My Guardian Angel Saved Me From Drowning

* Sent in by Rachel

When I was about 13 my family and some relatives visiting from Holland, travelled from Melbourne in Victoria to Hervey Bay in Queensland, on a two week road trip.

Somewhere halfway through New South Wales we’d stopped for a break and some lunch.  We’d pulled off the highway near an irrigation channel and a few of us decided to take a dip.  The fast-flowing current was pretty strong so the others quickly got out.  I was an over-confident swimmer and was sure I could easily swim against the current.

I ducked under the water and felt my body being swept quickly along with the current.  As I tried to surface I hit the top of my head against something hard and everything was dark above me.  I realized that I’d been swept under the concrete bridge that ran over the channel and there was no gap between the rushing water and the bottom of the bridge.

I bobbed back down and swam frantically against the current, trying to swim beyond the bridge.  I tried to surface again only to hit the top of my head on the bridge.  I was quickly running out of air and energy and I began to panic.  I kicked out frantically and in a last-ditch effort tried to swim free of the bridge again. 

Then I felt someone grab my hand firmly and focused my eyes on a figure in the water in front of me.  I was totally bewildering because I could clearly see the figure of a woman in a floating gown and she was lit up somehow, but she didn’t seem to actually be in the water ... she just seemed to be floating with the strong current not affecting her in anyway.  She just looked vibrant, calm and serene under the rushing water ... but I could feel myself starting to fade to darkness the longer I was stuck under the water.

I woke up on the bank of the channel downstream with no recollection of exactly how I got out from under the bridge and/or out of the water and up onto the bank.

Sitting up and looking upstream I could see my family frantically scrambling around the bridge and my mother being consoled by her sister, my aunt.  I yelled out and my Dad spun around then ran towards me.  I was still disoriented and couldn’t cohesively explain what had happened, but everyone agreed that I was safe, and that was the main thing. 

I still don’t know how I ended up on the bank some way downstream, but I do believe that what I saw under the water that day was my guardian angel and I can’t thank her enough for saving me from drowning that day.

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* Sent in by Rachel 

The Bedside Angel

* Sent in by Chloe

I never really thought much about angels and stuff like that, but I was in for a pleasant surprise.

In my early twenties I married and quickly had two little boys, Gavin and Steven.  When Gavin was only a month or so old, I work for his night time feed.  His crib was in the corner of our bedroom and as I looked across I could see a light or rather a glow hovering near his cot. I blinked my eyes in the dark, thinking I was dreaming, but I could still clearly see the outline of whitish-bluish figure bending over a sleeping Gavin.

I felt a sense of shock, but not fear.  I sat perplexed, unsure of what to do.  Then Gavin stirred and woke, the light figure fading away in the darkness.  I then switched on my beside lamp and went about feeding and changing Gavin as normal.

Laying back down in bed once done, I wandered about what I’d seen and worried that it was a bad omen.

I witnessed this phenomenon most nights after that, and in time, rather than being concerned, I felt supported and grateful for the presence each night and I believed that Gavin was being protected by what I assumed to be an angel.

Two years later little Steven was born and the same angel came nightly just as with Gavin.
My boys are now grown with children of their own, but I’ll never forget the peaceful presence of the angel who visited each night.

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* Sent in by Chloe

My Angel Experience

By Shawne Patrill

I’ve always believed in angels, since I was a kid.  I didn’t know exactly why, but I supposed I associated them with Chrismassy things and happy times.  But the one and only time that I’ve actually had an ‘angelic experience’ wasn’t such a happy occasion.  In fact, it was the most terrifying experience I’ve ever had.  But I do know that I was saved that day.

I hadn’t had my license for long, but I was a competent driver (or so I thought).  The accident wasn’t entirely my fault, but in the craziness of moment I didn’t know what was up and what was down.  I didn’t even know where I was.  All I knew was that there was a lot of commotion going on outside my upside down car, and I could hear sirens getting closer and closer.  I don’t remember much because everything was blurring and foggy and I seemed to be falling in and out of consciousness.  I could smell something burning and felt heat around me.  The sirens were getting closer, but I could feel myself slipping away. 

All of a sudden I felt a presence beside me.  I couldn’t see it clearly ... it was more of a feeling or something I thought I was seeing in my mind’s eye.  At first I thought I was imagining it, but it felt so real.  I tried to focus on the presence and started to see the outline of what I thought was a person.  In my clear mind I knew I’d been in the car alone, but I could sense and almost see a figure next to me, somehow hanging in the air of my upside down wreckage.

I heard a voice, outside of myself but in my mind, somehow.  It was soft and melodic and it kept reassuring me that I would be okay ... that all would be ok.  The voice kept telling me to hold on and believe that I would live.  I felt a calmness envelope me, and although it seemed to be getting hotter inside my car and I could feel pain in my legs and lower back, I just knew I would survive.  I knew without a doubt that I would make it through this.  I must have blacked out at that point because the next thing I remembered was coming to in the ambulance.  I had tubes and machines all around me and couldn’t breathe properly and I started to panic and hyperventilate, my heart beating erratically.

I looked up at the paramedic tending to me and focused on his face.  But behind him I could see (or at least I thought I could see) beautiful colours, like a rainbow kind of.  I felt something brush against my face, stroking gently like whispy feathers and I just knew I’d be okay.  

5 months later I was discharged from hospital, but had another six months of rehabilitation ahead of me.  I never saw the angel again, but I will never forget it.

By Shawne Patrill

The Angel in the Garden

As told by Michael


I never really believed in angels and stuff like that, although my Grandma Ada used to talk on and on about them when I was kid.  She used to tell me they were all around us, but I could never see them.  She’d often mention one by name in particular  -  Athena she’d called her.  I used to just play along with Grandma when she’d point out the fairies and sylphs in her special spot in the garden  -  her reading rotunda.  Grandma Ada would spend hours reading her books and magazines under the shade of the rose covered rotunda.


Years passed and I married my wife Sarah and had two kids.  I didn’t see Grandma Ada for a couple of years while I worked overseas, but I heard from Mum over the years that she was doing fine.  


My daughters were 5 and 9 when I took Sarah and the girls to visit with Grandma Ada.  She wasn’t in the house, or at least didn’t answer our knock, so I made my way to the rotunda in the garden with the girls in tow.


Not quite believing my eyes, I saw Grandma Ada lying on her back on the ground with a lady with long flowing hair leaning in close to her as though whispering in her ear.  I hastened my footsteps, worried that Grandma Ada was ill, and wondering who this strange lady was leaning over her so closely.  


Quickening my pace, staring straight at the rotunda and the two women within, the lady with the flowing hair began to disappear to nothing.  She just faded away before 


my eyes as though she was never there to begin with.  I was too busy to fuss about it at the time so put my curiosities aside and attended to Grandma.


I checked her pulse and breathing and noted her deathly palour.   Sarah was already on her mobile, calling for an ambulance.


Once at the hospital Grandma Ada was stabilized and had pulled through almost unscathed.  She’s suffered a heart attack while reading in her garden, but she stated that she was a ‘tough old bird’ and it would take more than a little heart attack to knock her off.


Turning to leave a while later, Grandma Ada called me to her bedside and motioned for me to lean in close.  “Did you see her?” she asked.  “Who?” I replied, having totally forgotten about the strange lady in the rotunda.  “My angel ... Athena. Did you see her? Grandma asked again.  I nodded and smiled.  Yes.  I’d finally seen Athena, Grandma Ada’s angel.

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