference. Never underestimate the power of praying God’s Word! J