Experiencing God’s Protection

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Psalm 91:11

We believe in angels.  Scripture talks about them.  We teach our kids about them.  I tease my sons that they give their guardian angels a great workout.

I have so many stories I could share with you about times when I knew that my children were being protected from harm.  God used his angels to protect my children from harm countless times.

This past week, we experienced it again.

We always stay with my parents in East Texas for several days after Christmas.  This year was no different. My brother  John is home from college and it is always fun to see him too. 

Saturday John & my two oldest sons, Josh & Collin were going to Tyler to run some errands.  As they entered an intersection on a green light, they were hit by a man who ran his red light.  The impact was great enough to send the mini van spinning in the middle of the intersection.  The man hit the van right behind where Collin was sitting in the back on the drivers side, causing him to be thrown around & eventually thrown into the floor board.  His seat belt didn’t hold him in.

The man was knocked unconscious by the impact. 

Our boys were o’k, just shaken up quite a bit.  Josh had a sore shoulder & some bruising on his neck from the seatbelt & on his leg from hitting the door.  My brother has some bruised ribs.  Collin had a level 2 concussion with bruises & lot’s of soreness.  We don’t know the condition of the man as he was taken to the hospital.  We do know that he didn’t not have insurance.

As we sat around for the next couple of days, we all were very much aware of how great was the protection of our God.  In our conversations we sifted through all of the “what-if’s” and are so thankful that they didn’t happen. 

For my family it brought back memories of another car accident we had 10 years ago that my older children still remember.  The accident was much more serious, but still we saw God’s protection on our lives in a big way.  No one lost their life, our injuries were very minor compared to what they could have been.  Our vehicle was completely totaled, but our lives were saved. Not many people survive a roll-over the way we did.

It is important to let our children flesh out these memories by letting them talk about what they remember & reminding them of the way God took care of us instead of letting them dwell on the painful part of the memories. 

Christmas 2009 was a very special Christmas for our family for many reasons, but I think we will always remember how God protected my boys & my brother from serious injury from that accident.  I will always have the vision in my mind of angels in the van with my boys taking the brunt of the impact so they would not be more seriously injured.

God is good & his promise of protection is mighty & alive in our hearts and minds as we start a new year.