Jan4

A story that must be shared

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Yes, we’re back from our trip to New Mexico. I’ll post pics of the incredible vistas soon. But first, this story from a friend’s Christmas card. When I asked her permission to use it, she said it’s a story that’s meant to be shared. So here we go.

Her 12 year-old son was in a car accident with two other boys and the driver. The car was hit, flipped over once or twice, and the back passenger seats were completely torn off from the rest of the car. (Yeah. That’s a crazy bad accident.) The driver was not too bad off, but one of the boys was sadly killed and another was life flighted away with serious injuries. Amazingly, after lots of work done, he walked out of the hospital five days later, completely and fully recovered.

My friend’s son woke up in the grass 20 yards away from the crash, even though his seatbelt was still buckled in the car.

Yep, you read that right.

He remembers “the car swerving, the sound of scraping metal, a jolt through my whole body, and these really soft hands laying me in the grass.”

He got up without a scrape, bruise, shard of glass, piece of metal, grass stain, or dirt smudge. Also, his mom says that, to see the vehicle, there was no way to remove him without removing the other two boys, though they were still in the car.

…

Just want to let you ruminate on that miracle for a while. Clearly God has a plan for this young man.

Now for a little levity. I posted this picture on twitter and it got far more retweets and likes than anything I’ve posted, even a like from a New Hampshire state rep. I thought that was pretty cool.

My caption was “I pulled out the camera and he did this.”

HPIM1257

Take care of yourselves in this new year, friends.

Do you have any miraculous stories to share?

69 responses »

  1. I’ve heard other stories like that… falls out windows or from high trees, mysterious hands bringing drowning victims to land (my mom as a child). It speaks to how mysterious our universe is and how little we truly know about the invisible.
    And that picture is adorable. What a smile! Can’t beat it.

    Liked by 1 person

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  16. There have been so many things that taken individually, some might chalk up to coincidence that when looked at together can be anything but. I’ve written about it before, but I know my feet were saved because I asked for help. I know my husband would not have lived to make our second date, if not for a chance mistake behind the wheel, and I know either one of our sons might not be sleeping in their rooms tonight, happy and healthy were it not for a domino effect of microscopic shifts in our daily routine that identified conditions while they were still treatable or helped them avoid a close call from a serious injury.

    My condolences to the family of the passenger lost.

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    • You get it, Allie P. Awesome. And condolences indeed. It must be extra hard for them to have lost their son when this happened to another of the boys. They must wonder why it wasn’t their own. That’s gotta be extremely difficult.

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      • Unfortunately that was the first thing that occurred to me reading the story. It is in a way kinder to us that there are less obvious evidence of intervention so are able to find strength to continue on when it isn’t clear why certain terrible things were allowed to occur.

        Liked by 1 person

      • The only thing I can think is sometimes God allows something bad to occur in order to avoid something even worse from happening. Like maybe that child would later fall into mortal sin and wind up in Hell, but if he died now he had a chance at Heaven, or something like that. I just trust He knows what He’s doing. Though of course, try convincing those parents of that. Maybe this happened for the sake of bringing them closer together, or their other children, or… I don’t know. Must be a reason. :/

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  17. If that doesn’t make one believe that you still have a purpose, then I don’t know what does. My husband was in a similar situation when we just started dating. God works in great and mysterious ways.

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  18. I’m not sure if others would agree my own stories would qualify as miracles, but I do have stories in which I know God was protecting me from harm. One time when I was twenty-one, I was traveling by myself in Central America and I was walking back from a day of sight seeing, I had a creepy feeling about a man who was following me. I noticed he was there and had it in my head that as long as I kept a safe distance between me and him and got back to my hotel, I would be okay, but it was quite a long way back. After a little while, a family driving to their own hotel stopped their car and asked if I wanted a lift. Their car was already packed. They were practically sitting on each other’s laps trying to fit me in the car. And they helped me find my hotel when I had trouble remembering where it was. When we packed everyone in and we’re on our way, they even asked me who that man was and that they, too, had noticed him and thought something was amiss. I really believe that that generous family saved me from harm. (I’ve never told anyone this story before.) I really do think it was “a God thing” that they noticed me and decided to help me when I hadn’t even asked for help.

    I have other stories too. And have heard stories from friends. The one that sticks in my head was a friend who was in Phuket the week of the big tsunami. She was supposed to be there the day it happened, but circumstances beyond her control (and circumstances she wasn’t happy about at the time) forced her to leave earlier than planned. In the end, it meant she wasn’t there when the disaster happened. She, too, believes it was “a God thing.”

    Yes, you might say these are coincidences. But I do believe God works through things like this. Sometimes we think it’s all chance, but it’s not.

    And that is and adorable photo of your cutie patootie.

    Liked by 2 people

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  21. Wow – what an amazing story. I’ve never been a big believer, but hearing about things like this makes me question it all. So glad her son was okay and able to walk away from such a tragic accident relatively unscathed.

    Liked by 1 person

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  26. I’ve refrained from commenting for some time. The last five months have been an incredible roller coaster. I kept thinking that if I gave it enough time I would be able to remove the emotion and give an objective response.

    But I can’t. Being subjective isn’t possible. Because this is my boy. The memories of the sound of the crash are his. The images of his friend’s broken body are his. The nightmares are his. The survivor’s guilt is his. The fear of ever going to another field trip is his. The anxiety over the hearing of emergency vehicle sirens is his.

    But the story of God’s ability to use ANYTHING for His good is also his. The knowledge that his friend had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is his. The peace in his heart, knowing his friend is walking on streets paved of gold is his.

    We cannot give earthly explanations for all of the questions that come with an incident such as this. But the father of the little boy who died was the one who brought us so much clarity. We do not believe God caused this accident. But He did allow it. And if He had wanted to take my son home that day, He would have. And if He had wanted all three boys to stay here on earth, they would have. But one young man’s work on earth was done. And so he is home with his Heavenly Father.

    It’s that simple. Not EASY. But that simple.

    And with that explanation from the one who has to let go of his boy, we were reminded we were given a gift that day. And that is not something about which we should feel guilty . It’s not something for which to apologize. And it’s definitely not something to waste. And that’s why we shared his story in the first place.

    And while our earthly hurt desperately longs for a certain little boy to still be here, among us. We also know that, if given a choice, he wouldn’t choose to leave where he is now in order to return here.

    That is the hope that we have.

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