In Search of Angels: True Stories of Beauty and Hope

By Janise Beaumont

A fully illustrated collection of personal stories of everyday encounters with angels.

Every day miracles large and small are taking place, as people experience life-changing encounters with angels. Some see these beautiful angelic presences. Others simply sense them. Sometimes angels come into our lives to inspire us, or give us some hope when life seems hopeless. At other times they rescue us from harm or help set us back on track. In need of an urgent miracle, Janise sets off in search of those who have encountered angels, and shares their remarkable, often life-changing experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspired Living
• Release date: Oct 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781741768947

Janise Beaumont

Janise Beaumont is the author of seven non-fiction books. She has worked in newspapers in Australia and England, with years also in TV and radio (on-air and producing). Tango excites her and always will, but sadly she is only adept at this divine dance in her dreams. She lives in Sydney.

Book preview

IN SEARCH OF ANGELS

IN SEARCH OF ANGELS

True stories of beauty and hope

Janise Beaumont

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First published in 2009

Copyright © Janise Beaumont 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

Inspired Living, an imprint of

Allen & Unwin

83 Alexander Street

Crows Nest NSW 2065

Australia

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National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available

from the National Library of Australia

www.librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au

ISBN 978 1 74237 101 6

Internal design by Nada Backovic

Set in 12/15.5 pt Fournier by Bookhouse, Sydney

Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

1: When life hurts like crazy

2: So, what about angels?

3: How many angels do you know?

4: Taking a chance on angels

5: Search of a lifetime

6: An angelic birth

7: All the love in the world, and heaven too

8: Loving little ones

9: An angel in Paris

10: A cat with wings

11: A heavenly fact

12: Even horses have wings

13: The woman who talks to angels

14: Comfort from the angels

15: A precious photo

16: Reaching out to those who are lost

17: Drop your baggage and fly

18: Never too late to aim for the light

19: The mysterious monk

20: The angel of death isn’t scary

21: A flutter of wings

22: The flying nun

23: Shimmer

24: People power + Angel power

25: Loved back to health

26: Animals can be angels too

27: Amazing pussy cats

28: Dogs with halos

29: Heaven on Earth

30: Katherine the Great

31: Ask angels for help. It works!

32: Angels in disguise

33: Everyone is precious

34: The highway angel

35: An angel to the rescue

36: Even angels have their specialties

37: Sometimes a Greek god needs help too

38: Answered prayers

39: Girl in a million

40: We can do anything!

41: Beautiful people

42: Surviving certain death

43: Pauline’s journey to happiness

44: Candles lighting the way

45: Suffering makes us stronger

46: Flying with angels

47: Schools with heart

48: Knitting her way to heaven

49: My friend Chen

50: Angels are our friends

51: Beauty lies beyond the cover

53: From hopelessness to joy

54: The angel inside all of us

55: Light and love from Ellen

56: Miracles happen!

1

When life hurts like crazy

Eight years ago I was feeling very low indeed, and unable to see light in any direction. It was one of those bleak times that come along for each of us occasionally—and so upset, anxious and worried was I about my circumstances that I was actually paralysed with fear.

You know the feeling?

I saw myself as a failure in every area of life, doubting that what I regarded as my dodgy prospects were likely to ever bring about much of a recovery. I pictured myself as in a situation akin to wading through treacle, suspecting things were only going to get worse.

Do you know that feeling too? Happiness doesn’t stand a chance.

A few pals offered sympathy, but it didn’t make much of a difference. Not that time anyway. When you feel as though you’re about to go under for the third time, sympathy doesn’t cut any ice.

It’s strange that we can always see a way out when it’s someone else’s life—but it’s not so easy when we’re the one stuck in hopelessness. I know, because I’ve been there.

And then out of the blue one day I thought of a lovely woman I know vaguely. We weren’t close, but I wondered if she’d mind me inviting myself to go and chat with her about the mess I was in, because desperation had taken hold.

‘Come on over,’ she said warmly.

During our life-affirming conversation she gave me a little picture book about angels. It was full of photos of angels—angels in doorways, down backstreets, everywhere really. These angels weren’t just in beautiful locations with beautiful people, but with those who were lost, hungry, down and out. And the book focused in a gentle way on the message that none of us is ever alone.

It became my talisman and helped me a great deal. Not so much because it conveyed any messages I hadn’t heard before, but because it came along at a time when I had lost sight of the fact that everyone loses their way now and then. Being reminded that we are not alone whatever the circumstances was more precious than rubies. Looking back, it may well have saved my life.

I slept with that book beside my bed so it would trigger regular reminders that I had more support than I ever imagined. I now understood that henceforth I’d never have to take a step on my own if I didn’t want to.

Shortly after this time, in the course of my job as a newspaper journalist, I interviewed a famous entertainer who had been to hell and back in her troubled life. I asked what was the main thing she knew then she didn’t know at twenty. She told me: ‘I now know that if a good person holds out a hand, take it.’ So here was someone else shouting from the rooftops that we are not alone.

The clouds had well and truly lifted from my life, and the way back from desolation had begun with the simple gift of a little angel picture book.

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2

So, what about angels?

Interestingly, in the years since, whenever I heard the word ‘angel’, my mind turned, not so much to that book, but rather to my band of earthly protectors: the handful of treasured friends who stick with me when the going gets tough. They never flinch when I cry or when I succumb to worries that temporarily feel like they’re going to do me in.

I was raised Catholic—so there was plenty of talk about angels, yet curiously I never, ever, thought of them as a going concern in modern life. I didn’t disbelieve in angels; I simply never gave them a thought.

Are angels in fact anything more than just a figment of our dreams? Wings and all, do they truly exist outside one’s imagination? Can we ask for their intervention?

I hope so, as right now I’m desperate for them to be real, because I’m pinning my hopes on a certain guardian angel to help bring about a miracle close to home.

It’s all come about because my teenage niece Georgia, who is very dear to me, is fighting for her life. She’s fallen victim in hospital to an infection which has travelled to her brain, and remains as yet unidentified, despite a million tests. It’s now about two minutes to twelve on the intensive care ward clock, so the situation is serious.

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And now I have a longing to know the score about angels. And secretly, I’m daring to hope that what I’m embarking on might prove to be something unimaginably wonderful.

Make yourself familiar with the angels, and behold them frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you.

SAINT FRANCISDE SALES

3

How many angels do you know?

As I saw it from the outset, I have to follow every lead that might show me the way to the light, in any form. Simple? I don’t think so. Exciting? Oh, I hope so much that it will be just that.

One of my main challenges is not to dismiss stories I’m told without giving them a chance. For once in my life, I have to learn how to listen very carefully and not talk over people—for in that moment a heavenly experience could come and go, and I’d never know it.

As I began to listen to those around me, I was becoming tuned in to the way one person would speak magnificently about another, recommending them for their gentleness and inner beauty. Suddenly I was going down a path so pure and so deeply touching, it was starting to feel like being in a church—but not the sort of church I had ever known before.

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Some months ago I met a lovely young woman at a party, and I so enjoyed my conversation with her. I left the party feeling uplifted by her contagious excitement at the impending birth of her first baby and by her enthusiasm for life.

Kelly now has a gorgeous baby, Olive. We have stayed in touch, and I thought of her as soon as my search began, as I was curious to find out where she stands on angels.

‘I’m not aware of meeting any angels in the divine sense,’ Kelly says, ‘but I do have an earth angel in my life. Let’s call her Lizzie.

‘I got to know Lizzie when she joined the company I was working for several years ago. She was warm and welcoming and told me lots of lovely, flattering things about myself. I felt we had an immediate connection, and quickly fell into the kind of friendship where you trust someone enough to share personal information. But it wasn’t just the flattery and emotional crutch that made me like her: Lizzie immediately made me feel calm and safe. And although we’d just met, she felt like family.

‘Lizzie has the kind of spirit that just makes you want to be in her presence as much as possible. It’s a tonic. She doesn’t have any children of her own, but has gathered a coterie of rather unique women around her that love her dearly; like a mother, a sister, a daughter. Introduced to each other over the years at dinners or events Lizzie organised, we often meet up independently and have become good friends ourselves. The extended family I’ve met through Lizzie has changed the architecture of my life, which is a good thing, because she’s a busy lady. I look to her for guidance often, but I never want to be a chore. As my dear friend