Psalm 33:18 & 20, "Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him... He is our Help and our Shield." Psalm 34:1, "I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth."
This was written on Saturday October 8th, with corrections Thursday, October 13th. It happened Friday, October 7th. (This is written by Beth, for those who see Mother's blog notes on facebook.)
I say "just one miracle", because I'm sure the Lord has given us many this week, but this one was "special".
What didn't happen is the miracle. Today my sister Emily and I are not dead. In fact we aren't injured. Our windshield didn't even get busted out, as we expected it to. Aren't you glad? I am!
Yesterday was a big busy day. Our dear friends, the Hinkles, just lost their mother/grandmother to cancer last Saturday, and the funeral was yesterday (Friday). I hate to say a funeral was nice, but that one was really good, honoring to the Lord and Mary Anna. After the service some went to the graveyard for the service there. Our family did because of Jason and Daddy being pall-bearers, but Jason and we girls had to leave right after he was done helping because he had to get to work. We three came home, ate (really quickly), then we dropped Jas off at work and we headed to the BRIGHT Lights meeting, for which we were already late. (It was, fortunately, an excused tardy. =) )
We drove out of town by going north on CR 17 and were past one of the railroads, less than a mile south of CR 54. There was a truck heading toward us, (to my memory and description to Dad, a stake-side truck) which was carrying building supplies. As it passed us, a large board (Dad and I are guessing a concrete form) came out of the back of the truck and was airborne, and in the path of our car. We surely wondered if it would fly up and crash through the windshield, or hurt our car otherwise. I pressed on the brakes (Emily remembers) but there was nothing else I could do to avoid collision: no shoulder to pull into, no way to change to the opposing one-way lane. Pulling into the ditch of weeds wasn't an option, and no, I sure didn't think to pray in that split second--it all happened so quickly. As the car and board came closer together, the board went around us (miraculously).
I thought everything was fine, although I was shaken, but Em noticed that the right rear-view mirror was gone from its frame. Not knowing whether I should go look for the mirror in the ditch, I pulled over next chance I got (a farm driveway) and called Mother and Daddy (who were at the funeral lunch) while Emily inspected the exterior for other damage (Dad later noticed that the board scraped along the right front fender before catching on the mirror). I was shaking as I told M/D what happened, but assured them that everything was okay. By the time I was done and Dad was comforting me and thanking God for His protection, I was crying. Dad said we should go on to Bible study, because the mirror probably broke and we were much too dressed up to look on the side of the road for it. I dried my tears and told Emily "Let's sing to feel better" (calmer). We got to Bible study safely in time for most of the lesson.
There are many times while driving that the Lord has mercifully spared me from harm that I deserved because of errant driving, but yesterday He put His shield of protection around the car, when I didn't cause the problem and couldn't fix the situation.
When Daddy and Mother got home from shopping (post-funeral), Dad and I drove up to where the accident DIDN'T happen, to look for the board of mirror. We found neither, walking along the road for ~a mile, searching. The construction truck must have stopped and gotten their board. We did find an onion in good condition! Dad has since ordered a replacement mirror.
Reflections:
1. We were sharing our story with a few people after it happened, and got different responses.
Our babysitting girl said it right, "God blessed you!" That's exactly right, it was His shielding, His hand on us.
Our aunt said, "Probably an angel was sitting on the hood of your car and pushed the board around the side!" (This would be like Psalm 34:7, "The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.")
After hearing the story another person (who had seen Dad and me in our mirror-search and asked "why?") remarked "Thank your lucky stars!" We HAD to say, "NO!! Thank the LORD!!" We give Him all glory! We thought about why someone would say what he did, and we think that it is because people know that it was greater-than-human power that would give protection, but they are unwilling to acknowledge God as the Creator, Giver, and Preserver of life that HE IS and do not have the personal knowledge of His work in their lives. (Psalm 34:8, "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!")
2. When we were walking (both north and south on the east side of the road, by the northbound lane) I thought about something: it was more comfortable walking north beside the northbound lane than it was when walking south beside it. Walking north I was trying to be careful, but was walking on, or even a hair west of the white line instead of through the weeds; but walking south I realized what danger was in front of me (all those approaching cars) and was subconsciously willing to risk pricklies in my socks by walking through the weeds, rather than walk west of the white line! I thought about how if people are walking in the ways of the world (north by a northbound lane), it is "easy", and they don't realize the true danger they're in. On the other hand, if people are walking with Jesus Christ, following the Bible, going His way, against the flow of traffic and what the world wants, they are enabled by the Holy Spirit to be on their guard about the dangers surrounding. Sometimes this protection/watchfulness involves a lot of careful thought, self-sacrifice, and yes, opposition (weeds that are prickly).
