Back to previous page

Angel on my Shoulder!

Sylvia Ford

I have always felt a very strong presence of angels in my life, from the time that I was pregnant with my son.  I had different organisations asking me to give up my baby. There was a very strong presence of someone guiding me, and I was adamant about keeping my baby.

            Throughout raising my child, there was always someone guiding me, especially when at times it was so hard to go on.

            You may wonder how I can be such a believer if you read my True Life Story (by Sylvia Skoog; I am now in the process of writing a sequel to it called Misunderstandings.)

            I had a near death experience after having two surgeries close together. I had the privilege of seeing my guardian angels that let me know that it was not yet time for me to leave this earth.

            I have driven a handi-bus for years and have had numerous accidents—none that were my fault. On one occasion a car ran a stop sign and hit me, throwing my vehicle into a house with such force that it moved the porch over three feet! I remained very calm and took care of my three passengers. I am thankful no-one was in the house when this happened, as it would have scared the living daylights out of them. It was much better that the house stopped me rather than the big tree that I missed by inches! When my boss got there I was in the back of the ambulance and, being the jokester that he was, he said, “Sylvia, we’re not in the house moving business, you know!”—which, of course, made me laugh even though it hurt!  I felt a very strong presence of someone watching over me. I could have been seriously injured and wasn’t. Neither were my three passengers.

            Another time a semi hit me. Again I remained calm and had this great feeling of well-being when I could have been seriously injured or killed. A lot of people don’t get to tell their story after being hit by an 18-wheeler! The semi did not stop. I followed it and got the licence number, even though my bus was not in a very good shape to do this!

            I thank my angels so much for watching over me. I have always sworn I have an angel on my shoulder! What do I collect? Right—angels!

*

More, now, about my near-death experience.

My prayers were usually in the form of anger. “Why are you doing this to me!” I would demand of God after my son, who suffers from a rare bone disorder, would break his leg or arm for the umpteenth time and had to face major surgery—again and again. There would be a few choice words in my angry outbursts. “Please leave my child alone and stop this pain!” I would scream. “He has more than his share of pain!”

I was going through some very bad times, you see. Ten years ago my father was very ill and dying, and my siblings were taking it all out of me. They accused me of not taking care of our parents properly. Out of ten children it seemed I was the one they appointed as the responsible care-giver for our parents. They were never wrong so, of course, they wouldn’t want to be held responsible if anything went wrong.

Also, at this time, I needed a double surgery—one being a hysterectomy, and the other being a gall bladder operation.

The hysterectomy was done first, as I had been bleeding steadily for years and it was totally exhausting me. I did not have the greatest recovery after this surgery, and yet the surgeon wanted to go on to the gall bladder surgery just about right away. My gynaecologist did not want him to do it for at least six months. The surgeon insisted, nevertheless, saying this would be a very simple operation, and that he would do it by laproscopy and I would be out of hospital in twenty-four hours. 

I should have known by now that things don’t run that smoothly for me! They went ahead with the surgery and I have never been sicker in my life! I found out later that they had cut the pancreatic duct. I was bleeding internally and was totally infected.

After five days of not caring whether I lived or died, my husband came in and told them he wanted to see some doctors right away! (“Right NOW!” he demanded!). Well, that started the action. Within a half hour they had me on an I.V. with heavy doses of antibiotics going through my system. They also moved me into a private room at no extra charge. The ward they had me in before had one bathroom and a lady with staff infection. My husband told them to get me out of there right away—“Right NOW!”—again, not mincing his words!

It was about four days later that I saw my angels. They were in the form of my best friend Billy and Granny—who had some time ago departed this earth. They had an aura of light around them. They were a distance away, and kept coming in closer. They had a beautiful smile on both of their faces. Then they started fading and disappeared.

After I was well enough to think this wonderful experience over, I realised they were telling me they loved me—but that it was not my time to go with them yet.

I am no longer afraid of death. It was the most beautiful and amazing experience that I have ever had!

Sylvia Ford

This true life story tells of the turbulent life of Sylvia Skoog who suffered abuse and humiliation as a child and young woman, and who later faced insurmountable challenges in providing care for a son inflicted with a bone disorder that required frequent surgery.

Now published in

This work is in effect a sequel to Touched by God: Testimonies of Christian Power, which brought together seven inspirational stories of God’s supernatural intervention in the lives of Christian believers—testimonies that presented extra-biblical proof of God’s divine power and love in the lives of Christian believers.

Back to previous page