Tuesdays With The Angels- Submission Angels In Prison

Name
Louis Templeman
Email
Your angel story submission
Angels in Prison
Let me tell you a story about prisons and angels. The action occurred on Saturday (1-8-05) at a time when I was shrouded in the darkness of depression.
I was in an hour long line. In the sun. No breeze. I had a religious magazine with me – The Magnificat. It has daily scripture, prayers, poems and the like. I use such times to read, to pray, and meditate. This is how I survive when I am clouded by depression, sadness and anger.
After an hour of calf-aching, feet hurting meditation and prayer I looked around and observed the hundreds of men milling about. I thought, “Every one of these men has an angel.” Also, there are surely demons about as well, tempting and tormenting.
I was inspired to pray. I prayed the angels would be strengthened and the men inspired to follow their guidance. That the angels would overwhelm demonic intent to destroy those souls. I never prayed like that before, but I was satisfied I had prayed well.
Then, I had a thought that I felt was not initiated by me but was divine conversation. I felt the Holy Spirit say, “Read page 40 in your magazine.” I pulled the magazine from my pocket and on page 40 began a 3-page section on “guardian angels”: scriptures, prayers and a poem on angels.
It was an overwhelming and peculiar coincidence. I am convinced the Holy Spirit was showing me several things. 1. Those particular prayers of the magazine validated I was in the spirit as my legs ached and I prayed. 2. My feelings of depression and doubt this past week are not an indicator of my spiritual health or God’s grace on me. 3. God is often closer to us in our time of darkness than he is in the light or during times of good feelings.
It’s possible that I will always be haunted by the darkness of depression but I am learning how to succeed in these spiritual conflicts. As Padre Pio once said, “Thank and sweetly kiss the hand of God that strikes you because it is always the hand of the Father who strikes you because he loves you.
Consider Habakkuk 3: 17-19: Even though the figs trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines . . . even though the sheep all die . . . I will be joyful and glad, because the Lord God is my savior.
I prayed in the darkness of mental gloom and spiritual weariness and, yet, the Holy Spirit led me in a prayer that motivated angels to work for men’s salvation. The irony of the spiritual life.

Tuesdays With The Angels-Angels & Sunflowers

In the summer my husband and I happily live in a mountain town. There, I marvel as August comes and the wild sunflowers emerge from the ground with spectacular precision as they sway with the wind. This year two grew in the yard and I knew when I saw the little bit of green they would be wild sunflowers blown in from the fields and forests nearby. The wild ones grew tall in September and as late in the summer came they still hadn’t bloomed. One is just opening up and the first one bloomed  two days ago. October has arrived with fall chilly morning air, so I wait for the second one with hope to fully bloom before the frost comes.

The little miracles happened  as they grew when both their closed faces seemingly overnight  turned toward the east and the morning sunlight.  It made me think of the problems of our world. I’d asked the angels to help sunflowers, and the pumpkins in my garden. I asked for the flock of  black birds to return in August for their brief time at the feeder and they did. I ask everyday for  humanity to help each other around the world..

Since I’m a writer of angel stories, I ask the angels to help people see the need to help each other  the way nature cares for all the trees,  flowers and plants. In these times when hope seems to fade toward peace, we have everything we need to help ourselves and our world. Turing our  faces to  heaven, we can feel the gift of life just as the late blooming wild sunflowers in my yard instinctively did.