It was 1980 and we lived in (the then) Rhodesia. We made our own entertainment as I have mentioned in "Anyone for Tennis??" and were probably more social than folk living in cities.
One morning I took my small girls aged 3, 4 and almost 6, and went to visit a friend of mine. Triangle is a sugar estate and the temperature and humidity can be extremely (unbearably) high. It was on such a day that we went visiting, so we closed the doors and windows, put the airconditioner on, played some records, "records" you will find in the dictionary for those who were born after that era (kidding). The children played outside.
It was a large garden, no dangers, or so we thought, and we could watch the children from the window.
It is when we least expect it that disaster strikes, and are not prepared for things to go awry.
The door flew open and Michael, my friends son who was the same as Shirley, 6, shouted to us. I could't hear what he was saying due to the music, but it took only one look at his horrified expression for me to know that something was very very wrong. We ran outside and there, standing on a steel "grate" of sorts, was Shirley. She was screaming in fear and pain. I looked down at her legs and I remember thinking "what are all those white streaks on her legs". Upon closer inspection, I saw that the "white streaks" were burst blisters.
She had followed a kitten and sunk up to the top of her thighs in burning coals. She had grabbed onto the steel frame (thank goodness it was there) and pulled herself up, stopping herself from sinking further.
Our water was heated by coal burners which were stoked twice a day, so when it needed to be done again, the old coal had to go somewhere. Most people buried it and put sprinklers on top to cool it down, but coals buried retain their heat for very long time.
Shirley spend 3 weeks in hospitl and it took a further 4 weeks before she could walk again. She lost all the skin on her legs and only had the thick skin on the soles of her feet left. She was to be taken to Salisbury General Hospital for skin grafts as all the white patches had no blood flow going to them so no new skin would form. After 3 days the blood was flowing. She did not have to have the grafts. The doctors were wonderful, and people prayed for her. Her scars were red and "angry" but today they have completely faded. The skin texture has changed but no one would know they were there unless they knew the story.
In 1978 we went on holiday to the Eastern Cape. My sister-in-law and her 3 boys joined us for a family picnic on the beach. We were near a lagoon which was safer for small children. We watched them closely as there were 6 of them in the water. We turned to put up an umbrella and upon turning back to see that the children were alright, my sister-in-law studied the water intently and asked "what are those bubbles?" It was Kerry, my 2 year old daughter who had lost her balance on the uneven floor of the lagoon and fallen. It had happened in the blink of an eye. The bubbles came from her feeder cup she was holding. We would never have known she had fallen under the water if it weren't for the bubbles and and my sister-in-law noticing them amongs all those children. We came so close to losing her.
"FOR HE SHALL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE OVER THEE, TO KEEP THEE IN ALL THEY WAYS" Psalms : 91:11
In 1984 we very nearly lost Lisa. After a wonderful day with friends in Blairgowrie, Johannesburg, we travelled home to Pretoria. Our speed was not over the limit but deadly to anyone falling from a car travelling at half that speed.
We turned off the highway. I looked back at the children, no, it couldn't be, but yes it was, she had been fast asleep on the journey home, slightly leaning against the car door - which was not shut, but slightly ajar. At any time she could have moved and fallen out of the car onto the highway. How could we have been so careless as not to check the doors properly.
In 1985 my son Brian was born. I fed him myself for a year. He was the only child of mine I was able to feed for so long.
Within 3 weeks of me changing him to formula he became violently ill. Tests showed that his immunity system was so weak he would never have survived on formula from birth. His paediatrician said that the only thing that saved him was breast milk, the alternative were gammaglobulin injections. She would not give them to him because of the aids risk at the time as gammaglobulin is made from a blood base. He was put onto an aggressive treatment which he remained on until he was 9 years old. He was hospitalised 5 times due to severe chest infections, had his tonsils and adenoids removed at only 19 months, all before he went to school.
I don't believe we have guardian angels, or that they are even celestial beings. Hebrews tells us that angels are God's messengers or representatives, and that many of us have entertained angels without knowing it.
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD ENCAMPS AROUND THOSE WHO FEAR HIM, AND HE DELIVERS THEM
Who were my angels, the Doctor who tended Shirley? My sister-in-law who astutely saw the bubbles? Was protection given Lisa when in our humaness, we did not check the back door? My body's ability to be able to feed Brian for 1 year when I had failed to do so with his sisters? Wisdom given to doctors?
Who are your angels, and have you entertained them without even knowing it?
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