Publisher Description

In our highly scientific age, even the possibility that miracles might occur is often cast to the side of the rational road. But to those individuals who have actually experienced incredible, supernatural occurrences first-hand, modern-day miracles are just as real as the air we breathe. Where Miracles Happen by Joan Wester Anderson contains 45 stories of miraculous events and angelic encounters. From physical healing to bodily protection to divine guidance and provision, each story is firmly grounded in orthodox Christian beliefs and reminds each of us that God continues to make Himself known to us through modern-day miracles.

Back Cover

To some, "It's a miracle!" is nothing more than a common expression. To others, it's nothing less than a personal experience with the Divine. In an age of ever-advancing science, the idea that miracles--real, God-initiated miracles--can and do happen is often cast to the side of the rational road and considered nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of desperate people. But to those individuals who have actually experienced amazing, supernatural occurrences firsthand, miracles are just as real as the air we breathe. In this updated edition of Where Miracles Happen , national best-selling author Joan Wester Anderson--affectionately known to her readers as the "Angel Lady"--offers a collection of 45 stories of miraculous events and angelic encounters. From physical healing to bodily protection to divine guidance and provision, each story is grounded in orthodox Christian beliefs and reinforces the likelihood that the veil between heaven and earth is not as thick as we may think. Joan Wester Anderson is the author of numerous books on angels, including the New York Times bestseller Where Angels Walk . She has been a freelance writer and popular speaker for more than 30 years and is a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows. She and her husband live in Prospect Heights, Illinois. Visit her Web site at JoanWAnderson.com. To some, "It's a miracle!" is nothing more than a common expression. To others, it's nothing less than a personal experience with the Divine. In an age of ever-advancing science, the idea that miracles--real, God-initiated miracles--can and do happen is often cast to the side of the rational road and considered nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of desperate people. But to those individuals who have actually experienced amazing, supernatural occurrences firsthand, miracles are just as real as the air we breathe. In this updated edition of Where Miracles Happen , national best-selling author Joan Wester Anderson--affectionately known to her readers as the "Angel Lady"--offers a collection of 45 stories of miraculous events and angelic encounters. From physical healing to bodily protection to divine guidance and provision, each story is grounded in orthodox Christian beliefs and reinforces the likelihood that the veil between heaven and earth is not as thick as we may think. Joan Wester Anderson is the author of numerous books on angels, including the New York Times bestseller Where Angels Walk . She has been a freelance writer and popular speaker for more than 30 years and is a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows. She and her husband live in Prospect Heights, Illinois. Visit her Web site at JoanWAnderson.com.

Author Biography

Joan Wester Anderson is the author of numerous books on angels, including the New York Times bestseller Where Angels Walk, In the Arms of Angels, Guardian Angels, Angels and Wonders, The Power of Miracles, and Where Miracles Happen. She has been a freelance writer and popular speaker for more than thirty years and is a frequest guest on radio and television talk shows. She and her husband live in Prospect Heights, Illinois. Visit her Web site at JoanWAnderson.com.

Table of Contents

Contents Acknowledgments ix Prologue xi What Are Miracles? xvii Part One: Miracles through Prayer 1 A Promise on Mother's Day 6 Answer in the Wind 10 Vital Signs 13 Deliverance from the Depths 17 Perfect Timing 22 Heavenly Mission 34 A Sign for Our Times 38 A Light unto Her Path 42 Mysterious Medication 45 Rescues on the Road 51 Beanie Baby Blessing 60 Part Two: Angels in Our Midst 65 Miracle at Christmas 71 Protector in the Barn 76 Hospital Helpers 81 "Have You Been Praying?" 90 Wonder at Wrigley Field 96 The Vanishing Lifeguard 100 Miracle Miles 104 Summons to the Danger Zone 109 Christmas Messenger 112 Part Three: Miracles from Beyond 117 A Rainbow from Andy 122 From Darkness to Light 128 Between Heaven and Earth 131 One Last Good-

Excerpt from Book

Prologue He walks with me, and he talks with me, And he tells me I am his own . . . --"In the Garden," traditional hymn Shortly after our family bought a house in Chicago''s west suburbs in September of 1971, I met Lynne Gould. She appeared at the door one morning, accompanied by several small sons, to welcome us to the neighborhood. I invited her in, but she took one look at the boxes marked Fragile--China still stacked on my floors, and declined, which endeared her to me right away. The Goulds lived directly behind us, our deep yards separated by a tall hedge with an opening in it, which we used as a gate. I loved all the neighbors, but Lynne was special. Immediately we sensed a bond and found ourselves getting past surface chatter and delving more deeply into each other''s feelings and beliefs. Few topics were out of bounds for us, but spirituality was a particular favorite. We discovered that, although we were both Catholic, our faith attitudes differed. Lynne seemed relaxed, confident in God''s tender care and willingness to get personally involved in her daily life. Me? As one philosopher has said, the longest distance anyone travels is the twelve inches from the head to the heart. I tended to be dutiful, a bit scrupulous, and hard on myself. Although I had never thought of God as harsh or frightening, it was difficult to believe that his love for me was truly unconditional. As for miracles, they happened to saints, not ordinary people like me. We had lived in our house for just a few weeks when autumn leaves began falling. Actually, they rained down, thickly covering our quarter acre. One afternoon when the children were in school, I went into the yard to rake. The warm, sunlit day was delightful, but I made little headway. At the end of an hour, I had stuffed six bags, but there were several huge piles of leaves waiting, and half the yard remained untouched. Home ownership was losing its charm. I leaned on the rake for a moment, pushed the hair back from my eyes--and the world seemed to stop. There were no rings on my left hand. My diamond engagement ring and wedding band--not removed since our marriage--were gone. Just then Lynne stepped through the hole in the hedge. Although she was at least fifty feet from me, she must have seen the shock on my face. "What''s the matter?" she called. "My rings--they''re missing!" I could barely speak. I had lost a little weight during our move, and they must have slipped off somehow. But when? Where? Lynne waded across the lawn to me. "When was the last time you saw them?" she asked Frantically I searched my memory, recalling all the small, ordinary things I''d done that day. Making breakfast for the children, loading the washing machine--how often we glance at our hands without really seeing them. But I was sure I would have noticed missing rings during earlier tasks. "They must have fallen off out here," I said, surveying the landscape with a sinking heart. How could we find anything in all that debris? I would never see the rings again. And not only were they uninsured, they were loved, irreplaceable. Tears filled my eyes. Lynne was more practical. "Let''s pray about it," she said. And she knelt right down in the middle of the leaves. And because she had hold of my hand, so did I. "God," Lynne began without preamble, "we''ve got a problem here." Briefly, she outlined the situation. Despite my agitation, I felt a little embarrassed. What if a neighbor looked out and saw us praying--in public! Yet I was fascinated too. Lynne was talking to God with easy familiarity, as if he was her real Father, someone who cared so much about her that he would be interested in anything she told him. Well, why not? I thought suddenly. I''m a parent, and there''s nothing my children could need that I wouldn''t provide. If I was truly his child, wouldn''t it work the same way? Lynne was finishing her discussion. "We need a miracle, God. Please let us find the rings." She sat back on her heels, wordlessly surveying the yard. Not for a moment did I assume God would actually do anything about her request. But Lynne had been dear to stand by. As I watched, however, her eyes traveled across the orange and yellow piles. Slowly she stood up and walked past several deep mounds. When she reached one on the other side of the yard, she stopped, bent over, plunged her hand into it, and then straightened. "Here they are," she said, looking into her palm. "Here are your rings." I probably screamed before I went running across to her. But there both rings were, unmistakably mine. We looked at each other, our faces wreathed in grins. "How did you--?" I hardly knew what to ask. She laughed. "I didn''t. God did it. I just kind of knew where to look." "But that''s impossible." "Not really," she pointed out. "We asked for a miracle, didn''t we?" Something great seemed to tremble in the air, something awesome and wondrous. Was this what it meant to trust? Like two little girls, we had approached our Father, placed a broken toy in his lap, and asked with complete assurance (at least on Lynne''s part), "Daddy, fix it." Why should I have been surprised when he did? As much of heaven is visible as we have eyes to see. --William Winter What Are Miracles? A miracle is a wonder, a beam of supernatural power injected into history. . . . [It] makes an opening in the wall that separates this world and another. -- Time , December 30, 1991 Polls show that more than eight in ten Americans believe in divinely worked wonders, primarily because such events suggest that God exists and loves us and that our lives have a purpose. But the finding of the rings in my backyard deepened my interest in the subject. What is a miracle? I wondered. How do we know when one happens? According to Webster''s Unabridged Dictionary, Encyclopedic Edition , a miracle is "an event or effect that apparently contradicts known scientific law, and is hence thought to be due to supernatural causes." Whether elaborate or unadorned, most miracles are positive happenings, occurring unexpectedly and usually outside the realm of ordinary life. "If you can explain it," says author Betty Malz, "it is not a miracle." Nor are miracles haphazard. The recipient usually has a sense of God''s deliberate intervention, a change, an answer. Among the world''s many religions, we find different responses to miracles. For example, the Catholic Church accepts their existence, but only when the event defies the known laws of science. And claims are not easily verified. A case in point is the shrine at Lourdes in France. Although there have been thousands of purported divine healings there, only sixty-seven have made it through the stringent procedures of the International Medical Commission to be officially declared miracles. (In 2008, the commission decided it would no longer declare something a "miracle," but simply a "remarkable event.") Since 1981, millions of people have witnessed extraordinary events at Medjugorje, Herzegovina (part of the former Yugoslavia). But the church is still investigating the situation without official comment and will probably do so for years to come. Protestant denominations differ on miracles. Some believe that Jesus healed the sick, multiplied food, commanded the sea to be silent only for the purpose of establishing his church on earth, and then such heaven-directed wonders stopped. Martin Luther originally denied the possibility of divine healings as well as other miracles, though he later changed his mind. John Calvin, in Institutes of the Christian Religion, wrote that such gifts "vanished in order to make the preaching of the Gospel marvelous forever." This view is disputed by more charismatic Christians. "In this age of skepticism, I often hear people say, ''But God isn''t working miracles anymore,''" wrote Harald Bredesen, pastor and author of Need a Miracle? "I''ve got news for them--good news. God isn''t working miracles any less!" Perhaps people block the availability of miracles--or the answers to any prayers, for that matter--"by consciously or unconsciously thinking of God in too small terms, of considering him in terms of our own human limitations." Professor Ralph Watkins of Fuller Theological Seminary agrees. "We need to be bold enough to believe in a God who can perform miracles," he says, "even in the overwhelming and seemingly impossible challenges: ending poverty, war, divisiveness. We need to walk up on the tomb of things that look dead and resurrect our dreams." Jews believe in miracles too. "God is not subject to the laws he established for his universe," according to Rabbi Simon Greenberg, writing in A Jewish Philosophy and Pattern of Life. "He remains their unchallenged master, who can manipulate them at will." The Islamic view is similar. "Miracles are given by the grace of Allah, the only God, not through our own power," says Dr. Musa Qutub, president of the Islamic Information Center of America. "We can ask for anything, because anything is possible." And it is in the asking that our faith grows. "No one who raises his hand to Allah ever comes back empty," Dr. Qutub explains. Can we "prove" miracles? Usually not. Even if the circumstances seem astonishing, in the end many must be left to the observer to decide. But sometimes we recognize one by our reaction--perhaps a tiny quiver in the pit of our stomach, a chill running through us, a prick of tears, or our heart lifting in wordless respo

Description for Bookstore

This updated edition of Anderson's best seller (over 200,000 sold) reminds us that miracles happen all around us. Includes eight new stories! In an age of ever-advancing science, the idea that miracles--real, God-initiated miracles--can and do happen is often cast to the side of the rational road and considered nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of desperate people. But to those individuals who have actually experienced amazing, supernatural occurrences firsthand, miracles are just as real as the air we breathe. In Where Miracles Happen , national best-selling author Joan Wester Anderson--affectionately known to her readers as the "Angel Lady"--offers a collection of 45 stories of miraculous events and angelic encounters. From physical healing to bodily protection to divine guidance and provision, each story is grounded in orthodox Christian beliefs and reinforces the likelihood that the veil between heaven and earth is not as thick as we may think. Anyone looking for hope and healing of any kind in these difficult times will find comfort in these stories and will come to understand that God is present and active in everyday lives, in everyday situations. In the end, the miracles contained in this book teach us to rely on God at all times--and to expect the unexpected.

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