Last Updated: Wednesday - 01/05/2011

Visits from angels retold by author

STONY PLAIN — In 1975, Pauline Newman had an experience that saved her life and created a spiritual contact that still exists today.

She was heavily drugged and sick with asthma and allergy problems in a hospital in Ontario when an angel came to her.

A lady in white came to her in a vision and told her to stop taking any more medicine. It told her she would be home in three days if she listened to her.

Newman followed the angel's advice and refused more drugs. She was released from hospital three days later.

When she told her story to friends, few believed her. So she stopped talking about the wonderful visitor that saved her life.

About a year ago Newman, a Carvel writer and wedding and floral shop owner, began to open up about her past experiences with angels and, to her surprise, she found many people wanted to testify about their celestial sightings.

She began to collect those stories until she had enough to create "a book of life's secrets," as she calls it.

Heartbeat Angels, a 180-page collection of stories about angels and angel experiences published last month, contains more than 70 personal spiritual encounter stories, including some from Newman herself.

The stories range from angel sightings to life-changing experiences through interacting with angels on earth. There are also stories about dreams and the power of prayer and love.

Contributors are men, women and children from Alberta and from all across North America. Many were found through Newman's nationwide angel story and artwork contest that she held last year.

One, Sherri Jacklin of Saskatoon, contributed a story called Rabbits. In it she explains how angels help her cope with the death of her eight-year-old son in a swimming accident a few years ago.

One day Jacklin was having a hard time coping. Although she believed her son was in a better place, as a mother she had a hard time with his death.

Many questions crossed her mind, some silly, some reasonable. Was he warm enough? Was he scared? Could he see her and know how much she missed him? She prayed hard for a sign that would give her a small measure of comfort.

The next day Jacklin and her husband went to the cemetery. When they approached their son's grave, there, sitting calmly were two wild rabbits. They didn't run away, as the couple expected, but let them come close.

"One turned and, I swear, gave me the most incredible look," Jacklin writes. "In that instant I knew this was my sign that my son was okay and not alone."

The woman recalls that her son used to love to run out in the field by his grandma's house in the hopes of catching a rabbit. He was also born in the Chinese Year of the Rabbit.

"Although a rabbit is not how I envisioned an angel to look, there is no doubt in my mind that those two rabbits were angels sent down to give me peace of mind," Jacklin writes. "By the way, whenever I'm having a particular hard day, I can guarantee that when I go to the cemetery, the rabbits will still be there."

Newman, a mother of three and grandmother to seven, said she was inspired by her own experience at the hospital in 1975 and other visions and messages she has had since then. "I was spiritually guided to write this book," she said. "The cover came to me in a dream I had."

She would like her book to help people on their spiritual journey. "Today's society is eager for more information about heavenly beings and the world beyond," she said. "People are looking for a spiritual understanding of themselves. Reading the stories that others have written, often gives individuals encouragement to open up to their own authentic selves."

Published by her own publishing company, Newman is hoping to launch another book soon.

Heartbeat Angels is available in bookstores in Stony Plain, Spruce Grove, Edmonton, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Newman is hoping to write another book soon and welcomes contributions. She can be reached at Newman Publishing, Box 1, Site 100, RR#1, Carvel, AB, T0E 0H0. Her email is fnewman@telusplanet.net.

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