Do you believe in Angels? What are angels exactly? Looking on the Internet, I found two definitions.

The first said an angel is "a spiritual being believed to act as an attendant, agent or messenger of God. ." The second defined angel as "a person of exemplary conduct or virtue."

I have always believed that God's Holy Spirit is in the world to comfort us in our darkest hours of need, even as He guides us on the pathway to reuniting with our Creator God. I also believe that God works through people to serve and help meet the needs of others around them. I believe these people are angels in our midst.

During the past several weeks, I've met a lot of angels who I believe are "agents of God" "people of exemplary virtue." We met them in the emergency room and the intensive care unit of Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez. (And I met many more at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction.) It's a long story, but I'll try to be brief.

My mother in-law has had circulation problems in her lower legs for months. A few weeks ago, we took her to the ER with extremely low blood pressure. Multiple tests and several opinions were shared, with the major problem identified as a large blood clot in her left leg. Over the span of four days, complications developed, causing profuse bleeding that couldn't be stopped. She underwent emergency surgery to remove a large area of skin from her calf to help stop the bleeding, and she was flown to St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction for continuing treatment and a skin graft. The outcome of her medical situation isn't known at this time, but what we do know is that "angels" of all kinds have been caring for her (and us).

In the 3½ years we've lived in Dolores, I've heard mixed reviews about the lack of quality medical treatment available in Montezuma County. After going through our experience described above, I strongly disagree. Although our hospital doesn't have all the specialties we would desire (that's due to the relatively small population of our county), the people who work in the hospital and attended to our medical needs were outstanding - they are angels. The doctors, nurses, nurse's aides, administrators and custodial staff who attended to my mother in-law gave the best medical care possible with the means at their disposal. They did this with compassionate hearts, giving of themselves to comfort us in our time of stress.

Our Creator God is a God of Love who continually shares his love in many ways. One way that God does this is by placing special people (I believe they are truly angels) in our midst to help us deal with the medical issues that arise in this life. We should all thank God for the angels at Southwest Memorial Hospital.

Rick Carpenter is the pastor of Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church in Dolores and First United Methodist Church of Dove Creek.