Angels, Angels Everywhere - Divine Protection & Divine Messengers - Episode 21

In this tender and often humorous episode, Lulu shares personal stories of mysterious protection, unexpected encounters, feathers, dragonflies, and the quiet ways angels may be guiding us every day. A gentle invitation to slow down, pay attention, and remember that we may be far more supported than we realize.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Welcome to Light in the Garden, a soft place to land, to breathe, and to remember who you truly are. I'm Lulu, and this podcast is my offering. Here we explore the quiet places where the human and the divine meet, through stories from the road, the lake where I spend many hours, and the long path of my own becoming. Each episode is simply a companion for your heart. Thank you for joining me today and I'm so very glad you're here. This episode is called Angels Angels Everywhere. I am currently facilitating a class on angels. The book we are studying together is called Ask Your Angels. Angels are on my mind every day, particularly at the moment of this writing, because it's 2 53 AM and I'm asking my personal angel to help me get back to sleep. Apparently the answer is no. Get up and write. Jeez Louise, what a taskmaster. Actually, the real reason I woke up is because one of my pups is suffering from intestinal distress, and the sounds of his tummy, all that squeaking and grumbling sounds like the wind section of a junior high orchestra warming up, and it's loud enough to wake me up and send us outside in the middle of the night. I realize this may not sound particularly angelic, but you know I'm just keeping it real over here at two hundred fifty three in the morning. I do absolutely love knowing these divine messengers and protectors are present in my world. Oh, and yours too. Sometimes the presence of these beings is up close and personal and impossible to miss, and sometimes we have to be awake, aware, and conscious of their nearness. People have been aware of angels for centuries. They've been depicted in art, architecture, poetry, music, and dance, and they unapologetically show up a lot of times in children's books. In fact, I think my love of angels was first sparked while reading to my children when they were small. The littlest angel, angels among us, and angel watching over me captured both my attention and imagination and theirs. Now as an adult, I have been privileged to experience what I believe were actual angelic encounters, and I want to share some of them with you. Perhaps as I tell you these stories, they may awaken an awareness of your own encounters, because here's the truth. Or at least it's my truth. Life can feel uncertain and chaotic, and calling on angels who guide and protect us make the world feel infinitely more beautiful. Let me tell you about my first remembered encounter. My children and I were traveling somewhere on the interstate. It was just an ordinary day, until suddenly one of my tires blew out while I was driving nearly sixty miles an hour, and I had to force the car onto the shoulder of the road. It was frightening, and especially with young children in the car. I stepped out of the vehicle and almost immediately a man appeared behind me. I don't remember his car, though surely there must have been one, right? But there he was the moment I stepped onto the shoulder. With both hands raised toward me, palms out, he kept repeating Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. And honestly, he looked a little terrifying. As he changed my tire, he explained that he had recently returned from missionary work in South America and was suffering from severe skin cancer. Part of his nose and one ear had been removed, and his hands were horribly scarred as well. The children watched quietly from inside the car while this stranger calmly worked. Within minutes he had replaced the tire, urged me to get the donut replaced as soon as possible, and then he was just gone. Now this happened more than forty five years ago. I don't remember where we lived or even what kind of car I was driving, but I remember exactly what I was wearing and every detail of that encounter. To you, my patient listener, this may simply sound like an unusual story. But I don't know. To me, it was an angelic encounter. I believe angels sometimes show up in human form when needed. I also believe I need to pay attention more carefully. I need to resist rushing through my days because angelic help is always waiting in the wings. Perhaps that's part of why they were created to support us. Another time my children and I were driving from Tennessee where we lived to Pennsylvania to visit my mother and stepfather in the Poconos. They lived on top of a mountain, and as we were approaching the final hair pin turned near their home when I suddenly heard a loud voice inside my head say Move over. Immediately the car was almost shoved sideways toward the ditch, and just in time, because right about then another vehicle came flying around that curve and we narrowly avoided a head on collision. That, without question, felt like protection of the highest order. Then there was the RV trip through Rocky Mountain National Park. Two of my children and I were heading down the mountain toward Estees Park when suddenly the brakes failed. Completely no brakes, no emergency brake, nothing. I was standing on the brake pedal with my full weight and the RV just kept moving down that mountain road. And then somehow we found ourselves gently resting on a little grassy patch alongside the road. I even have a photograph of myself standing there afterward talking to roadside assist on my phone while waiting for a tow truck. Where in your own life have angels appeared? Sometimes their presence arrives so softly and quietly it's easy to miss. Not long ago I was tubing down Crystal River here in Florida when a dragonfly landed on my knee and stayed with me for most of that five mile float. Another summer I had what felt like an almost daily visitation from a green bottle fly. Every morning it hovered outside my bedroom window until I came outside to greet it, and then off we each went to live our separate little lives. This continued nearly the entire summer. You and I have to pay attention to the other than human world that's alive all around us because there may be angelic activity trying to reach us in ways we've forgotten how to notice. Some mornings while lying in my bed with my pups as the sun rises, I have watched thousands of shimmering streams of light pouring through my bedroom window. A couple of years ago I loaded my twelve foot kayak into my SUV, which, by the way, is quite a sight, since the kayak is too heavy to lift onto the roof, so we simply ride together inside the vehicle. When I pulled it out to launch, I tripped and tore up my knee and my hand pretty badly. Blood was everywhere. But my attitude was I'm here, so I'm going. So off I paddled into the middle of the lake. Still bleeding, I looked up into the sky, of course, and said out loud to my guardian angel, Hey dude, where were you when I needed you? I was honestly a little pissed off. And at that exact moment a feather floated down from the sky and landed directly in my boat. True story, no lie. My feeling then and now is that my angel had been there all along. Maybe things could have been much worse. Or maybe, as I'm writing this, I'm realizing perhaps the message was you could have gone home, you know. So look around, my friends. Pay attention. We are being watched over, protected, guided in ways we are often completely unaware of. And who knows, one day a little fairy may pop out from under your azalea bush just to say hello. It hasn't happened to me yet, but I remain hopeful. I'd like to offer a longer breathing space now, an invitation to let this teaching land in your body, not just your mind. I call it a soft angel meditation. So I hope you're able to find your way to your sacred meditation space, even if it's just a soft, comfy place you've nestled into in your bed. Make any small movements you need to make to get comfortable, and let your body settle with no effort. Feel the weight of yourself wherever you are sitting. Feet, legs, hips, shoulders. Let everything soften just a little. Take a slow breath in. An exhale longer than the inhale. Let's do that again. A nice full belly breath in. Not empty, but quietly alive. As if the air itself is listening. There's nothing you need to do. Use your heightened awareness and just notice. Notice a gentle presence, or maybe the feeling of a presence. Soft, kind, unhurried. Our angels do not rush. They do not demand. They simply draw near. Imagine now, just at the edge of your awareness, a warm, subtle light. Not bright, not overwhelming. More like the soft glow of early morning as the sun is just beginning to rise. This light is not outside of you. It is around you. It is within you. And with that light comes a quiet companionship. You are not alone in this moment. Or this. You have never been alone, and you will never be alone. Let your breath move naturally now. And as you breathe, imagine that with each inhale and with each exhale, you are becoming just a little more open. Not forcing, but just allowing. If there is any heaviness in your body or your thoughts, you don't have to push it away. Just let it be gently held. As if unseen hands are carrying some of the weight for you. Angels do not take over your life, but they stand with you in it. They stand beside you. You might imagine your personal angel, your guardian angel, beside you now, or behind you, steady and supportive, or simply surrounding you, wings enfolding you like a quiet field of presence. Let your shoulders drop away from your ears just a bit more. Let your jaw soften. Let your breath deepen. Without trying, rest here for a few moments. Nothing to do, nothing to become. Just held, just accompanied, just here. And when you're ready, begin to notice your body again. The surface beneath you, the room around you. Take one slightly deeper breath in and exhale gently. Amen. And no mistake. Remember, my dear friends, even in the ordinary moments of your day, there is always light waiting in the garden. So until next time, take good care of yourselves and of each other. And I thank you from the depths of my heart for visiting me today. If you enjoyed this podcast, share it with your friends. A deep bow to each of you. And finally, if you have found value here and would like to spend some one-on-one time with me, I offer spiritual companionship. Sometimes it really helps to have a steady presence beside you as you listen for your own inner wisdom and find your way forward. Until next time, my friends, take good care of yourselves and of each other.