About a month or so ago I started studying Psalm91. Verse by verse, line by line, word by word. This passage is nicknamed God’s Umbrella of Protection and as I studied it more, my eyes were open as to what that meant. Little did I know how God was going to show me what it meant to trust in His Word.
About a month ago my boys started going ice fishing with Josh. All four of them. I will never forget the first time they left. I was working and Josh decided to take them for the afternoon so I could meet my deadline. About 10 minutes after they were gone, I had a vision of one of them falling through the ice. I’m not sure which one, but it was one of the younger two. My heart started racing, my chest felt like an elephant was on it and I couldn’t get a full, deep breath. Simply put: I was panicking about something that had never happened.
I shook my head to erase the image, told myself that it was ridiculous and went on working. Not more than five minutes later, I had the same vision. The panic feeling came back and I felt sick to my stomach. I wondered what I should do. I contemplated calling Josh to see if everything was okay. Or maybe I should go pick up the boys and bring them home to safety.
Then the words of Psalm 91 came back to me: “He shall call upon Me and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him…” In other words, God wants you to say out loud—“I trust you, Lord! And I know You are the One who protects me (and my family) from harm!”
I didn’t know if my son was in trouble or not, but I did know that God promised to protect my family if I called out to Him. I immediately asked God to protect my boys and I started saying out loud parts of Psalm 91. I was panicking so I wasn’t clearly thinking so I was saying the verses out of order, but regardless, I was speaking God’s Word. I was calling out to Him in my time of trouble and He promised to be with me.
Within seconds of speaking God’s Word, I felt an overwhelming peace come over me. The nightmarish vision disappeared. My thoughts were cleared. I truly felt “the peace that passes understanding.” It was amazing. I didn’t feel the panic. I didn’t feel the need to call Joshua to see if things were okay. I didn’t feel scared anymore. I was at utter peace.
I thanked God for His protection and I was able to continue working without fear for my boys. Turns out the boys had a fabulous time fishing. The boys have gone ice fishing many times since and I’ve never felt that fear or panic again, but each time they have gone out ice fishing, I have asked for God’s protection and then thanked Him for it. I have repeated Psalm 91 and reminded myself that fear is not of God.
On February 14th, Valentine’s Day, Joshua took three of the four boys out ice fishing yet again. Isaac, Eli and Logan. Camden stayed home because he was napping. I had no fear in letting them go, but I did pray for their protection.
About an hour after they had been gone, I received a phone call from Joshua. I wasn’t worried at all when I saw it was his number calling because God has given me such a peace about ice fishing. However, on the other end of the phone Josh said the words I dreaded to hear, “Eli fell threw the ice.”
Now, you would think I would have panicked hearing those words, like that same panic feeling that came over me from my earlier vision. But it didn’t. I calmly asked if he was all right to which Joshua said yes, he was fine, just very wet and I needed to come pick him up.
I, of course, dropped everything and quickly went to pick him up. And it was upon hearing the whole story that I realized how God’s hand of protection was all over the situation.
Have you ever seen how a mother hen covers her chicks with her wings when the hawk flies down to hurt them? Under their mother’s wings, those chicks are safe. This is how I envisioned my sons that day. Because if you trust God, God will hide you from harm and the devil cannot touch you. Instead of living in fear, I chose to live by faith. I put my boys in God’s hands and trusted Him with their lives. And He was faithful!
As the story goes, Eli and Logan were getting restless so Josh said they could go walk around a bit on the ice. And that’s exactly what they did. When Eli fell threw, he put his hands up to catch his fall. This prevented him from going under. His feet could not touch the ground even though they were close to shore. When he fell in, Logan started scooting closer to him and reaching out his arm to help him. Eli yelled at Logan to get back so Logan wouldn’t fall through also. Eli used his arms and kicking his legs to get out of the water. He was wet up to his waist.
A day or so after this happened, I had somebody ask me if we had talked to the boys about what to do if they fell threw the ice and if that’s how Eli knew to put his arms out. I thought, “What a good idea,” but no, we had not taught our sons to do that. Why did he do that? How did he know? I have to believe it was God.
And that he knew enough in that moment to realize what Logan was doing and that Logan could potentially fall through so he yelled at him to get back, I have to believe that is also God.
When I look back on this whole situation, I see God’s hand all over it. It was no coincidence. It was simply God protecting my son like He promised me He would do. Simply because I asked Him to and I trusted Him to.
I don’t share this story to put attention on Eli. I do it for one reason: To give glory to God. In fact, Eli had a few people come up to him and tell him how thankful they were for God’s protection on him and that he was safe. He felt a little funny about the attention on him, but I explained to him the importance of not seeing this event just as a lucky coincidence but as a true intervention of God.
I have thanked God over and over again for keeping Eli safe. Sometimes my mind wanders to the “what-ifs” and I literally feel sick to my stomach. What if Logan was the one who fell threw? What if Eli hadn’t put out his arms? But I don’t stay there very long. I much prefer to give God the glory for saving my son. I hope my testimony encourages you. If you love God and obey Him, you can call on Him in prayer and He WILL hear you and answer you!
Blessings!
“For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways…” Psalm 91:11
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. “ Rev. 12:10
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