Angel Story From Debra Larson

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A couple of months ago my sister-in-law passed away after a short illness, leaving behind her loving son – my nephew, Sean. She was only 55 and my nephew, 21. Sean was very close to his mother, making it all that much harder to lose her so quickly and at such a young age.

My sister-in-law was cremated and her remains were buried next to her father in Greenwood cemetery. My brother, my nephew and I drove to the cemetery where we met other members of the family for the burial. The ceremony at the gravesite was very touching. When the minister finished with prayers and kind words, Sean placed his mother’s urn into the grave.

After the service, the three of us decided to have breakfast before driving home. Five minutes away was a place called Greenwoods Café. Ironically, it had the same name as the cemetery. It was Veteran’s Day and there was a sign on the door that Veterans eat free. I don’t know if that was the reason it was so crowded or if that was the typical Saturday morning crowd. When we walked in, there were no seats available. I wasn’t sure if we wanted to wait or leave and find another place to eat.

A woman was sitting by herself at a table (right next to us) and asked us if we wanted to join her. It took us a minute to understand exactly what she was asking/offering because it’s not every day a stranger asks if you want to sit at their table and eat with them. We took her up on her offer and sat down with her. About five minutes later a booth opened up and the waitress asked us if we wanted to move to the booth and we said no, we were good where we were. I’m so happy we stayed put.

This lady was so nice and hilarious too. We learned that she’s 74. She joked about how she was in the CIA and insisted my brother was too. She kept telling my brother that she knew him from somewhere and what a good father he is. She thought it was so cool that Sean was studying Cybersecurity. She really took a liking to Sean, telling him how she could tell what a good kid he is. At one point my brother and I started talking about something else and she started talking to Sean like they’ve known each other for years.

So, we ate, talked and laughed for about an hour or so. It wasn’t until we were ready to leave that we introduced ourselves. She said her name is Sister Mary. I couldn’t believe this funny woman who jokingly cursed a couple of times, talked about the Spotted Cow beer she had at the bar last night was a “Sister”. Then she shook my brother’s hand, my hand and gave Sean the biggest, tightest hug I’ve ever seen a stranger give anyone.

We walked out of the restaurant, and I said “Sean, we just had breakfast with your Mom”. I said, it may sound crazy but I believe it. My brother and Sean believe it too.

I couldn’t stop thinking about this encounter the whole drive home. She told my brother what a good Father he is to Sean. She told Sean how proud she is of him and what a good kid he is. And for me, prior to her death, my sister-in-law and I had been talking about going out to breakfast for months. For one reason or another, we didn’t get around to it but she always promised we would. That was the breakfast she promised me! All three of us felt such peace after our angel encounter with Sister Mary.

Tuesday With The Angels- Hallmark Helps The Kindness Of Life

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Writing about angels became healing after I lost my daughter, Kate. I realize now I always wanted a Hallmark- kind- of- life as a child growing up and strived for that in adulthood with my beautiful family. Then when tragedy came and I lost my daughter, I thought life for me was over. But it wasn’t.

Just like themes in Hallmark cards and the Hallmark Channel we have now, wonderful life possibilities are achievable. I believe there is innate goodness in most people.  The themes on the cards and in the films give us the spirit of goodness always winning and the possibility that love can come along whether it be romantic love, friendship or in family togetherness.

Even in the themes that provide comfort,  there is always a positive spin on life and love for the future. Memories of loved ones who have passed on to the great beyond are never gone the cards and films tell us. The memories are always in our hearts.

Oh how I wish everyone could have a life where we all acknowledge somehow somewhere there can be  beauty before us for a future even through loss like I lost Kate. There are always people who need our kindness.My family certainly proved to need me. When I write my books about angels, I use the themes of hope, dreams, redemption and forgiveness. Because to me, love always does win. And as always the possibilities of good always winning is there for the taking.  The cards and films of  Hallmark I’m sure are written with a little help from above.

Tuesdays With The Angels- Knowing Children Are Our Treasures The Way to Peace

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Our Children are our treasures. Love and kindness are primary for children to have  a wonderful life. In our world today why aren’t we all working together for peace? Do we all want peace for the children’s future? If so, then why isn’t it happening?  I shout with my words when I write and if anyone is reading them then that gives me hope. Hope is a prayer and dreaming for peace is a prayer too. I pray to God and the angels to help us find a pathway to end wars and strife for all our sakes.

There is a solution which begins at home by teaching children to accept others differences and viewpoints. War is destroying our world with brutality and yet it continues with it’s consequences of anxiety, fear and distrust . Putting peace in our own life helps protect our vulnerable treasures, the children. For they can’t speak for themselves now but someday they could change the world for the better with learning peaceful ways. Be their advocates. Be their hope.

 

Tuesdays With The Angels-Every Child In The World Deserves Kindness

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When I grew up, I knew angels were near. It just was a belief I held strongly and now that I am older, I still hold fast to this belief. I pray each day that  2024 may be the time the world takes notice of the effect war, bullying and suffering has on all the world’s children.

We are supposed to be children’s role models, their safe havens, their soft place to learn and grow.In my last blog I wrote, “Every child in the world deserves a wonderful life.”  I sure wish I could shout out these words for all the world to hear. But my shouting is found in my writing only and as I write, I hope my readers make sure they teach the children in their lives kindness, nourishing them with the  emotional fulfillment and love they need to grow into loving adults.

I pray angels will be near guiding us, helping us all understand yet the angels can’t do the work for us. It’s my 2024 hope that every adult will do the best they can for the children  in their lives and ultimately the children will  learn that bullying and hate are the losers and most importantly, kindness and  love will always win again and again. 

Tuesdays With The Angels- Angels & Love In Our Hearts

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As I write about angels, knowing it is my calling, I have a real angel to thank. Once, my friend and I met a man who I know was an angel. My dear friend, Nancy, encouraged me to go on a girls trip with her to Houston  after my daughter, Kate, died tragically. All hope was gone for a happy life without her, I feared. But we met an elderly gentleman who appeared human standing in the mens department of a Houston upscale store. We all said hello. We exchanged pleasantries and then went on our way.

The next day Nancy wanted to shop an hour away in a little town neither of us had ever been to.  We had just entered the store but suddenly the same man came up to us. We were surprised to see him. Was it a coincidence? We talked a moment and then he said, “See you at the airport.” We  turned away to look at gifts both thinking how odd it was to see him again. We turned back to say goodbye again to the man yet he was gone. It’s been over twenty five years since I’ve seen him, yet I can still see his kind face clearly in my mind. My fear of flying had escalated after my daughter passed away. We  went outside and looked up and down the street but  he was nowhere. We sat down at a little table outside. We both wondered if  he was an angel sent to comfort me.  It was then my fear started to leave and the beginnings of hope returned. 

I believe angels come when we need them the most. They come to us with a spoken word or a smile. Some angels appear human and some have actually appeared with wings to many of us. I know in my heart that the love light the angels bring us is real. It’s from a higher power, which is God to me.

In these times of trouble in the world, when hate and bullying try to dominate everyone’s thinking, I believe in my heart that thinking about angels and asking for their help truly can change a moment. I pray the angels will help all the children across the world. I pray for their  chance to be free, for their peace, for their laughter and song to lift up to heaven. I pray that if we all visualize the world at peace, it will help all of  our days and nights. I pray for a world where our grandchildren will be safe, where hate is replaced by love and  the bullies of the world will finally see the light of angels and learn what I know to be true. Love is all we ever need. I’m sure I met a real angel that day and  I’m also sure all angels whisper to us, “Love is the only way to find a place to call home.”

 

Tuesdays With The Angels-All Children Deserve A Wonderful Life

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It’s A Wonderful Life has always been my favorite holiday movie. Maybe it’s because the theme of the film is truly about love and kindness and how it changes everything. In the film, an angel comes to change George’s life. George is a man who wants to end his life as the bully in the town has seemingly ruined the family business. Clarence, the angel, appears showing George what life would have been like if George had never been born. In the end George realizes his unselfish kindness to the townsfolk and his family has saved the business and that he really does have a Wonderful Life. 

I encountered an angel once long ago when hope seemed gone after my daughter died. The angel, like Clarence, appeared human to me and comforted me with his words. He seemingly disappeared and I realized it had been a true miracle in my life. I knew then putting my family first was paramount. Life had to go on and my children needed me more that ever.

I believe we must give our children a wonderful life as best we can. Through the wartorn world now, the children must be at the forefront of every adults mind. The children are the world’s future. They watch us, they learn from us. They can learn love or they can learn that bullying, another word for hate, is okay. Bullying has no place in our world. We must nuture our children as best we can. Just as George’s town helped him thwart the bully with their kindness, every child deserves protection from the hate in the world.

I believe in angels. Knowing that angels are here guiding us in seen or unseen ways gives me hope in humanity and human kindness. For hope and dreams and being kind to others helps our children no matter where they live in our world. Bless the children of the world for they all deserve a Wonderful Life.

Tuesdays With The Angels-Protecting Our Children With Prayers of Angel Light

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As the world still reels from hateful words and war, I write about angels. When I can’t sleep I don’t worry that I won’t get enough rest, I usually think about the stories I’m writing. But of late my late night thoughts turn to prayer for the children of the world who are in trying situations. “Give them hope,” I pray. “Dear angels and God above, give them shelter and those to take care and protect them.”

I believe in my heart that hope is prayer, dreaming of better times for our children and all of us is ahead. There is power in praying to a Higher Power, to me that is God and His angels. Prayer is asking for peace, visualizing our children protected. I believe dreams and prayers can come true. As always the bully and evil will never win because love always finds the way. May the angel light of protection be our prayer today. .

Tuesdays With The Angels-Bringing Peace To The Children of the World

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Peace is possible if we think only of our children and grandchildren’s safety and happiness. The world is suffering and the most vulnerable, the children, are suffering the most aren’t they?

I believe in positive thinking and prayer as the late minister Norman Vincent Peale’s works influenced my life, helping me through the grief of losing my daughter years ago.  I believe in imagining a world where God’s grace shows us the way to peace. We must realize the precious short life we are given and how loving each other is the only way to live a peaceful life.

I met an angel long ago. He appeared human but the circumstances were extraordinary. When I lost my daughter and was in the saddest place I’d ever been, he  comforted me with his words and then he was gone in a flicker of a candle moment. Did God send him? I know He did.

As I pray for peace, I pray for all of us to see the light, the light of love. Change needs to come in our sensitivity to others pain. Human kindness is the way to the light that love shines.

Below is the cover of the first novel I wrote in the Mystic Bay Series. The book is dedicated to my dear daughter, Kate. Because I met an angel long ago, my life has been forever inspired. My life is full of prayer for my family, friends and also just as fervently for the world. 

“In the night of death, hope sees a star and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing.” Robert Green Ingersoll

Tuesdays With The Angels- For The Children Love Is The Way

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In this time of war raging in parts of the world, it’s hard for me to write about angels but I know I must. I must because man’s inhumanity to man is affecting our treasures, our children. I pray that God and the angels help our earth’s population to eliminate the hate and find peace.

In my own little corner of the world all I can do is write, pray, hope and yearn for peace.  Our earth’s children need us to stop and think about them, if only for them and not the prejudice and  hate that is trying to ruin our precious blue planet.

Don’t people see what it is doing to the children? The PTSD, the fear, the beginnings of hate are evident everywhere. We see it in other parts of the world but at home in our politics, in our school yards and streets. Love always wins and it’s the only way to win. Forgiveness, working together to create a better world is totally possible. All goodness is possible I know this in my heart. We must never let the bully and hate win.

 Whoever reads this, please pass it on, I’m just one writer, a retired teacher, a mother, a grandmother, a wife, a friend but I know in all my years what is right and good and millions of others believe what I believe. Please pray for peace and love. It’s the only way now. As Madam Norma, my character in all my books said in my novel, 20 Moon Rd. An Angel’s Tale, “Kindness is the first ingredient of love.” Please pray for our children that they may know peace someday, that they will see that love is the only way to peace.

Peace and Love, Jody Sharpe

Tuesdays With The Angels-The Bully Never Wins

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I just watched the film, Alice and Wonderland, with my grandchildren. What a powerful message the children’s story presents about friendship and standing up to bullying. The queen in the film reminded me of some of the politicians and media personalities of  today.

To me the ugliness of the bully personality is at risk. Why? Because the courageous self esteem it takes to stand up to a bully will always win out. I often wonder why everyone can’t work together in a more civilized manner as role models for our children. I remember twice being bullied as a child. Though it was decades ago, I still remember the hurt and anquish it caused. 

On our TV’s and cell phones we are bombarded with the criticizing and name calling of others that depicts these despicable traits of the bullies who, to me, are all cowards. As in Alice In Wonderland, the queen doesn’t win in the end. Alice ends up with the friendships and the powerful courage needed to thwart the Queen.

I write novels about angels. And I’m happy to say, in my fantasy writing mind, there is always a bully character. But in every one of the novels, the bully learns a lesson and ultimately moves in a new direction towards kindness. The possibility of change is always present. Every one of us has the power to stop the bully in their tracks and to teach them by our actions.

Psychologists can answer why human bullies become bullies. I only know that I happily watch my own children teach their children how to act, how to care for others in a kind way. Teaching starts with the parents. Being a role model of  kindness for our kids matters and could change everything.

I will keep on writing the bully into my stories and pray with hopes and dreams in tact that one day real bullies will take a look in the mirror and find their own aha moment. Will they learn there’s strength in love and conviction? Will they learn there’s courage in standing up for oneself and in standing up for the vulnerable ones, our children?

The queen in Alice In Wonderland, ended up friendless. Actually, if she was a real person, I’d feel sorry for her. The bullies in the world are missing the sheer joy that being kind can bring. That’s why the bully never wins. The words joy and kindness are not included in the definition of a bully .