Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. – Mark 13:33
On August 5, 1960, I rose from sleep to meet a new day. I knelt beside my bed and prayed, “Lord, I commit this day into Thy hands.” Little did I realize that soon my world would change.
I went to wake my children and said, “Get up, we are going to do something different today.” Before going to Vacation Bible School, we were planning to have breakfast with the children’s grandmother and great-grandmother. However, less than two blocks from their house, another vehicle hit our car broadside. One child was pinned in the car and the other child and I were thrown from the vehicle. Each child was seriously injured and it was uncertain if one would even live.
My first thoughts were, “Is everything right with me and God?” for I felt I was going to die, but there was no time to make any changes. It happened as fast as a blink of an eye. We were hospitalized for a month, but the Lord was with us. It was there that I made a full consecration of my children; it was there, in thick darkness, that God manifested His holiness to me. Many prayers were prayed for us, and the Lord brought us through.
The lesson of this experience has been that we are to be ready daily, hourly, and instantly for the Rapture of the Church or for the Lord’s individual call to bring us Home. His Word admonishes us to be watchful and to pray, for we do not know what day our call will come. I have been given many precious years to serve the Lord since that day in 1960, and I am constantly reminded how suddenly life can end. Being ready to meet my Maker is a must.
With each new day, I pray, “I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me” (Psalm 3:5). I am thankful to have been given another day to serve Him and to be a light to those who may be seeking Him.