My angels

I recently read a novel in which one of the characters was the author of self-help books about angels, which is what led me to thinking about this topic.

Theologically, I have a lot of issues with society's portrayal of angels - they are not cute Gerber babies or Victorian woman in flowing gowns. Biblically, they're male and they're powerful warriors.

But, on the other hand, I also have to somewhat agree with angels as referenced in this novel - that we each have angels appointed to us to guide and protect us, and that they can appear in many different forms...because I have experienced angels in this way.

My first encounter with an angel was when I was about...I don't know...maybe 7 years old. That summer, I was very sick. I couldn't eat anything without vomiting, so I quit trying to eat. I remember my parents talking about putting me in the hospital where I'd be fed through tubes.

One evening, I was lying on the couch, too weak to do much of anything, drifting in and out of sleep, when someone appeared next to me. She was an elderly black woman, and there was something so peaceful and comforting about her presence. She didn't speak a word, she just placed her hand on my forehead, and petted my hair.

Miraculously, I got better after that. I was never taken to a doctor, never diagnosed, so I don't know what had been wrong with me. But I never forgot that moment or the angel that appeared to me in that unexpected form. I've dreamed of her a few times, and she's spoken to me in those dreams, but I've never again had a "visitation" from her.

Many years later, I was watching the movie "The Stand" and was flabbergasted by the character Abigail Freemantle. She looks and sounds exactly like my angel.

Another time, when I was in my 20s, I was in a very dangerous situation. (I won't describe the details...but it was pretty awful.) And I was saved from that situation by the appearance of a lovely young black woman. It was a very profound experience, and I am certain the woman was an angel. She has appeared to me two other times, not as a guardian, but as a comforter, and in this instances, she has sung to me, in a beautiful language that I don't recognize.

This angel looks quite a bit like Vickie Winans, who I hadn't even heard of until many years after that first experience. When I friend handed me a Vickie Winans CD with her picture on the cover, I was stunned.

I can't explain my angels from a theological standpoint, and I know that these experiences go against Biblical teaching. Nevertheless, I can't discount them as anything but very real.

What are your thoughts about angels?