Attribution
About 18 months after my husband, John, died, we seemed to hit somewhat of a plateau in our life without him. Our older daughter, Christine (no real names here) was in first grade and Claire was 3 ½. Chris horded pictures of her Dad and slept with the soft blue “Greatest Dad on Earth“ sweatshirt she had picked out for him the year before he died. Claire looked for him everywhere we went--just like a psychologist had warned me she might. She opened doors to closets and bedrooms and cupboards looking for him--in our house, in my parents‘ house, in anyone‘s house. Even in hotels. It about broke my heart every time. Apparently, she had no idea where he went, or what happened to him. All she knew was that he wasn’t there. Claire’s endless searching for her missing Dad really upset Chris, who was able to have a slightly better understanding of the permanency of death. “Mom! She thinks he’s on vacation and that he’s going to come back! Can’t you do something?!”
I had no idea what else to do--we’d been to a child psychologist a couple of times; bought puppets for play therapy and read a couple of books and had heart-to-heart talks. So, I prayed. I prayed to God for an idea about how to help my daughters deal with their Dad’s death and his absence from our daily life.
On a Saturday morning, I told them that we were going to draw pictures for Daddy (they used to draw them all the time for him to hang up in his office) and ask the angels to take them to Daddy in heaven. And, we added a prayer to Archangel Michael at bedtime and asked him to protect us and Daddy and help us see Daddy in heaven that night. We put the pictures in between the pages of our Bible and went to sleep.
The next morning, Claire got up first, came into the kitchen and asked for Cheerios. Not wanting to impose my hopes of hearing one of those incredible Angel Stories you read about in Guidepost while waiting at the doctor’s office, I got her breakfast and waited. Chris came out a few minutes later and said, “Well, Mom, did you see Dad in heaven last night?” I said, no, I hadn’t. Had she? No, she said, but she did remember being in Archangel Michael’s house, which, she said, had all blue windows, like the (stained) glass ones in churches,except a little more like crystals, and she remembered feeling safe and seeing a lot of other angels there. But Dad wasn’t with them.
Claire looked up from her bowl of Cheerios and said, “Archangel Michael is REALLY tall!” I asked her if she saw him last night and she said, “Yes! And, he’s REALLY tall!” Her eyes were wide open. I said, “Well, did you see Daddy?” “Yes. But, Mom, Archangel Michael is REALLY tall!” I said, “O.K. But, what was Daddy doing?” She said, “He was wearing a white bathrobe. But, Mom! Archangel Michael is REALLY tall! Lots taller than Daddy!” And, that was it. She went back to her Cheerios and I didn’t press her for more information, even though I would have liked to have gotten into her head and seen what she had seen.
In The Science of the Spoken Word, there is a chapter dedicated to Archangel Michael, that introduces specific prayers you can say for the protection of yourself, your family, friends, country, etc. I highly recommend you get a copy--or check out this link on Archangel Michael. The easiest prayer to learn and to say with children is the one for Traveling Protection, found on page 93:
Lord Michael before, Lord Michael behind,
Lord Michael to the right, Lord Michael to the left,
Lord Michael above, Lord Michael below,
Lord Michael, Lord Michael wherever I go!
I AM his love protecting here!
I AM his love protecting here!
I AM his love protecting here! (3x)
And, what might you visualize? Why, fiery rings of blue, of course!
Angel stories to share, anyone?
