The Black Vault

Hi,

I'm back. And I have a story to tell.


I went through what I believe was a " test of faith". The day after Christmas I was in a bad car accident My spouse was driving. On our way to see the movie "Avatar". We were going along just fine, when suddenly I felt the back end start to fish tail { we had hit black ice} and then the car did two 360's and hit another vehicle twice. We came to rest when we hit the bridge foundation. It was probably a good thing we hit the other vehicle twice because it slowed us down enough for us not to go over the bridge. The last thing I seen was a big SUV coming at us, { we have a low to the ground Grand AM } Then I shut my eyes braced myself and prayed. It was so scary, I could not breath for a couple of seconds when we finally came to rest.


Even worse, we had two of our grandsons with us. If something would of happened to them I would of never gotten over it. I sat in the car, while my husband got out. It was very cold and both the boys were scared and crying. Thoughts raced through my mind. I was upset, mad at my husband for driving too fast, worried about paying for the repairs on our car, worried about my grandsons, hurt because I pulled my ribs out { by bracing myself so hard}. And then I heard myself tell myself, let it go, pray, give it to God, and then let it go. I did just that. Call it a "crutch" or whatever you want, I believe in God and his power and peace.


For the next couple of days the accident keep playing through my mind, but I always did the same thing, I'd think about how I gave it to God and everything was now in his hands. Three days after the accident, out of the blue, the telephone rang and on the other end was a woman who said " I'd like to share a bible verse with you, is that OK?" I have never had a call like this before and neither has anyone else I ever talked to and told about, including my friends and family who live in the same city as I do. She said " God has many ways of describing his many faces. One of these descriptions is from first corinthians. Weird, but I forget the actual verse number, but the words were, My God is my rock in times of trouble, he is my refuge in times of need"


What can I say? I was kinda in a state of shock/bliss. To me this was a message from God. I still feel warm and good when I think about it. Plus, the repairs for the car were way lower than what we had thought it would be, no one was hurt, and by calling to God in a time of great personal worry and physical pain, I was given a blessing. To me this is a personal story of the way God reveals himself to me, and shows me once again God is real. If I had not stopped my reactive mind from taking over and plunging my thinking into darkness and self defeating thoughts, I would not have passed this test.


By the way, the movie Avatar is totally cool...I would recommend it to anyone. { I kept my 3d glasses} Thanks for letting me share.

Item7

When things like this happen, what do people say everytime? "Thank God, everyone was fine and nobody hurt". In those seconds, you would have traded your life in a heartbeat, so those kids would not he hurt or worse. You don't have to be a religious fundementalist to know when God's grace spared you, and was watching. Faith is a personal thing between ourselves and God, and the only thing impostant, is we arn't required to proove it to anyone. It just IS! You will probably have no shortage of those who will engage you into a big debate, relish in debunking what you feel, becasue with a lack of Faith, they can't comprehend what you feel and know. Some people are waiting for a miracal to happen or a big science project to "proove it", but others know and feel the presence of God everyday, in the wonder of life, and how God just seems to show up all the time for them.

Thanks for sharing your story Item7,and I'm grateful to hear that everything turned out ok. Must have been scary at the time.

Wondering something though. If it had been worse,and perhaps a life had been lost, would that have also been looked at as a test of faith? There are many good people (and children)who die in accidents , and it does test the faith of the survivors, family members,and loved ones.

Really happy to hear everything turned out ok for you, and just reading the story made me feel that fear of a car losing control,can imagine how it felt for you. (must have been upsetting to see the grandkids cry as well)

Why isn't it enough for you to accept the way Item7 felt this real life experience affected her?

She is left with the feeling the accident was not worse because of God, why do you feel the need to cast doubt? Does she need to justify to you, her faith during a tramatic event with her Husband and Grandchildren, answering an insulting question?

I myself was involved in a near death experience when I was around 8 years old.

I almost drowned since I lost focus when a wave in the water disoriented me.
I was under water for about 1 min or close to it.
It was in a swimming pool indoors with simulated waves, the water was maybe 2 meters and 30 cm high and of course it was around 1 meter higher than what I myself was at that time.

Even worse, I knew that some people were watching me struggle down there and no one even bothered of helping me.

When I finally got up and grabbed a rope that was a bit above the water, maybe 5 inches above.
The first thing I saw was some people laughing at me and telling me, why didn´t you die?

However I did never think it was because of God or some other entity other than myself that prevented my own death.
And I never will.

She is left with the feeling the accident was not worse because of God, why do you feel the need to cast doubt? Does she need to justify to you, her faith during a tramatic event with her Husband and Grandchildren, answering an insulting question?

The question was not meant to be insulting greeney,if you took it that way,thats your problem.Nor was it meant to cast doubt that it was not worse because of God.

What I wanted to point out was that there have been many faithful people who have suffered tragic loss of loved ones,and it is difficult for them to hear "praise god,he spared my childs life in this accident"or "my guardian angel protected me" Where was god or the guardian angels when their loved one died tragically?

This question was meant to ask how it would have affected her faith if it had been more tragic, because there many who struggle with this.Thats it..period.

Dark, damn I'm sorry to hear about your situation with the drowning experience,more so that no one tried to help and instead laughed at you. Makes me understand your bitterness towords humanity much better,because that had to leave some emotional scars.

Item7
I'm glad to hear that nobody was seriously hurt, that is the most important thing.

So just like your worst case senerios you make up for arguments against happiness being your own choice, Faith must not count for anything compared to a worst case tragic senerio with a bad ending? Good endings don't mean anything, as long as you can think up something worse in the world? Whats the saying good things come in small packages? How could I ever appeciate a little present, when someone else got such a great big one?

ah Black Ice, nasty stuff. I learned about it while in my youth at the age of 16 in the winter of the year I received my drivers license. I've never forgotten the lesson.

The body can achieve what the mind can conceive as long as one believes.

Bring Em Home Cole

Whats the saying good things come in small packages? How could I ever appeciate a little present, when someone else got such a great big one?

I think it depends on what you value in life.
I always get the biggest present of all everyday, the love of my family.
Good things in small packages doesn´t last for long whatever it might be.
I for one don´t want people´s pathetic attempts of their fake positive side they show to me.

Dark, damn I'm sorry to hear about your situation with the drowning experience,more so that no one tried to help and instead laughed at you. Makes me understand your bitterness towords humanity much better,because that had to leave some emotional scars.

And most humans have been like that to me my entire life.
Now they don´t, why? because I don´t hang out or meet new people and I will never do that either.
Waste of my time and energy.