This is a small portion of my friend’s testimony. It had been on her heart and she gave me permission to share it on this blog. She’s hoping it will help someone. I’ll just share what she wrote. Her name is Angel and these are her words.
“This has been on my mind a lot lately so I thought I’d share, at least in part. God is never early, never late, He’s always right on time and His love for His children is unconditional.
In 2016 I let my kayak in on a river on a day I knew the conditions were bad, then went down a stretch I had never paddled before. I was angry that day, angry at God, exhausted, just fed up with life. I was going to have fun that day even if it killed me (I worked a lot at that time) and it almost did. On the right was a strainer (tree branches, etc.) that I had always made it through fine, but decided to go left. I did not know there was a large tree that laid over the entire channel and the water was moving too fast to paddle out of the current in order to portage around it. The kayak smashed into the tree and I was dumped out. The second I hit the water the current pulled me under and there I was stuck under water. The river was golden which was actually beautiful even though it was just the sun shining through the dirt turned up. (Strange hing to notice at such a time, but it reminded me of the streets of gold).I could not see anything else and had no idea what I was stuck on. I tried to pull loose, but was clearly not getting out. I had time to think things like how will Heather and Aaron feel, they gave me this kayak. What if some teenager finds me and is traumatized for life? And that it might not be the best day to meet God face to face as I was furious with Him earlier. Those thoughts passed, my struggle was futile, all that was left was to ask God to forgive my attitude and accept my fate. I’m not sure how long I held my breath for or even how I managed to take a breath before going under, it all happened so fast. But at some point I knew I couldn’t hold it anymore. I prepared myself for the experience of drowning and was going to open my mouth. That split second a surge of strength shot through me, I snapped my head (my neck still hurts sometimes to this day) which tore a large chunk of hair out and popped up out of the water upstream from the boat that was stuck in the branches of the tree nose up, tail in the water. (Aaron found my hair on a j hook later, that was what tied me down). The current smashed me into the tree again and and I was able to climb out. The fight or flight response could possibly explain the surge of strength, but it could NOT explain how I popped up yards upstream of where I was stuck, there was nothing under my feet to push off from. God is the only explanation. I was able to walk who knows how far through mud and woods after dragging my kayak across the river and leaving it where I could retrieve it. Drove home, got my son, tromped back through the woods with him, carried it back THEN discovered I had a touch of hypothermia, fixed it with an electric blanket, back to work the next day as usual.
I’m so thankful God delivered me from that mess and have survived many less dramatic trials since, by (H)is grace. Who knew a few years later there would be grand children, 5 now. A reunion with my oldest son, Aaron went to SMC, and after nearly 2 decades of singleness I have a wonderful husband and 2 amazing step kids. I’m very grateful and so blessed. There were so many takeaways from this experience, but the one standing out in my mind at this time is that NOTHING is impossible with God!! Even when we give up, He doesn’t give up on us.”
I am truly glad that Angel made it through this situation because she is one person I consider a friend. I am blessed to have her in my life. Thank you Angel for sharing.
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