SAFE IN HIS ARMS
Although
raised in church, I did not develop my own personal relationship with Jesus
until I was in my early forties. I like
to refer to the story of the man who hit the mule over the head with a 2x4 to
get his attention. In 1995, as a
43-year-old widow, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. During
the following year, I had a mastectomy, chemotherapy, two attempts at
breast reconstruction, a deadly staph infection and a chronic wound
infection. I always said that God
allowed this to get my attention, for it was during this year I reached out to
Him (another miracle - another story).
At
the time, I had a 20 year career working for a major company. Although I was making good money, the illness
and workplace stress was taking a toll.
I was constantly tired and relied daily on the power of prayer to handle
the stress at work. In December, 1997,
the Lord told me to quit my job. In
order to do this, and not knowing why, I had to forego hopes of a future
pension and live on only a widow’s annuity.
After prayer and consideration, I took the leap and left my job in
January, 1998.
My
three children were grown by this time and, therefore, had not been raised in a
Christian environment. However, during
the previous few years my daily prayers always included fervent pleas for each
of my children’s salvation. In January,
1998, the Lord gave me a word that my daughter, age 22, would be saved. The following attests to how this came about
and to the circumstances by which I know my oldest son, Bob, is now in heaven.
In
1995, when Bob was 24, he became the father (out of wedlock) of my precious
grandson. When the mother began using
meth, he took the child and received sole custody through the court system. I couldn’t have been prouder of the job he
was doing as a single parent. No child
could have received more love and attention than little Josh was getting from
his father. The only thing missing was
the inclusion of God in their lives.
Early
in 1998, during one of Bob’s frequent visits, I again said something to him
about trusting in the Lord. He said,
“Mom, you have no idea how much I think about it. I’m getting there. Just be patient.” Trying not to interfere and to let the Lord
work in His own way, I didn’t say anything else. I just continued to pray daily for these
children of mine.
Around
2:30 PM on March 4, 1998, I received the phone call parents live in fear
of. My daughter, who was extremely close
to her brother, was screaming hysterically into the phone. She was so upset her words were
unintelligible. A woman finally took the
phone from her and said, “There’s been a terrible car accident with massive
injuries,” and gave me the location. My
daughter got back on the phone and screamed, “Bob’s hurt really bad.”
I
jumped in my car and sped to the scene of the accident. The entire way, thinking my daughter and
grandson had all been in the car, I just kept repeating, “God, please save my
children.” As I went around a corner,
about 2 miles from the accident, a tremendous peace overcame me. It was as if God was saying, “Everything is
okay now.” The peace was so overwhelming
that I no longer felt the need to plead with God for their safety. Although I kept repeating the words, the
burning pain seemed to be gone.
When
I got as close to the scene as the officers allowed, I was told my grandson
(then age 2) was taken to Children’s Mercy, the officers would bring my
daughter to me, and they had not yet gotten my son out of the car. I was told to take my daughter and go to
Children’s Mercy and see to my grandson while they continued working on my
son. When my daughter arrived, I
discovered that she had been in her car following Bob and witnessed the
accident as a reckless driver, going almost 60 mph, had smashed into his driver’s
side door.
At
Children’s Mercy the nursing staff and the chaplain all greeted me. Although Josh was in shock and had been
covered with blood (later told it was his dad’s), he had received nothing more
than a scratch on his neck. We waited
there until the phone call was received from NKC Hospital. “I’m sorry, we did all we could to save your
son but his injuries were too severe to revive him.” It sounded like something out of a television
show. The nursing staff, my daughter and
I, with Josh in my arms, all joined hands while the chaplain prayed.
The
next few days were clouded with funeral arrangements and worries over how I
could raise this small child at my age, alone, and being still fatigued from my
previous illnesses. My biggest fear,
however, was that Bob was not in Heaven because he was still “thinking about
it.” I remembered the peace I had felt
the day of the accident and hoped God was trying to tell me all was okay and He
had Bob in his arms right now. I also
was told Bob had called someone two weeks earlier to ask how to be saved. I still had nagging doubts, though, and I
prayed constantly, many times a day, using the following words, “Lord, I pray
that Bob is safe in Your arms.”
This
so plagued me that a couple of weeks later, I expressed my fears to my aunt,
who was a real prayer warrior and frequently received miracles through prayer. The next morning she called me. “Guess what!
I said a little prayer before I went to bed and asked God to let you
know whether Bob was in Heaven. This
morning I awoke humming a tune. I hummed
this song all morning and yet couldn’t recognize the song. It was something I remembered from long ago
but couldn’t place the words, only the music.
Finally it came to me. The name
of it was “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.”’ Although I had told no one,
these were the exact words I had used in my prayers! I knew I finally had my answer.
Because
I followed the Lord’s leading and had quit my job six weeks prior to the
accident, I was able to be a stay at home “mom.” To further add to these miracles, my
daughter, so traumatized by witnessing the accident which killed her brother,
reached out in her grief and recurrent nightmares and came to know the Lord in
July of that same year.
Remember:
Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for
good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
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