God's Messengers: What Animals Teach Us About the Divine - Softcover

Linda Anderson; Allen Anderson; Allen Schoen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1577312465 ISBN 13: 9781577312468

Publisher: New World Library, 2003

Synopsis

Combining spiritual questions with heartwarming animal tales, God’s Messengers will appeal to anyone who seeks the mystical in the everyday. The authors have gathered these accounts from a wide variety of people and divided them into four sections: Love, Wisdom, Courage, and Comfort. Each story answers a question, for example: Is there a God? Are prayers answered? and Is there a heaven? Throughout, wild and domesticated creatures teach humans about health, compassion, and unconditional love birds, coyotes, dolphins, and iguanas, as well as cats, dogs, and horses. Readers will learn about a ferret who helped an autistic boy play baseball, a dolphin who was saved by a concerned community, and a dog who pulled hair from her tail in sympathy with a chemo patient. 50 black-and-white photographs accompany these amazing stories.

About this title

About the Author

New York Times bestselling authors Allen and Linda Anderson are the founders of the Angel Animals Network, inspirational speakers, clergy members, and the authors of many books, including Angel Cats, Angel Dogs with a Mission, Saying Goodbye to Your Angel Animals, and Angel Horses. They live in Minneapolis with their family of pets.

From Publishers Weekly

Anyone feeling nostalgic about the sentimental angel books of the 1990s will appreciate this collection of animal stories, a follow-up to the Andersons' book Angel Animals. Through nearly 70 vignettes, the authors attempt to answer the classic theological questions: Is there a God? Why do bad things happen? And does God reunite us with loved ones? Some stories are moving and well told; two of the best are "Ferrets Are Made of God," in which an autistic boy gains confidence through the love of his pet, and "A Hamster's Legacy," where chaotic sixth-graders learn to care for others. Many of the sketches are tributes to animals-dogs, cats, horses, dolphins, snakes, squirrels, you name it-that rescued or comforted or inspired their humans. Others veer into silliness, though who wants to argue with someone who believes her late beloved dog is sending messages from beyond? As the authors point out, "Animals have a talent for bypassing the mind and going straight to the heart." All the stories are purpose-driven, either including a lesson or followed by personal questions for reflection: "What if the messages in dreams aren't merely workings of our subconscious minds or the result of what we ate before bedtime? Has an animal communicated with you in a dream about a matter of great importance?" Though much of this book's spirituality would appeal to anyone with romantic views of God and nature, some of its more imaginative accounts overstep the beliefs of any traditional religions.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: New World Library
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1577312465
• ISBN 13: 9781577312468
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256