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 SOME OF THE most fascinating and uplifting facts of the unexplained are those that people perceive as being miraculous in nature. Sometimes they are in the form of answered prayers or are seen as the actions of guardian angels. These remarkable events and encounters lend comfort, strengthen faith - even save lives - at times when it seems these things are needed most. Are they literally from heaven, or are they created by a little-understood interaction of our consciousness with a profoundly mysterious universe? However you view them, these real-life experiences are worth our attention.
The Home Run
While many of these kinds of stories are life-altering, or otherwise deeply affect the people who experience them, some involve activities as seemingly inconsequential as a kids' baseball game.
Consider John D.'s story. His baseball team had made it to the playoffs, but was struggling in one of the semi-final games. John's team was at bat in the bottom of the last inning with two outs, two strikes and three balls, bases loaded. His team was behind, 7 to 5. Then something very unusual happened:
Our second baseman called a time out so he could tie his shoe. I was sitting on the bench when suddenly a strange man I had never seen before appeared in front of me. I was frozen still and my blood turned to ice. He was dressed all in black and he spoke without even looking at me. I was not very fond of our batter. This man said, "Do you hold courage in this boy, and do you have faith?" At that, I turned to my coach, who had taken off his sunglasses and was sitting right next to me; he didn't even notice the man. I turned back to the stranger, but he was gone. The next moment, our second baseman called time in. The next pitch, our batter hit a home run out of the park, winning us the game 8 to 7. We went on to win the championship.
Angel's Guiding Hand 
Winning a baseball game is one thing, but escaping serious injury is quite another. Jackie B. believes that her guardian angel came to her aid on two such occasions. Most interesting, her testimony is that she actually physically felt and heard this protective force. Both happened when she was a child of kindergarten age:
Everybody in the town used to go to the hill by the post office to sled in the winter. I was sledding with my family and I went to the steep part. I closed my eyes and went down. I apparently hit someone going down and I was spinning out of control. I was heading for the metal guard rail. I didn't know what to do. I suddenly felt something push my chest down. I came within less than a half inch of the rail, but didn't hit it. I could have lost my nose. The second experience was during a celebration of my birthday in school. I went to put down my crown on the bench at the playground during recess. I was running back to play with my friends. Three boys suddenly tripped me. This playground had a lot of metal things and wood chips (not a good combo). I went flying and hit something about 1/4 of an inch under my eye. But I felt something pull me back when I fell. The teachers said that they saw me sort of fly forward then fly back at the same time. As they hurried me to the nurse's office, I heard an unfamiliar voice keep telling me,"Don't worry. I'm here. God doesn't want anything to happen to his baby."
The Accident Warning
 Is our future planned, and is this therefore how psychics and prophets can see the future? Or is the future only a set of possibilities, the path to which can be altered by our actions? A reader with the user name Hfen writes how she received two separate and remarkable warnings about a possible future incident toward which she was heading. They may have saved her life:
At approximately four in the morning, my phone rang. It was my sister calling from across the country. Her voice trembled and she was near tears. She told me she had a vision of me being in a car accident. She didn't say whether or not I was killed in it, but the sound of her voice made me think she did believe this, but was afraid to tell me. She told me to pray and she said she would pray for me.
She told me to be careful, to take another route to work - anything I could do. I told her I believed her and would call our mother and ask her to pray with us. I left for work at the hospital, terrified but strengthened in the spirit. I went to talk to patients about some concerns. As I was leaving, a man sitting in a wheelchair near the door called to me. I went to him expecting that he had a complaint against the hospital. He told me God had given him a message that I would be in a car accident! He said someone not paying attention would hit me. I was so shocked I almost fainted. He said he would pray for me and that God loved me. I felt weak in the knees as I left the hospital. I drove like a little old lady as I observed every intersection, stop sign and stop light. When I got home, I called my mom and sister and told them I was fine.
The Flight Papers
A saved relationship can be just as important as a saved life. A reader calling herself  Smigenk relates how a little "miracle" might have rescued her troubled marriage. A few years ago, she was making every effort to mend her rocky relationship with her husband and set up a long romantic weekend in Bermuda. Then things started to go wrong, and it seemed her plans were ruined... until "fate" intervened:
My husband grudgingly agreed to go, but was concerned with the short time between our connecting flights. We thought things were going well going into Philly, but there had been some bad weather and the planes were backed up, hence we were put in a holding pattern and landed just as our connecting flight to Bermuda was due to board. We rushed through the airport, only to arrive at the check-in desk as the gate door was closing. I was devastated and my husband was NOT in a good mood. We asked for new flights, but were told that it would take two more flights and about 10 more hours to arrive. My husband said, "That's it. I'm not putting up with this anymore," and started to walk out of the area and -- I just knew -- out of the marriage. I was truly devastated. As my husband was walking away, the attendant saw on the counter (and I swear it had not been there when we checked in) a packet. She was obviously upset that it was still there. It turned out to be the landing papers packet that the pilot MUST have on board to land in a different country. She quickly called the plane to return. The plane had been on the runway ready to start powering up the engines. It returned to the gate for the papers and they allowed us (and others) to get on. Our time in Bermuda was wonderful and we resolved to work on our problems. Our marriage has gone through more rough times, but we both have never forgotten that incident in the airport when I felt as if my world had collapsed and was given a miracle that helped us keep a marriage and a family together.
The Reading Angel
 It's remarkable how many stories of angels come out of hospital experiences. Maybe not so hard to understand when we realize they are places of sharply focused emotions, prayers and hope. Reader DBayLorBaby entered the hospital in 1994 with acute pain from "a fibroid tumor the size of a grapefruit" in her uterus. The surgery was successful but more complicated than expected, and her troubles weren't over:
I was in horrible pain. The doctor gave me a morphine IV drip, only to find out that I am allergic to morphine! I had an allergic reaction, and so they counteracted with some other meds. I was horrified! I had just had a major surgery, learned that I might not be able to have children in the future and had just suffered an acute drug reaction.That same night they gave me another pain med and I slept soundly for a few hours. I awoke the middle of the night. According to the wall clock, it was 2:45. I heard someone speaking and realized someone was at my bedside. It was a young women with short brown hair and wearing a white hospital staff uniform. She was sitting and reading aloud from the Bible. I said to her, "Am I alright? Why are you here with me?" She stopped reading, but didn't turn to look at me. She simply said, "I was sent here to make sure you'd be alright. You are going to be fine. Now you should get some rest and go back to sleep." She began to read again and I drifted off back to sleep. The next day, I was having my check up with my doctor and I explained to him what happened during the night before. He looked puzzled and checked my post surgery reports and notes. He told me that no nurses or doctors were stationed to sit with me the night before. I questioned all of the nurses who cared for me; each said the same, that no nurses or doctors had visited my room that night for anything except to check my vitals. To this day, I believe that I was visited by my guardian angel that night. She was sent to comfort me and assure me that I would be ok. Coincidentally, the time on the clock that night, 2:45 a.m., is the the exact time recorded on my birth certificate that I was born!
Rescued from Hopelessness
Perhaps more painful than any injury or illness is the feeling of utter hopelessness -  the despair of the soul that leads one to thoughts of suicide. Dean S. knew this pain as he was going through a divorce at the age of 26. The thought of being apart from his two daughters, aged three and one, was almost more than he could bear. But in one night of stormy darkness, Dean was given renewed hope:
I was working on a drill rig as a derrickman and seriously thought of taking my life as I looked down the high 128-foot derrick I worked in. My family and I have strong beliefs in Jesus, but it was hard not to contemplate suicide. In the worst thunderstorm I'd ever seen, I climbed the derrick to take my position to pull pipe out of the hole we were drilling. My co-workers said, "You don't have to go up. We'd rather take some downtime than lose a man up there." I brushed them off and climbed anyway. Lightning flashed all around me, thunder boomed. I cried to God to take me. If I couldn't have my family, I didn't want to live... but I couldn't take my own life in suicide. God spared me. I don't know how I survived that night, but I did. A couple of weeks later, I bought a small bible and traveled to the Peace River Hills where my family has lived for so long. I sat down on top of one of the green hills and started to read. I had such a warm feeling enter into me as the sun parted through the clouds and shone on me. It was raining all around me, but I was dry and warm in my small spot on top of that hill. I now have moved on to a better life, have met the girl of my dreams and the love of my life, and we have a wonderful family together along with my two daughters. Thank you, Lord Jesus and the angels you sent that day to touch my soul!
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