Angels Among Us

One of the reoccurring thoughts that I have had in the last couple performances of Savior of the World, is the idea that angels truly are among us.  I have met so many wonderful people in this show.  People who for various reasons have been angels to me.  Truly the Lord has stretched His hand out to me THROUGH these people.  Also, as a member of the cast, I spend a lot of time up on the colonnade portraying an angel. It has given me a lot of time to think about the real angels - those who have gone before, or have yet to come - that surround each of us through every moment of every day.  I have been thinking about them a lot.  We talk about them a lot in our cast meetings, and miracles have happened because of it.
Last night, I had a particularly amazing and special experience.  I am named after my great great grandma, Hannah Simmons Gibb.  I have read her stories, been to the place she was born in London, and felt her near during trying times.  I believe she is an angel especially assigned to watch over me.  I try so hard to live my life in a way that would make her proud to share a name.  I so look forward to meeting her one day.  Last night, during the second act,  I got a little distracted from what was happening down on the stage below me, and I thought about my part as an angel.  I started thinking about what it meant.  Then my thoughts led me to think about the real angels around me.  I started to picture them in my mind, watching us just like we watch the stage from the colonnade.  Then I thought about my Hannah Simmons.  I was immediately overwhelmed with the feeling that she was there on the colonnade with me.  Rejoicing in the life of the Savior.  I felt that if I were to turn around, I would see her.  If we started singing, I would hear her.  I felt the spirit so strongly.  It didn't last long; maybe she had other places to be, but tears came to my eyes, as I felt my testimony of angels grow stronger.  Later, I was telling my mom, brother, and sister-in-law about the experience.  I told them that I wondered if it was just my imagination.  My brother told me to "not cast away thy confidence," and again, I got teary because of the realness of it.   As I stood there on the colonnade pretending to be an angel, a real angel - my Hannah - stood there with me.  I have no doubt that it happens more often than we recognize.  I'm grateful that the Spirit would let me recognize it this time.  "Loved ones long now gone are here with us today.  They're in the things we do.  They're in the words we say."  I am grateful for the angels, both here and beyond the veil, that truly do surround us.