Do angels really guard us and interact with us? Paulie Ruby from Minot, North Dakota shared her story with me in was included in Amazing Grace for Mothers. It’s powerful testimony that God has given us each an angel to watch over us.
One foggy morning I heard my son Dan’s truck leave and I began to hustle. I was a slow starter this chilly morning and knew my husband would be waiting–not so patiently–for me to begin our own route.
We have an unusual family business–garbage hauling. We called it Circle Sanitation (for family circle). Dan had been very instrumental in getting the business off its feet. Later on, my other son, Randy also joined us in this family business. Now, twenty-five years later, even some of the grandchildren help out.
During the early years, I often filled in working on the trucks. On this particular morning, I hadn’t gone but a few steps from the house when I froze in terror. The strongest sense of danger I had ever experienced paralyzed me like a statue. I could not move. My mind and heart raced. I had a strong sense that my son Dan was in danger.
I felt panicked and helpless. “What could I do?” I thought. My beloved Grandmother Frances suddenly came to mind. She was part of a large population of devout German Catholics who immigrated to North Dakota via Russia. Her iron-strong Catholicism was the center of our close-knit family. Her words came to me. “In times of trouble, you can send your guardian angel.” Frantically I prayed, to my angel: “Go to Dan. Help Dan!”
Moments later, I was able to take a step. Bewildered, I slowly walked outside the house to the shop. The whole incident baffled me. I decided I had better not tell my husband since I did not really understand what had just happened.
Ray and I hopped into the truck and drove to our destination. “This fog is really bad,” Ray commented as we passed a car in the ditch. Once again Grandma’s influence came through as I recited my mini-prayer, “Jesus, Mary, Joseph please help him.”
Gradually, the scary premonition faded as the work day got underway. At then end of the day, we all parked our trucks in the shop and gathered to talk. My son then related an early morning experience. While he was driving toward his route on the four lane highway, wondering when the fog might lift, he was suddenly overcome with a
strong urge to pull into the other lane. Since there seemed no logical reason why he should pull over, he resisted. Wondering where the feeling was coming from, he looked around for any signs of trouble. There was none but he could not shake the strong feeling to pull over. Dan finally gave in and pulled over.
No sooner had he done that when a vehicle came driving down the wrong side of the road. It sped by him in the lane he had just vacated.
I asked him, approximately, what time this had happened? The time of his dilemma and mine coincided. Was it a coincidence? I do not think so. I think the angel, called on at the prompting of my Grandma’s influence, protected my son, Dan, that day.
Paulie and Ray Ruby raised their two sons in rural Minot and are very proud of all their sixteen grandchildren.
