It had been a particularly beautiful devotional time with the Lord that morning. My usual morning routine had me up at about 4:30 a.m. It was quiet. It was dark outside. No one was around to distract me or disrupt my quiet thoughts. I love those hours no matter what time I go to bed the night before. I remember writing in my journal that morning that I felt the prayers of those praying for me. It had been a challenging time for me. It was a time of transition, of time of stress with the elements surrounding a major life change my husband and I were experiencing. After I finally felt like I was ready to tackle the day, I went from my quiet corner to spend a few moments talking to my husband. The Lord had dealt with my heart on some matters in which I needed to humble myself, and I surrendered that morning. I felt lighter!
I kissed my husband goodbye, and I walked out into a cloudy, chilly morning to take a long drive south of my home to go to work. The ground was white with snow. It was so pretty. What I didn’t realize that morning was that beneath the beautiful white snow on my driveway was ice. I slowly began the descent down the long driveway, creeping along. I always pray before I drive as I never take for granted that every ride will be an uneventful one. I’m ever mindful that there is an adversary seeking whom he may devour at all times (1 Peter 5:8). My favorite Bible verse is one I think of most every day: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions faileth not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Little did I know just how real that verse would be for me that day.
Suddenly, I felt my van sliding laterally to the right of my driveway road. There is no guard rail or anything to keep a vehicle from going over the precipice I was heading towards. My heart was racing. All I could articulate was, “Help me Jesus… Help me Jesus!” I felt like everything was going in slow motion, and I could feel my heart racing and overwhelming anxiety setting in. I didn’t want to roll over in the van! Panic set in and I tried to jump out of my car before it went over the side of the driveway and down the hill. My seat belt hindered me for a second or two. I managed to get it loose and I attempted to jump out of the car before it rolled!
Bad idea. It was an awkward exit and I knew it wouldn’t be pretty. As soon as I rolled out of the car and onto the hard, cold pavement, I noticed that the car did not roll over the precipice. The van miraculously lodged between two trees before the slope. How did that happen? It looked like the trees were literally cradling my van in just the right position so as not to roll over. By this time, my husband was outside assessing the damage and making sure I was ok. The car was very minimally damaged, and so was I. Fortunately, I didn’t break any bones, though my gait was off for a few weeks with swelling and knee pain. What a blessing!
Jesus is only a prayer away. All we have to do is call on Him, and He will save us. He gives His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways according to Psalms 91:11.
"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.”
Psalms 34:7
We can be assured that there is safety in trusting the Lord.
Call to Action
When we are in trouble, call on the Lord. When we aren’t in trouble we can call on the Lord. He is ever near, promising that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). When Peter attempted to walk on water to meet Jesus on the lake, as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked safely — miraculously. But when he took his eyes off of Jesus and saw all the waves and turmoil around him, he began to sink. His simple cry was, "'Lord, save me!'" And that is exactly what Jesus did (Matthew 14:30-31 NLT). He will do the same for us today.
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture taken from the King James Version.
