In Annie’s Angels, Annie receives help from angels to set a new course for her life. The inspiration for this story came from several things; however, there were two main influences.

First, a quote from Jeffrey R. Holland where he says, “One of the things that will become more important in our lives the longer we live is the reality of angels, their work and their ministry…those more personal ministering angels who are with us and around us, empowered to help us and who do exactly that. I believe that we need to speak of and believe in and bear testimony of the ministry of angels more than we sometimes do.”

Second – which is more likely first since it happened before I ever read the quote from Jeffrey Holland, was a very personal experience which I have only ever shared a couple of times because I know most people will not believe it – they will pass it off as a dream, or in some other manner, and that’s fine. For me, it was very real.

When I was young, my father moved us to Pennsylvania, where both my father’s and my mother’s families are from. Moving there brought my first opportunity to become acquainted with my grandparents; however, shortly after we arrived, my grandfather on my father’s side passed away. I had only a brief association with him before this. I was barely a teenager, very shy, and still suffering the effects of my parents divorce. It is important to note that I knew almost nothing at this point about my extended family.

Not long after Grandfather’s funeral, my grandfather came to visit me. Take it as you please. My grandfather came to me in my bedroom. He looked exactly as he had the last time I’d seen him alive. He asked me to follow him, and took me down to the kitchen. We had a long wooden table with benches along each side, and he invited me to sit on one side as he sat and faced me from the other. Grandfather proceeded then to relate to me many things about our family members. Some were living, many were not. The important part is, they were things I did not have any knowledge of before this. He also told me things that turned out to be accurate in my later life.

This is a very truncated version of the event. The important part, for the sake of telling how Annie’s Angels came to be, is that I am sure my grandfather watches over me, just as Annie’s grandparents were with her. I am sure there are angels among us even if we never see them. Thinking about this is what led to Annie’s Angels becoming real, at least for me.

Have you had experiences with angels in your life?