When I was 18, I went with a group of church youths to a river site for a picnic. A young girl who couldn't swim asked me to ferry her across a deep stretch of water to a sandbank about 10 feet away on the other side of the river. Being a champion swimmer, I agreed.

Halfway across, I suddenly felt as if the water below me had turned into air because I was starting to sink. Although startled, I struggled and managed to keep us both afloat.

However, the same thing happened again! It just felt like there was nothing under my feet and my head went under the water but I pushed the girl upwards so that she would not go under. Again, I managed to come up safely but this time, a voice told me that if I sank a third time, I would not come up again. And the girl was starting to struggle a bit as she sensed the danger we were in.

Then, we started to sink the third time. And as we went under, I cried out in my mind, "HELP!" and the next thing I knew, my feet had touched the sand! I didn't think much about it until years later when I began to understand the role of angels (and bad spirits).

Logically speaking, I couldn't explain why the water seemed to turn into air under my feet then! Secondly, as I was sinking downwards, there was no way that I could have swum forward over a stretch of 6 feet or so to reach the sand bar safely!

In Asian culture, we believe spirits reside in their natural surroundings and sometimes, some bad spirits punish trespassers. As a Christian coming from a Chinese culture, I think that at the point when I was sinking, some spirits were dragging me down. That could explain why although I was kicking hard but still sinking. And it was God's Holy Spirit within me who spoke to me to warn me of the impending threat of death At that point, instead of sinking and drowning, an angel carried us both to solid ground!

Looking back, I firmly believe that God sends His angels to protect His beloved children. Furthermore, when I had children later on, there were other experiences which proved to me that angels exist to help us! But that's another story!