I have a friend who was hiking in the Sierra Nevada mountains with his two daughters. One was about three years old. The other daughter was just a baby, under one year of age and was in a back-pack baby carrier on his back.

They were many miles away from the nearest person and were walking around a reservoir filled with water. His three year old daughter said she wanted to go play in the water. He explained to her that the sides of the reservoir were very steep and she couldn't wade in because the sides were too steep to stand. The water also got deep very quickly and she did not know how to swim. His little daughter understood and they walked on around the reservoirs edge. In less than a minute, the 3 year old tripped and rolled down the steep bank 5 to 10 feet and into the water. She struggled and with each panicked move swept farther out in the water. My friend raced down to the water. He stood in the water and reached as far as he could, but the little girl was just inches out of his reach. She was quickly moving away from shore.

My friend stepped farther into the water this time, with water up to his waist, his feet slipped in the steep reservoir bottom. His daughter slipped just inches out of his reach. He took another step into the water, the steep decline this time caused the water to be up to his shoulders. Just as he grasped his little daughter's hand, his feet slipped, however his little girl clung to him. His head and his little one year old's head went under the water. He kicked with all his might, but couldn't get his head above the water. He felt they all three would drown and he desperately prayed," God, help me!" He raise his right hand in a desperate stoke towards the shore and felt a strong hand grasp his hand. He was yanked with his two daughters up and out of the water, and up the 10 feet to the flat land above the reservoir.

They were saved! He was laying there holding his daughters and quickly turned over to see who had miraculously saved him. No one was there. The shore was empty. They were the only people within miles. He knew then, that they had been saved by an Angel. God had heard his prayer! --Duane Brannon

Here's my story which still gives me goosebumps & tears to this day...
I was living in Las Vegas for a year & a half, homesick, about to divorce and trying to decide if I should move back to my hometown of Fort Dodge, IA. My mom flew out to see me early January of 1995 and presented me with an angel pin to wear to remind me that someone was always watching over me. I wore it every day. I had it on when I decided to move home and started out on a rainy/snowy travel day. I managed to get through the snow in Flagstaff, AZ but decided to stop at the next town because the weather wasn't cooperating. I feared for my life and my 10 year old son traveling on such treacherous roads.( I have always had a fear of driving anyway so this venture was quite an accomplishment for me!) We booked a motel room for the night and watched the weather channel which had a blizzard forecast for our travel route.

For some reason, I was quite calm, in a situation where I usually become VERY nervous. Something was assuring me to just hang around in the cafeteria of the motel the next morning, which I did, and that somehow I would have an answer for my travel worries. My son and I just sat around, nibbling at our food and an elderly gentleman approached us and asked where we came from and where we were going. I told him and he said "Oh no, you don't want to go that way, they just got eleven inches of snow and it's not over yet. Let me go get my atlas and re-route you on dry roads." He got his Atlas and directed us north through New Mexico and all the way to Iowa on dry roads and around major cities. I asked him where he was from and he told me he was from Iowa too. Then he was gone as quickly as he had come. At some point on our new travel route I reached up to feel for my angel pin and it was gone! I searched high and low for that pin but never found it. When I arrived in Iowa and related the story to my Mom she smiled and said, "Your pin is gone because you used it! That was your angel who approached you in that cafeteria!"

That's my story and I am now crying like a baby! (Tears of thanks and joy!) I also had a dream that was quite significant to this trip which still lingers on my mind: While contemplating the trip home from Vegas I was concerned how I was going to get past my fear of driving, especially on unfamiliar roads. I had a dream one night that I had gone into the ditch with my little car. My deceased father and uncle came along and pushed me out of the ditch and stood with their arms around each other waving at me as I drove away. They didn't speak to me but were smiling. It was after that dream that I actively started to make plans to move home.--Sue Freeman

Sharon and I were driving home to Tennessee from Washington state. We had to be back in Tennessee by Monday and planned to drive straight through. We stopped at a restaurant on the inter-state for dinner and a friendly waitress warned us not to stop at the rest areas in Montana as there had been several attacks on women travelers recently. We decided to take turns at the wheel and sleep in between.

At about 4 a.m. I had to sleep and tried to wake Sharon. No luck. No towns, only a rest area sign. I pulled in, and couldn't hold my eyes open another minute. The place was deserted, no cars or trucks. I parked up by the restroom and as I collapsed on the front seat a huge man with dark shiny hair and a bright red plaid jacket walked to the front of the car and looked in. My only thought "God I hope that's an angel"! Too tied to be afraid. I slept and awoke at 8 a.m. My friend was furious till I told her about our Angel. We thanked God for His protection and got home safely.

Didn't even think about it again till 5 years later at a prayer meeting in Texas, when a lady was recalling an incident that happened to her. Seems that she had recently moved from a small town nearby where she had been working two jobs to make ends meet. There had been a rapist attacking single women in their homes and had not been caught. One night she came home very late and exhausted, went straight to bed. She noticed the back door. It wasn't locked and not even closed tightly. There was a huge man standing at the door but she couldn't move. As she closed her eyes she said "God, I hope that's an angel" and slept soundly. Funny thing, she went on, he didn't look like I expected. He had beautiful black shiny hair and was wearing a bright red plaid jacket, you know, the kind a lumberjack might wear. I almost fainted!! She had seen my lumberjack angel! We are both Christians and now firmly believe that God saved us both from serious harm by sending a protector, so awesome, that no one would dare challenge him while we slept peacefully. --C.L. Gray