Anyone following my blog is aware that my husband and I met and got married in England. We were both in the United States Air Force. We lived a thirty-minute drive from base and took the seldom-traveled country roads to get there.
Early one Saturday morning, I was on my way to church for an all-day ladies conference. The church sat right outside the main gate of the base. The conference started at 8:00 a.m., and I’d gotten out the door late. I’d left Floyd home, babysitting our six-week old son, and he wasn’t expecting me home until about 5:00.
I was halfway to base when, out of nowhere, something flashed across the road. Instinctively, I hit the brake. The car pulled to the left. It spun around and landed upside down in the ditch. My seat belt kept me from bouncing around the inside of the car and getting hurt, but now I was dangling upside down. With great care, I unbuckled and lowered myself to the roof of the car. I opened a car door but it hit the side of the ditch. The door wouldn’t open more than four or five inches, and I just couldn’t squeeze through, so I tried a door on the other side of the car with similar results.
I thought, Great! How am I going to get out of here? I figured I’d have to break the back window and crawl through, so I went looking for something that I could use to smash the window. I found Floyd’s nice, heavy flashlight in the glove box. I didn’t break the window. I only broke the flashlight.
I was trapped in the car on a seldom-traveled road at an hour when few cars were even on the road. And no one would start missing me for at least nine hours. I said, “Lord, I’m in trouble. No one knows I’m here but you. I need help to get out of here.” Just then, through the back window, I saw a car go by. And another vehicle was right behind him.
Pointing at the car in the lead, I said, “Lord, send that car back!” At that instant, the car slid to a stop, and so did the guy behind him. Both vehicles backed up. Stopping in the middle of the road, the drivers both got out to see if anyone was injured or needed help. The driver of the first car had weekend duty on base and was running late for work. As it turned out, he was someone that worked with Floyd. So as he passed by, two thoughts hit him: That’s Floyd’s car. And it wasn’t there last night when he went home from work. So he stopped to assist in anyway he could.
Lying over the underside of the car, he managed to push the door open far enough that I was able to squeeze through. Then he gave me a lift to base where I called Floyd.
This was the same car that we wrecked back in February, only this time I totaled it. We figured out later that the brakes were faulty and pulled to the left. Needless to say, I believe in seat belts. But more than that, I believe in the power and protection of Almighty God. God protected me in more ways than I can count and sent help immediately. His goodness is beyond compare.