Last winter, I left to go to the post office, and it was gray out, but not snowing. However, when I came out of the post office, it was like a blizzard. To me, that is the worst time to be driving, before the snow plows come along. I was driving a Durango SUV, and trying to be careful. I was going about 35, when all of a sudden, I hit a patch of snow that sent me sailing right towards a telephone pole, head on. I knew there was no way to avoid it, and I also knew there was no way I wasn't going to be hurt badly, or killed. As I got within inches of the telephone pole, the Durango slid to the left as you can see by the muddy tracks, and I continued on into a ditch.
I wasn't hurt, and immediately, a young man was driving by and stopped and asked if I needed help. Yes, I did, I was stuck in the ditch. He told me he had a couple of tie straps in the back of his 4 wheel drive, and he proceeded to pull me out. I never saw him before or after, although he said he lived in the development off my road. I had no money to give him, but he wasn't looking for any, it appeared. He saved me a lot of hassle of calling a tow truck I couldn't afford, and I had no cell phone.
When you are in a situation as I was, and you see that brown bark coming closer and closer to your front hood, and then, as you are flying by the pole you just missed, you can't help but feel the hand of God. You feel His love, and His power, and you realize it's just not your time. He wants more from you, and I am trying to do more. He wanted more from me when I was in my twenties and rolled a Volkswagen and later, did a few 360's and crashed into a tree with my vet. I was okay, but the vet has never been seen again, except on a flatbed, pulling it out of the woods. Again, I felt the hand of God as I was careening in circles on the road, and then flying into a group of trees. I didn't know exactly why I was saved, but I knew God had His mind made up.
There was more He wanted me to do on this Earth, and I've been trying. Another time, my 8 year old daughter and I went to the mall and it was clear weather. When we came out, it was pouring buckets. I had a van, and we proceeded to get on the ramp to the highway, and as I sped up to fit in with the cars already flying home from work on that Friday, I lost control of the van. It was like I was on ice skates, or roller blades. I knew it was serious, as it was 4 o'clock, Friday afternoon, 2 lanes, and tractor trailers were oblivious to my plight, or just didn't care.
We were hydroplaning, so we were going about 65, and there was a cement divider between the on coming traffic, and a guardrail to our right. We hit the cement divider, kept going, eventually hit the guard rail, kept going, and a mile or so later, hit the cement divider again. I prayed out loud, "Dear God, either kill us now, or make it stop. Immediately, on a dime, the van stopped. My daughter looked at me and said, "Mom, that must have been an angel." I was still in the lane so I drove off to the side a little ways up the highway. When we stopped so suddenly, something came flying from the back of the van. Both my daughter and I saw it at the same time. It was a wooden cross that I had wondered where it had gone for some time. No one stopped, and we couldn't get out the doors, they were smashed shut.
We weren't hurt, thankfully, and because of the rain, there was steam that formed inside the car. My daughter climbed in the back and wrote, please help, backwards on the back window, so the oncoming cars and trucks could see, but no one stopped. I had turned on the ignition to see what time it was, 5 o'clock. We had been in this accident for miles, past 2 exits, and an angel appeared out of nowhere. It was a man who worked across the highway, and was on his way home, and saw us, and stopped to see if we needed help. He said he'd call the police, and sure enough, they came about a half hour later. He pried one of the doors open from the outside.
He called the tow truck, and we called for a ride from his office. The van was there for months, and I don't believe it was ever the same. Unless you are in these situations, it's hard to imagine the connection you feel to God at that moment, when you know He's the only one who could have helped. I have always believed in God, but my close calls confirmed His presence in my life, and my families. Oh, and when I went to pick up the van, and the man was going over the work that had been done, he said, "Oh, your cables had disengaged from your battery, and the battery was towards the windshield." I simply wondered to myself, how I was able to see the time if the battery wasn't hooked up?
I know the calm that comes over you when you know God is doing for you what no human being can. Four times, I was in real danger and could have been harmed, paralyzed, maimed, or killed, and I am here. All times were too close for comfort. All times I felt God's love and His hands on my shoulders. All my ducks were in a row to be seriously hurt, and yet, I wasn't. There is still more for me to do, and I will keep trying to do my best answer His call. I know in my mind, heart and soul that God exists. How? I felt Him. I felt His love, His embrace, and His Power to save me, and then, my daughter. I felt Him when I was sobbing so hard, and begged Him to stop my pain, and I stopped crying in an instant, way back, as far as I can remember, and still so today. I thank God for God.
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