Just the other day...we were traveling down the highway, exhausted and weary from a dream vacation that included our first family cruise. Overall, we had logged about 1,100 miles in our car, although at this time we were just about 45 miles from home. Suddenly, it started to rain...really rain...very hard and very fast. It was the kind of rain that made visibility scarce. We noticed a large 18-wheeler that had wrecked in the median and my husband started slowing down. Soon we were in a dead stand-still on the highway. We couldn't see it at that time, but there was another wreck up ahead.
All of a sudden, my husband said, "Hold on girls! Hold on girls!!" and started frantically driving our vehicle onto the side of the road. You see, in his rear view mirror, he saw what we could not see...another large vehicle barreling straight towards us at 70 mph. The driver obviously could not see the brake lights of all the other cars due to the torrential downpour. Thank the Lord, my husband saw him!! As our vehicle moved, the driver finally noticed that traffic had stopped. He came within a few feet of missing the back of our car as he swerved into the median to avoid making us and the cars in front of us into a literal metal sandwich.
As I realized what had just happened, I involuntarily started to shake a little bit...but it wasn't until I turned around to check on my girls that the true gravity of the situation hit me.
Our two year old, who had been riding in the car for the past two days and was more than ready to get out of it had somehow gotten her arms out of the top of her car seat. She was sitting in her car seat, unrestrained!! As I looked at that precious little face, my mind immediately raced through the "what ifs" and the tears started pouring. The reality of the hand of God protecting my family humbled me, bringing with it a deep and overwhelming sense of gratitude. I choked back tears for probably the next 20 minutes, especially when my husband stopped to pray and thank God for protecting us.
"I wish I could have seen the angels in action!" I said. No doubt, they were all around us!
Within the next day, the Lord would confirm His awesome hand of protection during that incident two more times. Let me tell you how...
After the near-wreck, we decided to stop just a little ways down the road, both to eat supper and to help get our minds off of what had just happened. I know that my parents pray for their children (all 4 of us) faithfully, so I stepped outside of the restaurant to call them. As I was telling them the part of the story where I turned around and saw our youngest sitting in her car seat unrestrained, I "happened" to look up in the sky and saw not one, but TWO rainbows...one right on top of the other. I have only seen a double rainbow one other time in my life. To me, it declared the Lord's supreme faithfulness and I felt as if I could melt into a puddle right on that sidewalk! Mom and I were both in tears and couldn't even find words for a minute. I stood there, utterly and completely undone.
As beautiful and affirming as the rainbows were, it's the "second" evidence of the Lord's protection that really blows my mind...
That night, my husband had a bit of a hard time going to sleep because every time he closed his eyes, he could see the scene replay in his mind...a large vehicle barreling towards us along with the reflections of our innocent girls starring back at him. I went to sleep praying for him and again, thanking God that we were all okay. In the morning, as soon as I woke up, I remembered something I had completely forgotten.
The week before, on the same morning that we left on vacation, I had woken up having just had a nightmare. The nightmare was this...we were traveling on the highway... and were a part of a terrible accident...in the rain. I didn't remember any real details except for rain, horrific crashing sounds, sirens, and the feeling that we were gravely injured. That morning that we left, I had immediately started to pray and ask the Lord for protection for our trip...and I remember praying fervently as a result of that horrific scene I had just dreamt.
Later on that morning, when we stopped to pray before leaving, I started to tell my husband about the
Was God trying to warn me about the plan of the enemy to destroy us? I'm not sure, although in retrospect, it's easy to see (isn't it always?). What I am sure of is this...He heard and answered my prayers...and the prayers of my parents and in-laws...and the prayers of the handful of people who told me specifically that they had asked for our protection! Praise God that He moves through the prayers of the righteous!!!
A lesson that this has also taught me to an even greater degree is that God is always in the details! I say it a lot and have found it to be true over and over and over again. The almighty living God still speaks today! He moves among us...wooing us...protecting us...loving on us...inviting us into fellowship...working through dreams...lining up circumstances...virtually sending us neon signs that say, "I'm right here with you!". There is so much PURPOSE for all of us that are His children!
One day, it will be time for all of us to go to our true HOME in Heaven...but not yet. If you have breath in your lungs and a beating heart, it's because God has declared, "Not yet" over your life...just as He did over ours a few days ago! Jeremiah 29:11 promises that He has amazing plans for your life! You walk around drenched in PURPOSE and calling and many reasons for still being very much alive on this earth. Don't merely let life "happen"...don't take it for granted! I am begging you to please open your eyes to see that there is a grand design and a Grand Designer! He who formed you in your mother's womb has a grand design FOR YOUR LIFE! Seek Him for it and when you find it, spend yourself completing the mission!!! Run the race before you with perseverance!
That's exactly what I plan to do...especially after last week's reminder that my family and I still have much purpose! I didn't think I needed a reminder of that, but maybe I did.
Maybe we all did.
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"For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone."
Psalm 91:11 & 12
"He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones."
Prov 2:7 & 8
"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."
John 17:15 & 16
(Jesus, praying for US!)
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name."
Psalm 91:14 "He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones."
Prov 2:7 & 8
"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."
John 17:15 & 16
(Jesus, praying for US!)
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