Are Animals Really Angels in Disguise? By Allen and Linda Anderson
Angels, who are covered in fur,
fins, feathers, or scales, touch the lives everyday of millions of people
around the world. From the thousands of stories we've received over the years,
we’ve concluded that countless numbers of humans have become more
compassionate, giving, loving, and courageous because of their spiritual
connection with a pet or an animal in nature. We believe that angels, disguised
as animals, teach spiritual lessons which help humans gain a greater respect
for all life.\
How can we call animals angels?
Well, isn't it the nature of angels to offer unconditional love? The stories
we’ve received from our readers show the angelic qualities of animals. After
you read and think about them, decide for yourself if animals are sometimes
more tuned in to the Divine than we may have ever imagined possible.
An
Angel Dog Returns
Rita, a woman who visited our Angel Animals Web site, shared a
story with us about her beloved German shepherd animal companion Kheva. We
thought it was a beautiful example of an angel in disguise who showed how the
love connection between people and their beloved animal companions continues
even after death.
One day, while Rita and her husband
were at work, Kheva suffered a massive coronary. When they arrived home, the
dog's body was still warm, so Rita called the vet so see if anything could be
done to help him. The vet told Rita that from what she’d described over the
phone, it sounded as if Kheva was gone. Rita was very upset by this news and
phoned her parish priest. Father Pat came over to Rita’s home and blessed the
dog as well as Rita’s still-living pet, Tasha.
Rita says their family felt
tremendous grief over losing Kheva. She writes, "My husband, Tasha, and I
cried throughout the night. We were so inconsolable that later in the evening,
we drove to the rectory to ask Father Pat to help us heal from our deep sorrow.
He gently reminded us that this day of Kheva’s death was the feast of St.
Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of all living creatures." Rita’s
thoughts of Kheva in the arms of St. Francis brought some relief from the pain
of losing her beloved friend.
The next morning Rita and her
husband decided not to go to work but to spend quality time with Tasha who
stood vigil near Kheva's bed, waiting for her friend to return. The family
continued to console each other throughout the day.
Even though she was still grief-stricken, Rita returned to her job
the following day. As her car was delayed in traffic and she slowly inched
toward a stop sign, Rita noticed a man, standing in his driveway, putting a
suitcase in the trunk of his car. Suddenly a large, solid-white German shepherd
ran across the man’s lawn in front of him and darted toward Rita’s car.
Rite writes, "I got out of my
car and called to this incredibly beautiful dog. I’d never seen a white German
shepherd like him. Instead of coming over, the dog stood in front of me,
wagging his tail. He seemed to be smiling at me.
“Again, I called out and asked him to come to me. The dog
continued to stand in the same position in the street without moving toward
me." A man, who had been in the car behind Rita, walked over to ask her if
something was wrong. He wanted to know why she was standing in the road, early
in the morning, talking to thin air.”
Rita writes, "I asked the
gentlemen, ‘Didn’t you see the white German shepherd dog in front of me?’ He
answered that he hadn’t seen anything other than me talking to myself in the
street.”
Perplexed, Rita also asked the man, who had been putting suitcases
in his car, if he’d seen a white German shepherd run across the yard in front
of him. Both men were puzzled and bewildered at her questions. They told Rita
there hadn’t been any dogs at all in the yard or the street.
Rita was stunned by their insistence
that they hadn’t seen the impressive dog who had greeted her so warmly. She
returned to her car and spent a few minutes thinking about what had just
happened. The only conclusion she could reach was that Kheva had somehow
returned to her in the form of this silent angel animal messenger to let her
know that the love between them would never die.
Rita writes, "Kheva came back to tell me that he was okay
where he was. God bless his happy soul."
A Furry Hero-Angel
An animal lover from Holland,
Margriet, wrote to us about a miraculous experience she had with her beloved
St. Bernard, Lobbes. Margriet’s family and Lobbes stayed at a campsite during a
very hot, dry, summer holiday.
Margriet writes, "When Lobbes
was seven years old, we spent our summer vacation at a camp where we parked our
large mobile home and built a nice garden around it. The campsite nestled in
the middle of the beautiful Gelderland woods among many pine trees which stood
close together in clumps between caravans and tents. Dogs were allowed at this
camp, and Lobbes greatly enjoyed our time together there."
Usually Lobbes, who didn’t like the
dark, wasn’t fond of going for nighttime walks. But on one evening, Lobbes was
very excited and he began squeaking, as if he wanted to volunteer for taking a
walk. His eagerness to go out into the dark and the noise he made were unusual,
because Lobbes was typically very quiet.
Margriet writes, "My father got
up to take Lobbes walking, and the dog started jumping up and down and running
to the door. When they went outside, Lobbes ran to our garden gate, still
squealing loudly. My father opened the gate for him, and the dog ran so fast to
the entrance of the campsite that Dad had trouble keeping up with him."
Suddenly Lobbes gave a deep,
terrifying growl from behind some bushes across the roadway where he’d run. My
father hurried over to where Lobbes stood and found a pale, trembling young
girl. She kept repeating, "Sir, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." The
little girl, who probably thought it would be a fun game, had built a fire
under a large gas tank where nobody could see it. Margriet's father quickly
smothered the flames.
Margriet writes, "If Lobbes
hadn’t insisted on going outside when he did, only a few minutes later, the
tank would have exploded, and the fire would have destroyed the woods,
caravans, tents, and the humans and animals in and around them. Lobbes saved us all
from a big disaster.”
Margriet says that over the years, her family had often marveled
at this dog’s strong intuition, but on this night, Lobbes became a hero
throughout the campsite.
What do angel animals know? How do they know these things? The
questions we ask about animals may remain mysteries of the universe. But until
we figure it all out, we can certainly enjoy giving animals the love,
gratitude, and respect angels in disguise truly deserve.
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