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TROUBLE ON THE HIGHWAY

"God, help me!" I shouted as my car slid out of control on the slippery Indiana highway on that cold rainy day in February. I instinctively shut my eyes as my car careened down into the ditch on the right side of the road and into a field. I "felt" the car moving for awhile as I sat braced for an impact or whatever might happen. I was totally out of control of the steering of the car. The car gradually slowed down enough for me to open my eyes and discover I was almost back on the highway! I was approaching the same roadside ditch I had just driven through, but this time from the field side of it! I accelerated the car trying to return to the road, but got stuck in the ditch.

As I sat in my car along the highway trying to grasp what had just happened, I began to see an amazing picture of what God had just done for me.......

The day began with plans to fly our private plane from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Columbia, Missouri, for a job interview for my husband. I was busily packing the clothes for our two daughters so we could make a stopover at my sister’s home in Marion, Indiana, and leave the girls there while we visited Columbia. I anxiously watched the cold rain and low clouds, wondering if they would hinder our flight and make us late for our appointment that evening.

Just then my husband called saying the weather was too bad to fly privately and we would need to catch a commercial flight very soon. Would I make the trip by car to Marion? Would I drop off the girls at my sister’s home, and return to Indianapolis in time to catch the commercial flight? There was just barely enough time if all went perfectly!

Driving at a high speed, I quickly made the trip, but I learned that the cold rain in Indianapolis changed to freezing rain and snow as I went north toward Marion. Cautiously I arrived at my sister’s home, left the girls, and began the return trip - knowing I would not make the commercial flight on time unless I drove fast.

As I drove too fast for the icy road, God and His angels were watching over me, even in my unwise choice of speed. All of a sudden I realized the car was sliding, and it was totally out of my control! As I shut my eyes with the approaching danger and yelled, "God, help me!" God took over.

When I looked around as the car came to a stop in the ditch, I knew He had taken over, because I could see where His angels had steered the car - off the road, through a ditch, into a large open field, around a tree in a U-shaped turn, then back up to the edge of the road where the car stalled in the ditch. The car and I were totally uninjured, not even scratched!

I walked to the nearest farmhouse where I used their telephone to call a AAA service truck to pull my car from the ditch. Needless to say, we missed our commercial flight and had to postpone our visit to Columbia until the next day.

I knew, as I pondered the event, that an angel had guided my car that day because my eyes had been shut, and a car does not steer itself in a U-turn around a tree and back up towards the road where my car went!

Some weeks later, as I drove along that same Indiana highway, I noticed something which again caused me amazement about God’s guiding hand. I noticed that "my field" with the tree in the middle was the only open area for a long way that was without buildings, fences, or signs which my car could have hit!

What could have been a tragedy turned out to be an enduring memory of His Marvelous Deeds!

To the Lord I cry aloud
and he answers me from his holy hill.
(Psalm 3:4)

WARNING LIGHTS

John was driving his car home one day along a country road which had little traffic at that time. He had driven along this road many times and felt comfortable knowing what to expect. He was coming upon a railroad track which he had crossed many times before. He couldn’t see down the tracks because there was too much brush and trees, so he didn’t see any train.

This railroad track was one of those lines which probably used to have trains along it regularly, but now was seldom used any, if at all. It was the kind of track where you seldom stopped and looked because you had been over it so many times without seeing a train. John certainly was not accustomed to seeing trains on it!

But this day a very strange event took place as John approached those country train tracks. Just before reaching them, he suddenly saw flashing red warning lights signaling an approaching train. He was so surprised by this he slammed on his brakes twice and each time the car went sideways and the car behind him did the same. He stopped almost on the tracks and a train passed by immediately in front of his car! Either John’s car, or the second car, may well have been on that railroad track at the time the train came and been hit by it.

As my Mother wrote in a letter to me about this event: "Joan, why did he see red lights flashing?" His wife, Carol, immediately told him that God was watching out for him. Mom said she believed that too. As Mom said: "There are no lights there and yet he saw some. Someone was watching over him. I have heard other people having similar experiences and they gave the credit to God. I believe it too. Praise the Lord. Carol said wouldn’t that have been terrible, if he would have been killed today. Thought you’d like to know. Love, Mom"

There were no electric signal lights at that crossing! There was only the old wooden X sign indicating a RR crossing, but no electric signals. But he knew he had seen flashing warning lights and that was why he stopped.

It is one of those mysterious ways of God which we cannot explain but at which we marvel. It was truly one of His Marvelous Deeds!

I warned you when you felt secure...
(Jeremiah 22:21)

I WILL RESCUE HIM

"Oh, God, help us!" I began to pray as my husband and I flew in a twin engine plane toward the airport at Marion, Indiana. "We need You right now, Lord! This plane is having engine trouble! Help my husband land this plane safely!" I prayed hard and fast, over and over, as we descended toward the landing strip. Engine trouble was evident but we didn’t know why.

The plane which my husband was piloting suddenly had one of the two engines quit working as we were in mid-air. Even though he had had training in what to do if this should ever happen, this had never happened to us before! He navigated the plane with his attention riveted on the instrument panel trying to keep the plane level with power coming from one side only. This was very difficult! While his attention was riveted on the instrument panel, my attention was riveted on the Lord. We needed Him right now!

Joyce, my sister, was standing outside the small airport building at Marion with our two young daughters watching for our plane to appear. Kim and Beth were excitedly watching for their Mom and Dad to come and get them after their trip. They loved to visit Aunt Joyce and Uncle Edd, but they also missed Mom and Dad. Their eyes repeatedly looked across the sky to see the first sign of the arriving plane.

As they watched, a plane did indeed come into view off at a distance, but there was something strange about that plane. It had a long trail of gray-white smoke coming from one of its engines - an ominous-looking trail! They began to wonder and ask Aunt Joyce if this could be their parents’ plane.

Joyce, suspecting the worst, knew this probably was! But she did not want the girls to see it coming in and watch what might happen! So she skillfully took them back into the airport building and tried to divert their attention...all the while wondering what was happening outside. She was a praying Christian woman, so she also was calling on the Lord in her heart as much as she could while entertaining Kim and Beth.

Gradually, in what seemed a long period of time, my husband maneuvered the plane toward the runway - closer and closer - while I watched breathlessly and prayed all the way. Was there a fire? We could not see it if there was! Would we be able to land, get out of the plane, and get away from it in time? Unanswered questions assailed my mind in those moments before landing.

God was right there with us in those moments of desperate prayers. We landed safely, got out of the plane, and saw the reason for our engine loss as we watched the smoke coming from it. The smoke was being blown behind us as we flew, so we could not see it while in the cockpit. We did get away from the plane quickly and it did not catch totally on fire. But it did ruin that one engine. We had to have repair work done so we had to leave the plane at that airport for many days until that was finished. But we were thankful nothing worse happened!

We had an extra thankful and joyful reunion with our loved ones in that airport that day! God had spared our lives from the danger near us and kept us for His purposes. He had revealed Himself as our protector and deliverer. He had truly performed one of His Marvelous Deeds!

As I reflect back on this event etched vividly in my memory, I am reminded that God kept us safe from a possible fuel tank explosion from that burning engine. And I am also reminded that the engine loss could have taken place over a large city or over the countryside instead of near the airport of our destination. God was, indeed, watching over us even before I started praying!

"Because he loves me," says the Lord, I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."
(Psalm 91:14-16)

CHARGE OVER THEE

My sister, Lois, and I were driving along a highway in Indiana heading toward Fort Wayne. She had just received word that a friend of hers needed her immediately so she dropped everything to go. As she left she asked if I wanted to ride along to keep her company. So, together we left the Christian Conference we were attending telling friends we would return the next day.

As we traveled along the two lane highway, we came upon a large semi-truck and began to pass it. When we were about half way around it the driver of the truck, apparently not seeing us in his side view mirror, began pulling into the passing lane where we were.

The next thing I knew we were careening off the left side of the highway with our car turning completely over and finally coming to a stop in a cornfield! It was the strangest sensation turning over in a car...one which I hope I will never feel again!

My eyes were shut as we went over, but I was quite aware of every sensation. I felt all the bumps and jolts, but at the same time became aware of a stinging pain in my finger! I pulled my hand back from the pain thinking I must be receiving a cut from broken glass in the windshield. My strangely calm thought was: "This must be what it is like to turn over in a car."

As we thudded to a stop, right side up (Praise the Lord!), I opened my eyes and began to look around. There was dust or smoke all around the car. At once I realized the car could catch on fire! I said we should get out immediately in case the car caught on fire. We assured each other we were OK as we hunted for her glasses which had been thrown off her face.

Then we tried to open the doors. They would not open! At that moment I began to feel panic! I began to pound on the door frantically. But it would not open! Just then Lois got the door on her side open, and we realized we could get out, so the panic stopped immediately.

As soon as we got out we walked away from the car through the field to the side of the highway where we sat down a moment to try to grasp what had just happened and what to do next. Then we heard people yelling at us to come across the road away from the wires hanging near us. We had not yet noticed them!

After we crossed the highway to those friendly voices calling to us, we sat down again in our shocked state and began to listen to them speak. They said, "We never expected anyone to come out of that car alive!" They told us that we had hit a pole and broken it in two so that the wires were hanging down around the car. My side door, which I had frantically tried to open, was lodged against the pole we hit. Thank the Lord I could not get it open, because I might have walked into live wires before realizing it.

After the ambulance got us to an emergency room they had Lois lie down because she had a headache. When the nurse asked me if I was hurt, all I had to report was a cut finger - the pain I felt while the car was turning over. A little later I overheard the nurse quietly tell someone that our blood pressures were "sky high!" She immediately had me lie down also when she discovered that.

Due to the high blood pressure they asked us to be admitted overnight for observation even though we were not hurt. As we lay in our hospital beds we called back to the Christian Conference we had just left, and the whole conference group stopped and prayed for us immediately.

We rested in our beds, bathed in prayer, thanking God for His protection. He had just performed one of His Marvelous Deeds in our lives as He kept us safe through the accident.

For he shall give his angels
charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways.
(Psalm 91:11 KJV)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

NAILED TO THE CROSS

One of the Lord’s marvelous deeds is giving us the opportunity to become clean before Him through Jesus’ work on the cross. There was a day in my life when He took me through a giant step in the process of becoming clean from past grudges, hurts, and unforgiven circumstances. It all began at the very last meeting of the conference...

The conference I was attending at Ridgecrest in North Carolina was on "Prayer for Spiritual Awakening." One thing I learned is that if you want spiritual awakening you need to pray, but I also learned that effective prayer must come from a cleansed vessel. God began a process of cleansing in me that day. He started to clean me from past experiences.

I sat listening intently as the speaker shared a fresh experience of God’s work in his personal life - an experience only two weeks old. I thank God for this man who was willing to be vulnerable enough to share how God revealed his own needs for cleansing and how God taught him to be free from the bondage of past events in his life. He shared how he took each revealed memory of past hurts, grudges, and unforgiven events to the cross, confessed his part in those events, asked forgiveness, and then nailed those sins to the cross in his imagination as he accepted in his heart Christ’s finished work of paying the penalty for them.

I knew deep down inside God was calling me to do the same. I felt like the conference was just beginning for me because there was so much inner work I wanted to do before returning home.

But the conference was over! Even so, my heart was filled with the intense desire to be alone with God and let Him do that cleansing work in me also. Oh, how I wanted to stay!

We packed the van with our luggage and began the 1 and 1/2 day trip back to Missouri. The drawing by God to come apart with Him and begin that cleansing work was so real I could not escape it, nor did I want to. However God knew what to do with all those travel hours!

As the miles flew by and people became quieter, I began looking out the window and drawing apart in my mind to communicate with the Lord. "Lord, please show me those areas in my life that need cleansing! Take me back, Lord, in my memory to times and events which I need to confess before You."

And He did! The first event He brought to my mind seemed so insignificant to me, I would not have considered it if He had not shown it to me from His viewpoint. He reminded me of a time when I was six years old and my mother was in bed recovering from the delivery at our home of my baby brother. My aunt was taking care of our family until my mother was able again. I had injured myself and wanted a bandage on the wound, but she would not give me one. I went to my mother and asked for one, and she let me have it.

The Lord began to show me I had never forgiven my aunt for not understanding the need of a small child, not just for a bandage, but for the love and concern that mother gave with that bandage. I had held a grudge against my aunt ever since that day and did not even know it!

First the Lord had me confess my sin of holding a grudge, then forgive my aunt for not helping me. As the speaker taught us, I pictured myself taking my sin to the cross and nailing it there. Christ had already paid the price for it and I accepted that payment and thanked Him for it.

What a wonderful cleansing followed! All the way home, for hour after hour in the van, the Lord took me back in my memory and worked cleansing from past events. The prayer Jesus taught became very real to me: "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors!" As I forgave others, He worked cleansing in me of my debts. Those debts got nailed to Jesus’ cross all the way across the country from North Carolina to Missouri as God worked one of His Marvelous Deeds in my life!

For if you forgive men when they sin against you,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men their sins,
your Father will not forgive your sins.
(Matthew 6:14-15)

I LOVE YOU

It was the last day I could visit my father in the hospital. He had a stroke and we did not know how long he would live. We also did not know what his condition would be if he did live.

When I heard of his stroke I made the ten hour trip from Missouri to Indiana to see him. After spending several days there, it was now time to return to Missouri...return without knowing the outcome of this stroke.

I did not look forward to this last visit to the hospital, knowing it could be the last time I might see my father alive. What do you say at such a time?

My father and I had never been close. He was not the type of person to be affectionate or share his feelings with others. We did not communicate much except about surface things. I wanted to be close to my father, but somehow it was not easy to feel close to him. I had never heard him tell any person, "I love you." And as a child it would have made such a difference in my life to have heard those words!

Now, as an adult, I could see that Dad had loved me "in his way" by taking care of my material needs along with those of our family. But, as a child, I did not perceive that. I needed, as a child, to be told and shown that I was loved. Therefore, I grew up thinking he really did not care much about me.

And now the time had arrived to say good-bye. I dreaded this moment. What should I say? I leaned over his bed to hug him and said, "Dad, I have to leave now. I have to go back to Missouri....I love you, Dad."

And he said the words I had waited all my life to hear: "I love you, too."

As my sister and I left his room and walked down the hospital corridor, she said, with tears in her eyes, "That is the first time I ever heard Dad say ‘I love you’ to anyone in my whole life!"

I knew it was one of life’s rare and touching moments... and that God gave that moment as one of His Marvelous Deeds!

Oh, that we could turn aside from all our pride and pain
And take the risk to tell someone "I love you" - what great gain!
Take the time to tell someone of the caring in your heart,
Before the opportunity is past, before you have to part.

LIKE A LITTLE CHILD

As an adult I have often been guided by the Lord to look back into my past and remember an event which needs to be worked through. Sometimes I need to forgive someone, sometimes I need to ask the Lord to forgive me, sometimes I need to be freed from a wrong attitude, and sometimes I need healing. This story involves both forgiveness and emotional healing for something which happened to me as a young child.

I do not remember why, but my father was angry with me. In the process of dealing with me in his anger, he sent me outside our home to stand by myself on our front porch in the dark. I was very afraid of the dark, so that was a dreadful punishment for me. But there was also a feeling of rejection and fear during that event...enough that it continued as a very painful memory for many years.

As an adult I brought that memory to the surface under the Lord’s guidance one day. I had to forgive my father for treating me that way. It was easy enough to say "I forgive him" to the Lord because I now had children of my own and could understand how irritating they could be at times. Perhaps I had been that way.

But somehow the Lord was not finished with that memory. I did not have a sense of peace about the memory, and it kept returning to my mind. So I asked the Lord how to be free from the pain of that memory. Then I began to see that the feeling of being unwanted and rejected was still there and needed to be healed. "How could I be healed?" I asked Him. Then He performed one of His Marvelous Deeds in my life to bring healing to me.

He had me bring back and review in my mind the picture of myself standing on that porch as a little child. Then He reminded me that He was always with me and that I could imagine Him there on that porch with me - because He really was. So, in my imagination, I pictured Him standing there with me. And, somehow, it was not dark anymore when He was there, and I was not afraid.

What happened next was a vision. In it He took my hand and we walked together down the steps off the porch and into a grassy area beside the house. His presence blessed me and freed me to be the child I was. We took hands and danced around in circles as children do. Then He stooped down and waited and watched as I danced and ran around in the grass full of joy and delight in being with Him.

This was so healing to me that now it is a pleasure to go back to that memory. When I do, I remember, not pain, but Jesus being with me and accepting me for being a child and acting like a child...and just loving me as a child. My earthly father could not accept me acting like a child, but my Heavenly Father loved me that way!

He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
(Mark 10:14-16)

(In Hebrew custom, blessing was the act of a father.)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (Ephesians 6:10)

Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16)

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

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