By Zhuiqiu
On March 3, 2016, I rode my electric scooter to attend a meeting after breakfast. When I got to a narrow country road, a truck that was fully loaded with bricks was reversing along it. As the road was narrow and I had no place to retreat to, I moved onto the porch of someone’s house to give way to the truck. The porch was over two meters high with three-meter-long precast slabs for its roof. I was afraid that the truck would hit the slabs over my head, so I gazed fixedly at the back of the truck.
Suddenly, a brick fell off the roof and hit my helmet. When I was about to move the brick, I heard a loud boom and then fell to the ground before I realized what had happened. Then, dust swirled up in the air and covered my face, and I felt a heart-piercing pain in my legs. I looked down and saw that a precast slab had been knocked off by the truck. The long and heavy slab had fallen right on my lower legs, and left me unable to move at all.
The truck was still slowly moving back toward me. Judging from the situation, if the truck continued to reverse, I would be crushed…. I couldn’t bear to imagine the scene. But it was impossible for me to escape in time.
The truck was still reversing. The wheels were just about one or two meters away from me, and my heart was in my mouth. I frantically looked around but didn’t see anyone. With all my strength I shouted at the driver, “Stop! Stop! You’re gonna hit me! …” But the driver didn’t hear my shouts and continued reversing the truck.
At the crucial moment, I thought of God. So I immediately prayed to God with all my heart, “O God! My life is in Your hands. Whether I will live or die is controlled by You. I commit myself to Your hand.” I turned my head while praying, no longer gazing at the wheels that were slowly moving backward. The seconds ticked by, and the truck was still reversing; I felt as if death was drawing near, and my heart throbbed heavily. Suddenly, I heard someone shouting loudly while running toward the truck, “Stop reversing! Someone has been knocked down!” The truck stopped immediately. I turned and saw that the wheels were less than a meter away from me.
The passer-by who stopped the truck hurriedly came to move the precast slab off my legs. My head was dizzy, I ached all over, and couldn’t feel my legs. I thought I might lose my legs …
A while later, about twenty or thirty onlookers gathered around and started talking, “The precast slab is very heavy. Her legs must be crippled.” “She’s still so young. And now she might have to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.” … Hearing their discussions, I began to get afraid: Was I really crippled? Would I really have to spend the rest of my life on wheelchair? But when I recalled the dangerous situation that had just occurred, I felt that it was all because of God’s protection that I escaped the danger. So I prayed to God silently: “O God! If it were not for Your protection I would have been crushed to death just now. My life is given to me by You. I have witnessed Your great power. I thank and praise You, O God! Whether I will be crippled or not is in Your hands. Even if I become disabled, I won’t make complaints. I’m willing to obey Your orchestrations and arrangements.” My heart calmed down a lot after my prayer, and soon the ambulance came and took me to the hospital.
I remembered several verses in the Bible while I was lying in the ambulance. “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me” (Psalms 23:4). “A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you” (Psalms 91:7). “Because you have made Jehovah, which is my refuge, even the most High, your habitation; There shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Psalms 91:9–12). While pondering these words, I felt that God was by my side and His hands were supporting me, and my faith in God increased. I prayed to God silently in my heart: “O God! You are caring for and protecting me all the time and have never left me. If it were not for Your protection, I would have lost my life today. O God, You are my rock. I sincerely rely on You and entrust myself to Your hands. Even if I become crippled today, I will still believe in You and follow You….”
After some examinations in the hospital, the doctor told me, “You’re so lucky! There’s no bone injury. You’ve just got some scratches.” After hearing the doctor’s words, I kept thanking God in my heart. It was all because of God’s protection that I was just slightly wounded in such a dangerous situation. After a short while, I could move my legs with just a little pain, but my lower legs were still black and blue. About an hour later, I went back home with my husband.
Returning home, my husband (who was an unbeliever) said to me fearfully, “On my way to the hospital today, I happened to see that a woman was killed in a traffic accident. But today, when that three-meter-long precast slab fell on you, you were not crushed to death but were only slightly wounded; the reversing truck stopped in time when it was less than a meter away from you, so that you avoided the danger. It must be that the God you believe in protected you. Or else I wouldn’t be able to speak to you now!”
Through this experience, I truly felt that in our daily lives, none of us can predict what things we will encounter and what disasters we will meet day in and day out. Without God’s protection, we would be in danger of dropping dead at any time. That day, when death drew near, it was God who saved me and bestowed a second life on me. When I considered how God loved me, I made up my mind before God: I will believe in and follow God resolutely to the end, and fulfill my duty as a created being to repay God’s love for me. Thank God! All glory be to God!
