The memory is one of the sweetest of my childhood. After struggling with several immune issues, the doctors determined I needed a tonsillectomy. But first, they would lance my tonsils to remove the infection.
All I remember of that procedure was the aftermath as my daddy carried me from the OR to my room. I can still feel the strength of his arms around me, as I completely relaxed against his chest. Totally secure and certain he would not let me fall.
God commands angels to accompany us, to guard us against the onslaughts of life. Especially when we feel most vulnerable. Psalm 91:12 confirms that they lift us up, protect us, and carry us through our struggles. We won’t even stab our toes on the metaphorical stone pathway.
My initial study of these verses seemed to imply how the angels protected Jesus during his earthly journey. But a closer look at the upper case and lower case pronouns revealed a more personal message.
These angels are actually carrying us — the children of God.
Although my dad now resides on the eternal side of the separation veil, I can still revel in that memory. But I can also expand it to remember that angels now carry me, and God is as close as a heartbeat.
In One Day I Wrote Back, Jane Herring writes, “We are God’s beloved children . . . When we find our center, our calm heart in Christ, this is the peace that cannot be taken away . . . We can live and feel and experience life as beloved children of God.”
So when anxiety threatens or the circumstances of life try to tear us down, we can react like beloved children. Hold our hands up and trust God to pick us up. To carry us through the challenges. To call on his angels to guard us. To hold us so close, we can feel that divine heartbeat.
To know without a doubt that we are God’s beloved.
©2025 RJ Thesman – All Rights Reserved
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For more encouraging thoughts, check out Embracing Life with Hope: Daily Encouragement for your Spiritual Journey.
Angels come in many forms. They appear when we authentically reach out to them. Often when we are in great need. They are other human beings who respond graciously when called upon. That happened to me often in life. Most recently when my wife of 57 years was dying of Alzheimer’s and I was unable to see her because of a COVID lock down. Writing had always been an emotional outlet for me but my academic work made it too stilted and formal. I needed help and found it. Soon afterward I found another angel, this time in my church, who also lost a spouse to Alzheimer’s. Later we married. Bottom line, angels are everywhere. All they ask is that we reach out to them not from self pity, but from an understanding that God’s world is about feelings of authentic connectedness and mutual love.
Loving this line “God’s world is about feelings of authentic connectedness and mutual love.” Thanks for the comment.
To be a child in Christ’s arms and soothed and loved is my glimpse of the future I look forward to having one day. My favorite ending to the hymn that is my favorite is that at the end of our lives we “will be like a child at home.”
Yes. I look forward to sharing that moment with you.
Such a good reminder. There’s no substitute for the ‘everlasting arms’ bearing us up. Through all.