Jeremiah 17:7-8 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
One gray November day back in 2005 (I was a senior in High School), my mom was driving me into town after school to get a winter coat. We were crossing a bridge and my dear old mum noticed I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt. So she reminded me and I quickly put it on. And we kept cruising, probably listening to Dixie Chicks or Josh Groban.
Then I heard her voice of disbelief, “Oh my gosh…”
The world exploded around me. Instinct kicked in and I went into that stupid safety position taught at schools in case a tornado drops on the building. I just remember so much noise. And, oddly enough, the sensation of being on a trampoline (I found out later it was because our minivan had bounced end over end 3 times). When at last it ended, the air was thick with airbag smoke and debris. Mud and dirt covered everything. We couldn’t even see out the windshield, it was so decimated. Luckily, we were both coherent and, to our shock, realized we were upside down in a ditch.
That day we walked away from an accident that emergency workers said we should never have survived. The other driver (who also walked away relatively unscathed) had ran a stop sign on a country road. Both of our cars had been going around 60 mph.
As we climbed out of the ditch, wet and trembling, I found an insane urge to laugh. We were alive!
Whenever I start letting anxiety creep in and I feel the need to grasp for control, I remind myself of this event in my life. God was faithful in protecting us. I remember as a family we would pray together, and every night we would pray for protection over everyone the next day. He was faithful to our prayers. I literally walked over broken glass that day with NO SHOES ON and didn’t even receive a scratch. Some whiplash and PTSD, for sure! But that went away over time (just don’t say “Oh my gosh” around me).
We may lose control. But God never does. We should be like the tree that is planted by His waters. It knows that drought will come. As we all know difficulties in life will arise. But we have a choice. We can choose to bear good fruit despite the droughts that could come. We can generously give all of our love and energy to serve our families and His Kingdom. We can blossom because we have confidence He will provide! Or we can choose to “preserve” ourselves in fear of drought … or sickness or poverty or death. And never allow our truest selves to live.
Trust in His wisdom and His goodness. He is faithful.
Oh yes, and always wear your seatbelts.
Take a victory and a blessing, friends.
Alina