Blest Guest Wednesday #3: There Is Someone Looking Out for Me (Ashley Siferd)

Since early August, it has been difficult for me to post regularly although I have somehow managed not to let more than a few days go by between posts. Considering that my crazy travel schedule is definitely going to continue for a few more months, I have been able to bring a little sanity to the blogging part of my life by asking for help. Some wonderful fellow bloggers have been willing to write guest posts for me on Wednesdays, hence the name "Blest Guest Wednesday." As today's "Blest Guest," I asked Ashley Siferd, who has been with me on this blog from nearly its very beginning and who writes a blog called If Necessary, Use Words. I think you will find her life, her blog, and her post here interesting. Here goes:

There Is Someone Looking Out For Me

While I don’t recall ever having a face-to-face encounter with an angel, I do believe that they are present in my life. Of course I think that those human beings who carry out certain kind acts that occur on a daily basis (like holding open a door for someone with full hands or picking up a person’s books that fell) are angels, but in this context, I mean the spiritual, ethereal beings who serve God.

I have never doubted the existence of God. Sometimes I have found myself thinking about the question, “Well, what if there wasn’t a God?” but I have never ever thought of an answer. I know that He in fact is there because on numerous occasions, I have felt His presence or that of someone who was helping me, like an angel.

I am not a terrible driver. I will admit that I have a certain degree of road rage, yes. However, I am careful. I’m both a defensive and offensive driver. But being both doesn’t mean that I will avoid every potential hazard or dangerous situation. Once while turning left onto the two-lane highway, the lady in the left lane either completely forgot that I was there or just didn’t care. She started to drift over into my lane while we were turning, and there was nowhere for me to go. I had just enough shoulder to move over, but it wouldn’t have helped because she just kept coming!

Her car should have hit me. Miraculously though, it did not. Puzzling to me also was that I was not enraged with her. I felt a calm presence in my car. I was safe and not angry. I couldn’t explain it. That is when I first realized that Someone up there is watching out for me.

I’ve recently had a few “almost catastrophes” in the car. Most of them have been not so nice folk who have nearly t-boned me while I have been going through a certain intersection. If you are driving up the hill next to my dorm, you do not have a stop sign but everyone else does. I always slow down so that I don’t get smeared, but apparently some people just don’t like to obey the law. Amazingly (and miraculously!) enough, my car and most importantly my life has been spared. Protected.

The other night I was driving home on the interstate. I had been told that bad weather was coming, but when I left campus, it was nice out…what bad weather were you talking about? I had just merged onto the interstate when it began to rain. I don’t enjoy driving on the interstate at night. I hate driving on the interstate when it is raining. What do you know? It starts raining very hard while I was driving home at night. The perfect storm, I guess, right? Well I had never had that unfortunate combination before. All I could do was pray and sing along with my mixed CDs. Even though it took me a lot longer than normal, I made it home safely. I found out later that I had been driving through a storm that had prompted several tornado warnings in the area!

Now every time I get in the car, even if it is just to go down the road two miles, I ask my guardian angel and my extra driving angels to watch out for me and to be in the car with me. I pray for a safe journey for me and the other drivers around me.

I’m sure that there have been numerous occasions when my angels have hit the palms of their hands on their heads in bewilderment, thinking, OMG what are we going to do with this girl? What was she thinking? I know I’m oblivious to some things that go on around me, but they certainly are not. I’m thankful for their constant vigilance, but I’m even more thankful that God has granted His angels charge over me. Lord knows I need them!