When I was a little girl, there was a creek behind my house.  It was in a field of tall grass, nestled on the edge of an abandoned old apple orchard. Clumps wild blackberry bushes gave me little scratches all over my arms as I walked by grabbing a ripe berry here and there.  Most of the time we played back there with other neighborhood kids in the apple orchard making forts and exploring old barns.  But my favorite time was when I could go back to “my creek” alone and sit there singing songs to myself and laying on the soft flattened field grass looking up at the sky.  Once and awhile I would see a red winged black bird land on one of the tall reeds or cat-tails along the creek. I would add something in my song about that bird.  I used to just wonder about God and what my life would be like someday as I lay beside that creek.  I was about 10 years old – back then kids could just go play in fields and apple orchards and just worry about being home for dinner.

All the time I spent there by my creek talking and singing to myself I was talking to God.  I had been through some very sad times – losing my dad a few years before that.  I was trying to understand why sad things happened and I needed to be by myself, because I thought nobody understood how I was feeling – I was trying to understand it myself.   But I never really felt alone by the creek.  I felt the presence of God there.  

One day in the spring it was very wet and muddy back in the field,  I had on my old fleece lined winter boots made of cheap plastic leather with a chunky wedge heel – with my corduroy pants tucked in.  There had been a lot of rain and sleet and my creek was a bit wider and had overflowed into muddy pools up further in the field.  I wanted to explore more and walked along my creek.  Soon I came upon an area that looked like it was a clearing with no grass and just a shallow small pond.  I saw some flat ice chunks with lacy edges that I wanted to grab and stepped a few steps into the muddy edge of the small pond to grab the ice.  Suddenly my boots sunk deep into the mud. I tried to pull my feet up but it just pulled my boots in deeper. I kept sinking further into the mud – all the way up to my knees.  I started to get scared and I was too far away from my house to call for help.  I could not move.  I said out loud: “Who will come and help me I am stuck!” I kept trying to wiggle out of my boots, nothing was working.  

I started to feel panic and fear.  I could not move.  Suddenly – in an instant – something pulled me up and backwards out of my boots and set me flat on my back on the grassy ground.  Next thing I knew I was looking at my stocking feet and a few yards in front of me were my empty boots still stuck in the mud.  I had on an old red quilted winter coat and a hat with a puff ball on top, I remember laying back on the grass trying to figure out what just happened to me.  I felt the presence of an angel. I was just laying there feeling so peaceful and thankful for several minutes.

 I knew that the angel had just saved me.  Then the 10 year old kid mind kicked in.  What about my boots, what will my mom say when I walk back to the house in my socks? I knew the grass was very wet and cold too.   I went to stand up and try to figure out what I was going to tell my mom. I looked over at my boots again, and there was one of them out of the mud, lying on its side, close enough for me to grab.  I could not understand how that happened, I had just seen them in the mud! Even more strange was the boot was unzipped! I do not remember trying to unzip my boot in the mud. Still lying across the edge on the grass, I reached and grabbed the one loose boot.  I put it on my foot and decided the smart thing to do would be leave the other boot there.  My mind was still trying to figure out what just happened.

 I knew it was my guardian angel.  He had helped me and pulled me out of that mud and even got my boot out!  I walked back to the house and threw the one boot in the trash can and told my mom I lost the other boot in the mud.  I kept what happened to me with the angel saving me a secret for many years until right now as I tell this story.  A week or so later I returned to the spot of my lost boot and it was now under water, no longer to be seen.  I went down to my favorite spot along my creek, the weather was warmer and I sat next to a small waterfall where the creek dropped down only about two feet.  I layed down on the dried flat winter grass with new green spring grass peeking up between.  There were two willow bushes on the other side of the creek. As I layed there looking up at the sky, singing my made up songs with my old red quilted winter coat unbuttoned and spread like a little blanket under me I closed my eyes and thought about my angel.  I said,  “I am glad you are with me.”  I layed there and watched the red winged blackbirds land on the tall reeds and I wondered what God had for me in my life – I knew now it must be really big because He had His angel save me.  

He WAS hearing me talk to Him! That was the day that I knew God wanted to do something big in my life – and I knew in my spirit that He would never ever leave me stuck.  Now when I see a stream, or a red winged blackbird it brings me back to that time – when God was there for a 10 year old girl who was just trying to understand her own sadness.  Along that creek, God was my friend.  He is still my friend and He listens to me, His angels are all around me, I am never alone and He will pull me out of every muddy situation and set me up on dry ground, He is just waiting for me to call on Him.  While searching for answers of to why my earthly father was gone, I found my Heavenly Father. Thank you Father God, I love You,  You are my “creek”  of living water that keeps me close to you all the time. Thank you for taking such good care of me, hearing my calls for help and sending your angels to keep me safe  – Love, Your Daughter Annamarie