Witnesses of Grace—The Lord Rescued Me at Life and Death Moment

By De Sheng

In February, 2005, thanks be to the Lord for His grace, I accepted the Lord’s gospel. The pastor preached that the Lord loved the world; in order to redeem us from sin, He offered Himself to be nailed to the cross to take on our sins and save us; as long as we accepted the Lord as our savior, repented and confessed before Him, then He would forgive all our sins and we could enjoy the abundant grace from Him. My heart was moved hearing this, and I thought the Lord Jesus really loves us so much! Therefore, I resolved in my heart to be a good believer of the Lord and follow Him to the end. The Lord Jesus said in the Bible: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luk 19:10). “Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mak 16:15). From these words, I knew spreading the gospel was the Lord’s will. Thinking since I was chosen by the Lord to His house, I had enjoyed the peace and joy of being forgiven of my sins and the Lord’s grace and blessing, I thought I should repay the Lord’s love, do my best to spread His gospel and witness Him. Moreover, being able to let more people obtain the Lord’s salvation can also be considered preparing good deeds for myself.
On the day of 15 November, 2005, I was supposed to meet a brother at my house to go and spread the gospel. Suddenly I heard someone knocking on the door. I opened the door and saw my neighboring auntie. Upon enquiry, I found out the auntie wanted me to crush stones. I wanted to reject her but she said: “You must be there today! The other 3 men are not familiar with the job but you are. Besides, you always work at those places, you can do less and just teach them how to do it. I will give you 20 Yuan more today.” Hearing this, I thought: Well, I can earn more by doing less, it’s a great deal! So I promised her. After the auntie left, my wife said: “Can you not go to work today? Aren’t you supposed to spread the gospel with brothers and sisters?” I said: “Who knows when the brother will be here! Today I’m just going to teach them and I will make more than others. How can I not go?” Then I picked up my tools and left without looking back.
Xiao Wang, the driver, used the four-wheel farm tractor to fill a truck full of stones and the five of us sat on the stones. When going about 15km (about 9 miles), I saw the truck couldn’t slow down immediately when the driver stepped on the brake at a downslope. So I asked the driver to pull over on the flat road to check it up. On the flat road we did not spot any problems with the truck. I wanted to be there as soon as possible, so I asked him to continue to drive but slowly. Less than 1km, we were at a downslope with a turn. The truck still couldn’t slow down. Then I saw Xiao Wang was in a muddle. He stepped on the brake but it didn’t work. Then he turned the steering wheel and it didn’t work either. The truck was getting faster and faster! I shouted at him: “Don’t panic! Don’t panic! Slow down! Slow down!” No matter how I shouted, it was to no avail. The rest also shouted: “Slow down! Slow down!” Just at that moment, I saw the front of the truck swayed back and forth with the truck bed. The truck was going to flip over. I was so afraid that I had my heart in my mouth. I did not dare to jump down from the truck, thinking: I’m doomed! I will die if the truck tips into the ditch.
At this point, I suddenly thought of the Lord Jesus and hurriedly cried out to the Lord in my heart: “O Lord, the truck is going to tip over, please save me …” I haven’t had enough time to pray more as I saw Xiao Wang turned the steering wheel to the left abruptly. Instantly, we fell into the ditch with the truck and stones. I heard all the stones rolling down. Suddenly I felt as if someone pushed me in the back and then I lost my consciousness.
I had no idea how long it had been and I regained my consciousness. I saw myself lying in the ditch beside two stumps, the stones were blocked by them. I blinked my eyes for a few times and thought: Oh! I’m not dead yet. Then I stretched my arms and curled up my legs, and I found no parts of my body ached and there were no skins broken or bleeding. I just felt a little pain in my chest. My feet did not hurt and my new shoes had only smashed with two holes. I stood up slowly. Then I heard someone moaning “Ah! Ah!” I turned back and saw the other two guys couldn’t stand up anymore; another guy stood up, but his face and hands were bloody. The back of his left hand was rubbed and four of his fingers were smashed, they were extremely bloody; the auntie covered her rib with hand, biting the bullet. She cried: “Ouch! Ouch!”; the driver Xiao Wang was pale, limping and talking on the phone by the highway. All the people on the truck were injured but I was perfectly fine. I thought: “Today I experience such a dangerous car accident, however I was not injured. It must be the Lord Jesus’ protection! Thank the Lord!”At that moment, I was excited and shed tears of gratitude. I thanked the Lord for His protection in my heart ceaselessly.
The place of our accident was not far from a brick factory and a construction site. All of them came to us hurriedly. I could hear people from the brick factory from afar said: “As I just pushed out the cart from the kiln, I saw Xiao Wang’s car and 4 to 5 people suddenly fell into the ditch. I was thinking all of them must be smashed by stones to death!” Another person added: “Even if they do not die, they definitely will be severely disabled.” A worker from the construction site said: “The truck tipped into such a deep ditch, there is no way any of them can come out alive! They will either fall to their death or be smashed to death by stones!” However, they were surprised at the scene. One of them said: “Wow! They are really lucky! How did they survive through this? The Heavens really blessed them!” One of them from my village came towards me and held me in both hands. He measured me and stared at me unbelievably, saying: “Are you the one who was sitting at the front right of the truck bed?” I replied: “Yeah!” He said: “I saw you are the first to fall into the ditch. We thought you will definitely be smashed to death by stones if not severely disabled, but you are fine! But how did you fall to the stumps? It’s so strange yet magical!” After hearing what he said, I thought: He’s right! I was the first to fall, by right I should be dead or severely disabled. I am not expecting to fall into the ditch with stumps. I would definitely be dead without those stumps! It was truly the Lord Jesus’ amazing deeds, care and protection! Later, the neighboring auntie called a taxi, and sent those severely injured to the hospital and me back home.
Once I reached home, my wife asked me: “Didn’t you go to work? Why are you back this early? The brother came to find you to spread the gospel but he left since you are not at home.” I glanced at her and said nothing. She asked me anxiously as I did not speak to her, “Look at you! Why is your body full of dust and your face sallow. What happened to you?” I hung my head and said: “Oh dear! We fell into a ditch when we were almost there. I was the only one not injured thanks to the Lord Jesus’ protection, otherwise I would have gone to see the Hades, no way to be back alive.” Afterward, I told my wife the whole course of the accident, and she also said gratefully: “Thank the Lord! It is all His protection! See, I told you not to go, if not for the Lord’s protection, can you be safe and sound?” Later, my wife went to cook for me. I sat on the bed and recalled the accident, it was indeed scary. After which, I offered a prayer of gratitude to the Lord. I said with emotions and tears: “O Lord! Thank You for Your care and protection. I thought I must be dead at the moment of such a big car accident, but under Your amazing protection, I was able to survive and not even injured! O Lord! It truly shows me that You hold sovereignty over all things. It was truly because of Your grace for me that I can still pray to you now!”
Thereafter, I saw the Bible said: “A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you” (Ps 91:7). “But there shall not an hair of your head perish” (Luk 21:18). Thank the Lord! The Lord holds sovereignty over all things, whether it’s dead or alive. Whether I would be smashed to death by the tractor or stones was also in the Lord’s hands. Without God’s permission, even a single of our hair would not be damaged. Thinking of this accident, if not for the Lord’s protection, I would be more injured than the rest, or even lose my life. I truly experienced that only the Lord is my reliance and provides me assistance whenever I need it. Only the Lord can save me from disasters.
Thinking that I have believed in the Lord for almost a year, although I read the Lord’s words everyday, I did not focus on following His way, but only wanted to make more money. I thought money could solve everything for me. I said I was willing to spread the gospel and witness the Lord, but when facing interests, I chose money. Wasn’t this deemed as deceiving the Lord? However, the Lord did not treat me based on my actions and still cared for and kept me in such a big car accident. Thinking of the Lord’s great love for me, I truly felt that I was so indebted to Him! At the same time, I also experienced that money couldn’t save us at life and death moments. No matter how wealthy we are, in the face of disaster, they are all nothing. The Lord Jesus had said long time ago: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mat 16:26). Through this car accident I understood and was more clear of the fact that only by listening to the Lord’s words and preparing enough good deeds could we receive the approval of the Lord. I must put in effort to spread His gospel to witness Him in the future and use practical actions to repay His love. Thank the Lord! May all the glory be to the Lord!

 

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