I Bring You Glad Tidings: Inspiring True Stories of Christmas Angels - Hardcover

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671026127 ISBN 13: 9780671026127

Publisher: Pocket Books, 1999

Synopsis

Inspiring tales of near-encounters with celestial beings are collected here, with plentiful anecdotes from ordinary people who believe that their lives have been touched by an angel. Reissue.

About this title

About the Author:

Rosemary Ellen Guiley is a renowned expert on spirituality, mystical and visionary experience, and the paranormal. She is a frequent and popular lecturer on such topics as angels, prayer, healing, dreams, spiritual awakenings, and mysteries of the unknown. She serves on the board of directors of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Among her previous books are Wellness: Prayers for Comfort and Healing; Blessings: Prayers for the Home and Family; The Miracle of Prayer; and Angels of Mercy, all published by Pocket Books. She lives with her husband near Annapolis, Maryland.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

The Sleeping Angel

Every day, our paths cross with the paths of strangers. Some meetings are fleeting. Some are of momentous significance, great turning points of mind and heart. A seemingly chance encounter is not an accident or coincidence at all, but a purposeful weaving of God's tapestry of souls. Angels play a role in this weaving of destinies. They give us a nudge here, a prompt there. One Christmas in upstate New York, angels brought strangers together, and lives were changed.

Yvonne Warner never expected, nor intended, to become the "Angel Lady." Yet she was gifted with otherworldly sight from birth, and from infancy was aware of great spiritual beings she came to call angels and masters. As she grew older, she communicated with them, was visited by them, and traveled into wondrous realms with them. As a trance channel, she received messages from the dead, which were of great comfort to the living. She understood these gifts of hers to be gifts of the Spirit, as described in the Bible.

Young Yvonne's sense of destiny was that she would be guided in what she should do in life, and that everything was to be done out of love. "I work with and for the Father," she said. She believed in miracles. "A miracle is the expression of love from God," she told others. "It is up to us to make miracles happen every day by expressing that love."

Life handed Yvonne a full plate. By the time she was in her mid-thirties, she had been married twice, a mother, rich, poor, and briefly homeless. All of her work had been to protect or help and heal others. She had worked as a police officer and an undercover officer. She had been an acupuncturist, a primary caregiver for AIDS patients, an HIV counselor, a substance abuse counselor, a children's education counselor, an art therapist, and a caregiver to the dying. People had died in her arms and been healed in her arms. Yvonne always felt humble that she could be of help to others. "Whatever I have to give you has been given by the Father and the Father within," she would say.

She received daily counsel from the angels. They told her never to worry, that her needs would always be met. She followed their guidance, not always knowing where it would lead, but having complete faith and trust that it would always be right and true. She learned that her purpose concerned uplifting her brothers and sisters of humanity to know and understand that God does always watch over them, and is always available. She learned that in return for giving, her own cup was always filled.

When Yvonne was thirty-six, two benign tumors were discovered on her coccyx at the end of her spine. She was between jobs -- she had lost one when a counseling center closed, and found another, but had not yet started it. Two surgeries to remove the tumors left Yvonne in excruciating pain and temporarily unable to walk. She had to give up the new job. She lay in bed wondering how she was going to survive -- how she was going to put food on the table and pay the bills.

One day as she slept in bed an angel visited her in her dreams. "You are going to make angels," the great being said.

Yvonne awakened perplexed as to how these instructions would be executed. The angel had not told her how to go about it, but simply to do it. Yvonne knew that she, like every human being, had to find her own way. Guidance is given, but if we are told precisely what to do, then we do not grow. We do not learn. It is our experience that refreshes the soul and advances our wisdom.

Yvonne had purchased some exquisite ceramic angels. She felt uplifted every time she looked at them. They reminded her that there was a presence greater than she that was with her all the time. As the Bible indicated, every time someone needed guidance or an answer, God sent an angel. And God's angels looked in on her often. Yvonne thought everyone should have an angel figurine to remind them of the divine presence around them, to lift them in the same way, and to act as a messenger from God.

An "awesome unfolding" was the only way Yvonne could describe how events led her to make angels. At the end of her street lived a woman who had a ceramics shop. Yvonne could barely walk, but immediately upon awakening from her dream, she felt compelled to hobble down the street and seek out this woman's advice. The shop was closed, but a sign said it would open at 7 p.m. She hobbled home. At 7 p.m. she returned to the shop, but it was still closed. Noting the phone number on the door, she thought she would call and leave a message. Spying a pay phone, she placed the call but somehow dialed a wrong number. Frustrated, tired, and in pain, Yvonne decided to put the whole thing off. Then she heard a voice whisper to her, "Turn around." She turned and saw lights on in the shop.

In great pain, Yvonne limped back and went through the door. Inside she met the proprietor, who was getting ready to teach a class in making ceramics. The students were assembled. "I want to make angels," Yvonne announced. "Can you show me how?"

"I can show you," said the woman, "but you can't join the class -- it's full."

"You don't understand," said Yvonne. "I'm supposed to be here."

"I'm sorry," the proprietor said gently. "I don't have enough room."

Just then a woman dashed into the shop. She had to drop out of the class, she said, with profuse apologies.

The students and proprietor all looked at Yvonne in astonishment. "You see," Yvonne said, "I am supposed to be here!"

Yvonne joined the class and learned how to work with ceramics. She made one angel. One person saw it, loved it, and told others. From her bedside, Yvonne was suddenly in business as the "Angel Lady."

She recovered from her surgeries and devoted herself to making her porcelain beauties. They sold wherever she took them. She went to flea markets, galleries, crafts shows, and malls. She named her business Yvonne's Miracles. She made angels and cherubs by the thousands, each one by hand every step of the way. Each was unique in its decorations. Some were glazed for outdoor use. The heavenly angels guided her hands. "Never worry," the angels said. "Just make the angels for us. Each one is for someone. You will not know who they are for." True to her guidance, every angel Yvonne made found its way to the person for whom it was meant. She could feel it when an angel changed hands. She sold many and gave many away. Her sales enabled her to support herself. The angels, she said, fed her.

At Christmastime, Yvonne rented table space in the shopping mall in Middletown, New York. Business from holiday shoppers was good, so when Christmas neared the following year, Yvonne rented table space again. She hired a woman, Florence, to help her sell her creations.

One morning, as Yvonne prepared to go to the mall to work, she heard the angels tell her that someone would be coming by who had lost a loved one. This person would purchase an angel for the gravesite. Yvonne was to give that person a certain poem, because the family member who had passed away wanted to let the family know that he or she was all right, and the passing was supposed to happen. Those left behind should be happy, because their loved one was no longer in pain and suffering.

The poem was of anonymous authorship, found and given to Yvonne by a friend. Yvonne had it written on a piece of paper. She located it, put it in a box, and took it to the mall. She told Florence, "Somebody is going to come by who has lost someone. They are to receive this poem along with the angel."

The strands of Yvonne's destiny were about to be interwoven with the lives of Terri and David Levy and members of their families.

* * *

For six years, Terri's older sister, Mary, had battled breast cancer, determined to survive. She had three children; she wanted more than anything to live for them.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0671026127
• ISBN 13: 9780671026127
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 207