Amy was used to driving 25 miles to school every weekday to teach her 4^th grade class—a nearly half hour trip through rural countryside.  But one morning as she was driving, smoke began pouring from her car engine. Quickly she pulled to the side of the road. There were no buildings in sight—not a gas station nor even a farmhouse. And she was only halfway to the school! What should she do? There were no cellphones in those days to call for help. She began to pray.

Not too many minutes passed before a truck pulled up behind her car.  The driver got out and approached Amy.  “Anything I can do to help, ma’am?” he asked. She explained her situation while he took a look under the hood of her car. Immediately he saw the problem: a broken fanbelt. Now, the man was not a mechanic, but for some reason he had a spare fanbelt in his truck. Wonder of wonders, it was the exact size to fit her make of car.  He quickly fixed the problem, and she was on her way again. You’ll never be able to convince Amy that this man was not an angel sent by God to help a single woman stranded in a broken-down car in an uninhabited area.

Early American poet James Russell Lowell wrote, “All God’s angels come to us disguised.” Is that true? Was the truckdriver an angel sent to help her? The first chapter of the book of Hebrews in the Bible says, “Therefore, angels are…servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation” (verse 4 NLT). Another translation calls angels “ministering spirits sent out to serve” (ESV). Amy was so convinced she had been sent an angel that she had Lowell’s quote stenciled on a prominent wall in her home in appreciation for God’s help. Her angel even made sure she got to school on time!