Roses and Angels

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, August 12.

By Andrew McChesney

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elisa is a little girl who lives in Poland. She has beautiful straight brown hair that hangs just above her shoulders. She has big brown eyes that sparkle behind green glasses when she smiles. When she goesto school, she likes wearing her pink hoodie, blue jeans, and pink socks with pictures of black-and-white dogs on them.

In every way, Melisa looks like a normal girl. But her teacher says she is not a normal girl. She is special. It is all because of a dream that she had when she was 8.

In the dream, Melisa lying in bed at home. All around her were roses. Fresh white roses lay around her head. Fresh white roses lay on her tummy. But then the roses changed. Below her tummy, the roses were black and dead. Black dead roses lay on her legs. Black dead roses lay on her feet.

Standing in the black dead roses at her feet was a bad angel. He was arguing with a good angel who was standing in fresh white roses above her head.

“She’s mine,” the bad angel said.

“No, she’s mine,” the good angel replied.

The good angel and the bad angel were arguing over who was going to win Melisa’s heart.

Then Melisa woke up.

Such a dream might seem strange and scary to some children. But Melisa wasn’t worried. At school, she was learning about the great controversy between Jesus and Satan. She knew that Satan used to be a good angel who lived in heaven. But Satan became a bad angel. He wanted to become God, and he convinced many angels to join him. That started a war between Jesus and His good angels on the one side and Satan and his bad angels on the other side. The Bible tells us about this invisible battle in Ephesians 6:12, which says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (NKJV). Bad angels are fighting with good angels for the lives of girls and boys in Poland and all over the world. The battle will end when Jesus comes to earth and takes the redeemed to His home in heaven.

The dream didn’t scare Melisa because she knew that Jesus and His good angels were not only fighting for her but also protecting her.

Melisa has never forgotten the dream, and she thinks about it often. She wants to have good values and to make good decisions. She wants Jesus and His good angels to always win in her life. She wants Jesus and His good angels to win everywhere.

Once some children were arguing at school. Teacher was exasperated and didn’t know what to do. “What can we do?” Teacher asked the quarreling children.

Melisa remembered her dream. Good angels and bad angels were fighting an invisible battle at her school. The bad angels were causing the other children to argue.

Melisa raised her hand.

“Teacher, you told us that when we have problems, we can pray,” she said.

Teacher nodded her head. She had forgotten her own advice. It was a good idea to pray. Teacher called the children together, and they prayed for Jesus and His good angels to win this battle. As they prayed, Satan and his bad angels were defeated, Jesus and His good angels won, and peace returned to the little school in Poland.

Melisa’s dream has changed not only her life. It also is changing her school.

Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offering that helps church schools around the world teach children like Melisa about the wonderful love of Jesus.