Oh my goodness, look at them!
Your babies
are so precious-
they are divine.

The way the light shines through their eyes …
their sweet smiles –
they are sugar kids,
miracles,
darlings,
diamond sweet
sunshine,

wow!

just look at them,
your babies.

little miracles –
you are so blessed to be their mom!

Once when I was a newish mom and had moved to a new city away from family and friends, I was at the mall playland surrounded by chaos, lonely, not knowing a soul – completely overwhelmed, just trying to keep my two small children busy and out of the house for a break of our regular routine. I was looking for a moment of peace making sure they were safe but kind of checked out.

I suddenly felt a loving angelic presence with me “oh they are so precious. what little darlings.” It was a profound moment of peace, beauty and love for me. I never shared that with a soul because I was afraid of judgement and unbelief stealing the peaceful memory of the encounter, but it’s okay with me now if you think I am crazy! The point of the story is not about me. The point is that when I was lonely, God sent an angel to love on me and my babies, to help me feel His infinite delight in them. It was a blessing that came directly from spirit, and I am grateful for it.

God has so many ways to show his love and care for us and our children. Good teachers, coaches, friends and loving family members can come into our lives like angels to pour His love into our kids – it happens all the time. It’s easy to forget that those blessings come from God! I think the Lord gives us direct spiritual encounter and gifts, so we remember who to thank and glorify for our blessings – His Holy Name!

This angelic visitation encouraged my heart and helped me experience the spiritual reality all around us and made me feel supported, loved and delighted in when I didn’t even realize how badly I needed it.

Over the weekend, I took a group of college students to volunteer at a program for at-risk youth. I was told some of the children we were serving may have been abused, have incarcerated parents and all have had very limited opportunities in life. This was their big thing of the week! To receive a meal, a gospel message and some extra tlc from volunteers. I wound up driving a mom home, who had 3 little kids. She seemed so sad and guarded and beat down by life – I could help but imagine she had been abused. She was also incredibly sweet and gentle. She was grateful for the ride and offer to drive her home in the rain, along with the leftovers we packed up for her.

I found myself trying to encourage her by pouring love over her babies: “oh my they are so precious, precious little darlings. They are so sweet. You are so lucky to be their mom,” when I thought of the angel who visited me.

After I dropped her off, I started bawling. At her need, at how SWEET her babies were, at how excited they were to be invited into my car because they don’t have their own, how loving they were, how eager they were to please, and how sweetly they were wondering about their grandma still having to walk home.

But mostly I started to bawl realizing I’d been given the grace to be like the angel, who came to me when I was lonely and beaten down from life, just trying to let my kids have a little fun so I could rest.

The greatest blessing is to be the hands and feet of Christ to others. To share the mercy that has been so generously bestowed upon us. I pray that angelic energy conveyed through my small gesture of kindness to them and that her kids may be blessed by the Lord to rise up out of their difficult circumstances. That I can be one in a long line of “angels” sent into their lives until they can be blessed with the great privilege of being able to do the same for others.

The point of being a Christian isn’t the hope of seeing an angel or receive special spiritual gifts – the point is to share God’s mercy and love with others. I am so grateful for this season of life and the opportunities to serve that I am consistently being given. Lord, give us the grace to be your hands and feet to those in need! Help us to use our spiritual gifts, which have been so generously bestow upon us for the glory of Your name only.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

written by Nicky Gant for Unite in Prayer 4/12/2022