Do you believe in angels?

A couple of days ago I shared this on my Facebook wall:

Do You Believe Angels Exist?

Of the 38 friends who responded, 37 said yes and one said no. Some have had personal experiences that leave no doubt in their mind in the existence of angels. I am one of those.

If you are a personal friend, you have probably heard this story, probably more than once.  I think I might have written about it here on the blog in the past as well.  It’s Christmas and that makes it a good time to tell my angel story once again.

It was approximately 2005.  My new truck had a recall notice.  I dropped it off at the dealer and had a rental car.

We had a few hours to kill so my mom and I decided to go to Olive Garden for lunch.  If you are familiar with the area, it was the Olive Garden in Victorville on the east side of the Mall of Victor Valley.

We arrived just as Olive Garden was opening so the parking lot was empty.  I was able to park in the spot that faces Amargosa right next to the restaurant.  I believe that all that was between us and the sidewalk was a handicapped spot or take out spot.

The parking spots on that side of the lot are on an incline or actually a decline technically I guess.  If you pull in head first, the backend of your vehicle will be higher than the front end.

After having lunch, we returned to the car.  It was a loaded, fully automatic small car.  I don’t remember the make now.

I put the car in reverse, let the emergency brake up, and started to back up.  The car would not move.  I gave it a little more gas and the car still would not move.  I remember looking in my mirrors and seeing nothing out of the ordinary.  I kept trying to gas it but the car would not move.  I put it back in park and then in reverse again and tried again.  Still nothing.  I checked the e-brake again and it was disengaged as it was supposed to be.

At that point I did not know what to do as the car would not move.  I finally put it into park, turned off the ignition, and got out to check the tires or see if there was anything I could not see while sitting inside.

As I got to the back bumper, there she was.  Leaning against the back bumper was a toddler, probably about two years old.  About the same time I saw her, her father from across the parking lot saw her and screamed at her.  I think my heart stopped for a moment.

Her father retrieved her, and I got back into my car and collected myself.  I turned on the ignition, put the car into reverse and backed up with no problem.

I think of that day often.  I’m not sure which one of us had the guardian angel as the result could have been tragic for many.  Sometimes my faith wanes in other areas, but I will never not believe in angels.