{"id":5393,"date":"2017-05-10T14:46:12","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T20:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?p=5393"},"modified":"2017-05-10T14:53:40","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T20:53:40","slug":"finding-inspiration-angels-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Inspiration in “Where Angels Walk”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Creative<\/a>
Creative Commons \/ Pexels.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Whatever the current state of organized religion, most Americans still believe in angels\u2014a full 72 percent, in fact, according to a 2016 Gallup poll.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s no wonder. Numerous are the tales of those who have been miraculously rescued from impossible situations, only to speak of mysterious strangers or indescribable beings afterward. These stories inspire us to believe that there might just be something out there that we don\u2019t yet understand, and that it\u2019s looking out for us.<\/p>\n

Over two decades ago, author Joan Wester Anderson carefully compiled a collection of stories about people and their experiences with angels, publishing them in her best-selling book, \u201cWhere Angels Walk: True Stories of Heavenly Visitors.<\/a>\u201d Now, she has republished the 25th anniversary edition of her popular title, introducing a new generation of readers to the hope and wonder of angelic intervention.<\/p>\n

In her book, Anderson loosely groups brief stories of angelic encounters into themes: car accidents, the bereaved, stories of disguised angels, and stories of angels appearing in full, luminous glory. Each of these tales shares the story of how an angel helped a human being overcome overwhelming\u2014and sometimes deadly\u2014challenges.<\/p>\n

But these aren\u2019t merely products of the author\u2019s mind\u2014after Anderson\u2019s young son had a life-saving brush with what can only be described as an angel, she began to run a series of magazine ads soliciting angel stories. This book is composed of the responses Anderson received, and because of this, there is a feeling of authenticity that runs through the work\u2014each story has its own unique voice, and each will inspire or challenge readers in unique ways.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a lesson in angelology or religious doctrine, this isn\u2019t the book for you\u2014these stories may be about encounters with the divine, but the heart of this collection is a human one. Within the terror, grief, relief, and joy of the people of \u201cWhere Angels Walk,\u201d readers will find a message of hope.<\/p>\n

James Raffan, one of the individuals whose experiences are chronicled in Anderson\u2019s book, puts it best.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were no heavenly hosts openly proclaiming an unfathomable truth,\u201d he says, \u201cbut instead, a kind of encouragement to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed\u2014sometimes a little encouragement that somebody has our back is all we need.<\/p>\n

Special to Patheos from Wesley Baines<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whatever the current state of organized religion, most Americans still believe in angels\u2014a full 72 percent, in fact, according to a 2016 Gallup poll. And it\u2019s no wonder. Numerous are the tales of those who have been miraculously rescued from impossible situations, only to speak of mysterious strangers or indescribable beings afterward. These stories inspire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[216,124,115,223,170,452],"class_list":["post-5393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-angels","tag-catholicism","tag-christianity","tag-guardian-angel","tag-heaven","tag-joan-wester-anderson"],"yoast_head":"\nFinding Inspiration in "Where Angels Walk"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whatever the current state of organized religion, most Americans still believe in angels\u2014a full 72 percent, in fact, according to a 2016 Gallup poll. And\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finding Inspiration in "Where Angels Walk"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whatever the current state of organized religion, most Americans still believe in angels\u2014a full 72 percent, in fact, according to a 2016 Gallup poll. And\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"{Take & Read}\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-10T20:46:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-10T20:53:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/54\/2017\/05\/pexels-photo-96127.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/\",\"name\":\"Finding Inspiration in \\\"Where Angels Walk\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-10T20:46:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-10T20:53:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"Whatever the current state of organized religion, most Americans still believe in angels\u2014a full 72 percent, in fact, according to a 2016 Gallup poll. And\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Finding Inspiration in “Where Angels Walk”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/\",\"name\":\"{Take & Read}\",\"description\":\""I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library" {Jorge Luis Borges}\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Finding Inspiration in \"Where Angels Walk\"","description":"Whatever the current state of organized religion, most Americans still believe in angels\u2014a full 72 percent, in fact, according to a 2016 Gallup poll. And","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Finding Inspiration in \"Where Angels Walk\"","og_description":"Whatever the current state of organized religion, most Americans still believe in angels\u2014a full 72 percent, in fact, according to a 2016 Gallup poll. And","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/","og_site_name":"{Take & Read}","article_published_time":"2017-05-10T20:46:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-05-10T20:53:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/54\/2017\/05\/pexels-photo-96127.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/","name":"Finding Inspiration in \"Where Angels Walk\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-05-10T20:46:12+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-10T20:53:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"Whatever the current state of organized religion, most Americans still believe in angels\u2014a full 72 percent, in fact, according to a 2016 Gallup poll. And","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2017\/05\/finding-inspiration-angels-walk\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Finding Inspiration in “Where Angels Walk”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/","name":"{Take & Read}","description":""I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library" {Jorge Luis Borges}","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}