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Monday, November 21, 2016

angels watching over us

Lately in my work angels come up very frequently. We know that our ancestors are our angels, or at least that's what I was taught growing up--but we seem to forget that we had a wealth of experiences before we ourselves were born, and that our earliest ancestors also needed angels--who served them?

After Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, an angel was placed there with a flaming sword to protect them from eating fruit of the Tree of Life while they were still in their sins. Who was this angel? Could it have been a pre-born person?

My experience is that everyone I have worked on has a rich pre-birth history full of angelic service--and attending trauma that still affects them today.

A friend posted this quote on Facebook today:
"Now, this is the truth. We humble people, we who feel ourselves sometimes so worthless, so good-for-nothing, we are not so worthless as we think. There is not one of us but what God's love has been expended upon. There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. There is not one of us that He has not desired to save and that He has not devised means to save. There is not one of us that He has not given His angels charge concerning. We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are the children of God and that He has actually given His angels--invisible beings of power and might--charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their keeping. . . .Those who otherwise might be thought to be contemptible and unworthy of notice, Jesus says, be careful about offending them, for "their angels do always behold the face of my Father." (Matthew 18:10.) We are in their charge. They watch over us, and are, to a certain extent, doubtless, responsible for the watchcare that they exercise over us, just as we are responsible for any duty that is assigned us."(1890, Contributor 11:476-77)

The full text of this is found here. Search for "watchcare."

I love how it says they watch over us and are responsible for their watchcare over us, just as we are responsible for the duties assigned to us here.

My experience and observation has been that angels are a lot like us. Because, like us, they are as-yet unperfected.

What are some implications of this?

- I think of angels kind of like home or visiting teachers. Sometimes you get great ones. Sometimes you don't. But they're all still children of God who have been assigned to a task, whether they complete it or not. Here and there, the children of God fulfill their responsibilities to varying degrees. I always like to pray that my angels love me and like to watch out for me and that they are given extra insight for me. I ask to process their emotions sometimes. We work together.

- Think of the emotions you incur fulfilling your responsibilities here. Consider the possibility that you had responsibilities before that you fulfilled with different degrees of accomplishment. Is it possible you are still carrying shame or grief over perceptions of a pre-birth assignment you felt you did not sufficiently fulfill? Is it possible you are still carrying the weight of situations you experienced in those capacities?

These are obviously things you can pray about for yourself.

I have a testimony of angels. We interact with them every day. And perhaps we have acted as angels ourselves, before our mortal births. I invite you to pray about this.