The day my guardian angel saved my life

As a recent college graduate, I landed my first job and was doing well. I was still living with my parents while I prepared for my wedding, was devoted to God and loved helping others. I enjoyed my job, my boss, my co-workers, and loved the drive home from work.

I worked about 45 minutes from my parents’ house where I was living at the time. I did not mind the commute, however, because most of the time I took the winding, beautiful and scenic back country roads. In Tennessee there are a lot of those roads which just envelope you in the presence of God. I enjoyed rolling the window down, singing to the radio (more like making “a joyful noise”), and basking in the presence of Christ while on my way home.

At the time, I was a Southern Baptist and admittedly did not know much about guardian angels. I figured they existed, but just didn’t really believe I had one personally assigned to me. One spring morning that all changed. I was making my way through the usual curvy dirt roads and was just a couple minutes from home. As I came around a curve, another vehicle came toward me on the wrong side of the road. I swerved and hit loose gravel. Suddenly, the car was spinning and flipping. My seatbelt held me tightly against the seat as my 2000 Dodge Neon twirled and came to rest upside down. I was stunned and confused. I scrambled around to try and figure out how to free myself from the car when I tried the door. It was jammed against a tree. I grabbed my cellphone and reached to unbuckle my seatbelt when I saw it. The seatbelt was never buckled. One of the few times I had failed to buckle my seatbelt.

I crawled out of one of the windows and made my way to the side of the road. I was hoping the other vehicle had stopped, but it did not. I called my mother, who was at home just a few minutes down the road. I sat on the side of the lonely, quiet road I once loved driving and waited. My mother apparently called the police because the state troopers arrived shortly after her and little brother. My brother was much younger than myself. As we waited on the police, my brother got up and walked across the road. He pointed out “your Bible is right here”. I urged him to get away from the car, but he continued to walk and pick up my Bible. (I always had a Bible in my car and still carry one to this day) The Bible had been thrown out of the car and came to rest just a few feet away.

As he handed me the Bible, the police arrived. I sat it down in the grass and went about speaking with the trooper. He asked me who was driving, and I confessed it was me. He looked at me a little weird and asked me if I was injured. I told him I did not have any injuries and I looked again, just to make sure. When he asked me for my driver’s license, I realized my wallet was still in the car. As I reached inside the car through the broken window, I scratched my arm on the glass. That was the only injury I received from the crash.

I explained to him what happened and a description of the vehicle that I could remember. As I recalled the events, I began to question silently how my body had been glued to the seat and why I had not been tossed all over the car since I had no seatbelt buckled. I had no answers, but I was thankful regardless.

Once the wrecker had come and loaded the car, I also noticed something else. The entire top of the car had been smashed flat (since it landed on the hood) with the exception of the driver’s seat. There was almost like a bubble around that area that appeared untouched. It seemed like the car had landed on an old tree stump and the stump had flattened the top of the car. But, not the driver’s side. The trooper finished and allowed me to return home with my mother.

Still wondering about what exactly happened, I picked up the Bible from the grass and slumped in the passenger seat as my mom drove us all home. I fumbled through the Bible and noticed there was a piece of broken glass stuck in it. I went to work trying to clear it from all debris and glass, but that was the only piece I found. As I opened the Bible to remove the glass, I saw it. The glass made a cut mark in the page, almost like one puts a star by a passage.

“For he commands his angels with regard to you, to guard you wherever you go.” (Psalm 91:11)

Suddenly I realized my guardian angel had been my seatbelt.

Long before I knew I had a guardian angel; my angel certainly knew me. Your angel knows you as well. Never underestimate the power of your angel.