Listening to angels

I was sitting at my desk working, when I felt an immediate need to walk my dog. I don’t usually walk him at that time of day, but the urge was so great that off we went.

Throughout my life, I have come to associate such strong and clear feelings with angels, or divine messages from God. (I can’t say that I always obey, but this time I did!)

That’s not to say God knows the details of our human experience, but the insights and ideas we need come to light as we are conscious of our oneness with God, good. The Bible tells us: “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways” (Psalms 91:11). Mary Baker Eddy, in her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” describes angels, in part, as “God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect” (p. 581).

It was a beautiful fall day, the air crisp, the sky a perfect blue, and the sun felt like a comforting hug. I stopped at one of my favorite outlooks, closed my eyes, and felt wrapped in God’s love. In fact, I felt God, who is Love, embracing me and all Her beautiful creation, and I felt assured that there was not a single spot where divine Love was not present.

After this overlook, I typically enter the woods and do a loop around a swampy area. That day, though, I felt impelled to stay in the field and circle back to my car.

As I did so, I met a woman who was also walking a dog. Our dogs started to play together, and I asked if we could walk with them a little way.

After a short while, the woman started to cry. She told me that in the parking lot just moments before, a man had driven in and blocked her car as she tried to park. When she told him to please move so she could go and walk her dog, he told her that he would be waiting for her when she returned.

Still basking in that revelation of the presence of God’s love, I reached out to this woman with compassion, knowing that God was caring for her.

I also reached out to God to gain a higher sense of the man she had encountered in the parking lot. I’ve learned in Christian Science that God, the Father-Mother of all of us, made everyone spiritually, in God’s likeness. That spiritual likeness of God is good, true, kind, considerate, trusting, and trustful, and therefore could not be vindictive or harmful.

The certainty that divine Love fills all space, as I’d felt earlier, helped me to see Love caring for this woman, protecting her and guiding her to know what to do, and keeping the man from acting against his true, spiritual nature and doing any harm.

The woman phoned the police, and then she said she wanted to finish her walk on her own to calm down a little more, and would return to the parking lot when the police arrived. We exchanged cell phone numbers, and I told her we could stay in touch through texts. I promised to wait there until we were sure she was safe.

I continued to pray and to think about divine Love’s control over the situation, about how there could be no place for fear or intimidation in the atmosphere of Love. I felt no fear, and the fact that I’d felt inspired to go to this place at this time felt like proof to me that the situation was governed by Love’s complete, principled control. As I neared the parking lot, I resolved to see the man as God’s loving child, expressing Godlike qualities, rather than an aggressive mortal.

By the time I reached my car, it was clear that the man had left and was nowhere around the parking lot. The woman was able to continue her walk until the police arrived.

When I gave her a call later that day, my new friend was calm and at peace. She said, “I don’t know if you believe in signs, but I do. You must have been sent by God to help me.” I agreed, saying that God sends angel thoughts to all of us, all the time. That’s what had led me to be there.

I was so grateful for this lesson that reminded me how important it is to listen to God, and I was grateful to be able to bear witness to God’s loving care for Her children. God truly speaks to all of us. We only need to listen and follow.