AngelAID’S Among Us
By Wendy Lynn Decker

There are no coincidences in life, only incidences where God remains anonymous.

After an accidental overdose, Arlene Shipley’s guardian angel revealed God’s anonymity and took her on a journey where she discovered that her life here on earth was not yet complete. At over 400 lbs., and fighting the pain from sexual abuse as a child, Arlene hadn’t left her home in Jacksonville, Florida in six months. She had no hope or plans for her future. During this emergency, Arlene believes she had an after death experience in which an angel revealed what God had in store for her. Arlene said she’d heard of people who had died momentarily, and they all described a bright light awaiting them. Arlene says she didn’t see a light, she was in the light.

“Many small miracles happened on the way to that place. I saw myself lying in the bed, and I heard the EMT workers joking about my weight. They said to each other, ‘how are we gonna get her out of the house?’ I didn’t know if I was dead or dreaming, but I wanted to die.”

Arlene lyrically describes her experience in a book she is writing. These are just a few impressions.  “I feel as light as a feather, and I am dancing on the ceiling. Nothing hurts—no pain …one moment in Heaven. Warm and fuzzy all over—I’ll just keep my eyes closed. I’ll just lie here and enjoy all the different smells. A voice I don’t recognize speaks. I can only tell you how amazing I feel. Infused with warmth and sunlight and song. I redefined love, peace and harmony. God breathes me in as I exhale. He consumes every cell that is me and releases me to dance with the universe.”

During Arlene’s encounter with Heaven, she spoke about an angel who unveiled snippets of what would eventually become her future. She witnessed herself in situations she wouldn’t normally participate in. She also saw herself in a body unfamiliar to her own. She describes the event as if it were a slide show unfolding her un-imaginable destiny.

You have to go back Arlene. “Words wouldn’t come, my heart is dead. It isn’t a dream after all. No, please, don’t send me back. I feel safe for the first time.” The paramedics resuscitated Arlene, and she awoke to a new life.

Arlene had prayed for eighteen years that God would bless her and her husband with a family. When she finally received the phone call that a child was in need of a home, she expected to see the warm, cuddly baby she had dreamed of. However, God’s plan was much bigger. In fact, the child delivered to Arlene came in the package of an angry, 70 pound, 9-year-old, girl with AIDS. “We thought we were offering this wounded child a safe home. Little did we know she would take up residence in our hearts.”

A new leaf had been established on Arlene’s family tree. Its reach extended further than she ever could have imagined. This occurrence was also the third event to unfold during Arlene’s encounter with the angel. “The miracle of Tashia transformed me from a woman who used anger to fuel her days, into a mother who was only motivated by love.”

“Tashia was a scared little girl who didn't know who God was. She was believed to be the first child in Florida (and one of the first in the nation) to have contracted the HIV virus through sexual abuse.  Newspaper articles and government reports show that the abuse began as early as two years of age, with her first sexually transmitted disease. Even though we had to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort on Tashia's clinical/nursing care, true healing was accomplished by the spiritual influences of the many loving people who touched her life during our two years with her.”

“The word ‘AIDS’ has such a power to cause fear, and Tashia had lived for nine years in fear, so we only told her she had ‘bad blood.’ We never lied to Tashia, so she also knew that she had a disease that would never go away, a disease that she could die from if she didn't eat and take her medicine. And with a T-4 count of zero, Tashia had to take countless medications each day. So we made it a game, cheering when she finished taking ten syringes of medicine - by herself.” 

“Love and safety caused Tashia to believe and trust. She had to trust me before she could trust there was a God.”

“Mankind is like poison on the earth,” Arlene says. “The only way to bring harmony and balance is to think, say, and do things that create positive energy. I call them AngelBLESSINGS. Nature is fighting back and the only thing that can balance it is to do kind things.”

What else inspires you?

“You, caring enough to ask me questions about AngelAID.”

Tell me the process in which AngelAID began.

“We learned about what was not being done. The system was not the answer—it made it much harder to do anything good. We vowed to do something in Tashia’s memory. After she died, the system wouldn’t let us have any more AIDS children. I was angry at God at first. Why did he take it away? Then we got a phone call from the juvenile justice system about a boy who stole a car. His parents had both recently died of AIDS and they were afraid he also had AIDS—afraid to deal with him, so he was going to spend a year in solitary.”

“Within a month I had five boys in my home. In the last ten years over fifty boys have lived in our home. God gave me the lessons I needed to see. Their disease wasn’t as obvious as Tashia’s. They were all dying from the lack of family, societal neglect and perceived lack of choice—but all from a deadly hopelessness.”

God spoke to Arlene. If you turn your back on them you turn your back on me. “The most dangerous animal in the world is man without hope. Man has destroyed what God has made to create something evil. Tashia healed so many places inside of me. I had to understand that she had to be in my life to teach me a lesson to fulfill my assignment for God.”

How does a school or organization find out about you? Do you send out literature or is it word of mouth?

“We don’t take government money, only donations via the website or mail. We don’t advertise—people find out about us through word of mouth.”

AngelAID has been successful for fourteen years. The organization has accomplished so much for families in need. They have moved numerous families out of homeless shelters into their own apartments. They have provided the families with furniture, linens, cooking supplies; everything they need to live a little easier one day at a time.  They now have two buildings and a thrift store.

 “We outgrew it all, and we had to find places for parties and larger functions. We finally found an old church that will be donated to us, and we have an educational building that is two stories. It will be an AngelAID community.” 

Do you have a signature Bible verse? 

“Forget not to show love unto strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." (Hebrews 13:2 ASV)

What advice can you offer someone who wants to take in a foster child, but is fearful because of the problems they might encounter?

“My faith in God’s faith in me made me not afraid. I came to understand I didn’t have to do a perfect job—just my best. God will be there, holding me up if I depend on Him. I wish I could say it happened overnight—it didn’t—I had many lessons, many small miracles to experience. I can see so many times where He intervened in my life. I believe we are all angels—that we all come to this world with an assignment. But first we have to recognize that we are angels, and have our AngelEyes to see each other as angels."

God doesn’t create the evil in our world, man does. But God is waiting to see what we do about that evil. That is our choice—our free will. Each day we can wake up and choose to use God’s infinite possibilities to create positive energy. I try to make my life a prayer. I try to live so that at the end of my day God can look at what I have co-created with Him—and call it ‘“good.’”

For more information on AngelAID, visit: http://www.AngelAID.com, or write:  3110 Beach Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32207.