God’s faithfulness

The Accidents that Didn’t Kill Me

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

Have you ever stopped to count how many times God has rescued you? That is, have you considered how many times He’s rescued you that you know of?

“Rescue” can mean many things, but right now I’m thinking about times when I know beyond doubt that I would not have survived without divine intervention.

The first was when I was around 8 or 9. We were enjoying a day on the water when our boat hit a submerged log. When I came to, I was in my stepfather’s seat and he was in the water.

It is a heartbreaking thing to be completely helpless while watching a man drown.

Years later I realized something terrible: It should have been me. My sister and I were sitting up on the inboard motor and should have been thrown out of the boat, but we weren’t.

Another time I was driving down a mostly empty highway on a sunny day when a dump truck driver decided to cross the road in front of me. He said he didn’t see me, but let’s not go there.

I swerved just enough to slam into his rear wheel.

Had I instead gone between his wheels…? 

Then there’s the more recent wreck I can’t even let myself think about. It, too, should have killed me – and not just me.

And these are the times I know God had His hand on me, His angels looking after me.

I can’t help but wonder how many more there have been.

A demon once told my sister, “We’ve been trying to kill you for years.” Given the things that have happened to her – starting with the fact that she was sitting beside me on the day our stepfather died – I have no trouble believing it.

I don’t think we give God and His angels enough credit. We may wonder why certain bad things happen, but in reality… How much worse could it have been?

I often pray Psalm 91 over myself and my family. Verse 11 assures me, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”

I’m living proof. Maybe you are too.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

God Has a Reason

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

Story time, and it’s a story with three lessons.
1. When God says, “Move,” you need to move.
2. When you know you need help, ask Him.
3. When He tells you what to do, do what He says.

WHEN GOD SAID, “MOVE.”

I was having a rough night. Allergies ruled and I could not settle down to sleep even though I’d been in bed for quite a while. In the midst of my struggles, God told me to get up and use my neti pot. I didn’t want to, but I’ve been trying to practice quick obedience, so I did. I got up, turned on the light, and headed to the sink.

As I was washing the neti pot afterwards, I literally said something along the lines of, “Well, I don’t know why you had me do that; it doesn’t seem to have done anything.” And it hadn’t, not really, BUT.

I should stop a moment and explain that after the horrible reaction I had to all of the gnat bites back in June/July, I got a gnat tent (Like a mosquito tent, but with tinier openings) for my bed, and it’s still there. I’ve about decided it’s going to stay there, to be honest.

So I got back to the bed, pulled aside the curtain, and saw why God had me get out of bed. It wasn’t because I needed to use my neti pot. It was because there were two of us inside my tent and He knew what would happen if the other came upon me unawares. That’s my Kindle in the lower right corner, so you can see how big it was.

Yes, I’m now aware this is a wolf spider, which would not have hurt me and is beneficial, but I remind you that this giant spider was trapped inside the tent with me, in the dark. God alone knows what would have happened if it had crawled on me in the middle of the night. As I stood facing the thing, we were both frozen. I knew I was in trouble if I didn’t handle this the right way, and I know next to nothing about spider behavior. So…

I KNEW I NEEDED HELP.
I ASKED THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD HELP ME.

As I stood there, I recognized that I was way out of my element. The spider had to not only leave my tent, but also my little apartment or I might never have peace again. I literally told God, “This one’s on You. You are going to have to handle this because I can’t!”

He told me to step outside and get the net we use to sweep leaves up off the surface of the pool. I had no idea the net was even there because It’s often attached to the pole, but I slowly crossed to the door, never taking my eyes off the spider, and took a super quick glance outside to find that the net was exactly where He said it would be.

Then I stood there, glancing back and forth between spider and net, and informed God that He had to make the thing stay right where it was. Does it sound like I was desperate? Good, because I was.

I DID WHAT HE TOLD ME TO.
I DID IT THE WAY HE SAID TO DO IT.

I was back at the bed, net in hand, in about two seconds, controlling my breathing and reminding myself that God always has my back. Again, I was talking to Him, telling Him I needed precise instructions so I wouldn’t blow my part of this adventure. (No, I didn’t think of it as an adventure at the time, but I can laugh about it now.)

God told me to move slowly and to gently put the side of the net right by the spider. I did, and that spider stepped onto the net as pretty as you please while I stared in shock. I then moved very slowly, backing out of the bed and heading for the door. I only disturbed it once on the way out; it was actually a lot more calm than I was.

I would love to say I settled right down to sleep after the spider and I parted ways. I didn’t. Every time I thought about what could have happened if the thing had crawled on me in the middle of the night, I thanked God one more time for telling me to get out of bed. I had that thought and reaction over and over for hours. In fact, this situation made me even happier that I’m aphantasic, because as a total aphant my imagination couldn’t toss visual possibilities at me, only concepts.

We live and we learn, and sometimes we just get reminded of basic truths. God knows what’s going on, and if He tells us to do something there’s always a reason. Unlike this particular experience, we don’t always actually see His plan, but we can be confident that He has one and trust that our obedience is serving a purpose.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C