Blessed Assurance

The day of the accident she came. Out of nowhere her arms enveloped my weak and broken body when I couldn’t move. Reassurance had arrived, love from God above. The kids were okay, I couldn’t believe it, but there I was lying in the street. I cried out, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, help me!” She echoed every one of my pleas with her own calming voice. The noise of the ambulance, the crowd, the stares, nothing mattered in the next few moments apart from her embrace: her face behind me, her arms around me. My sweat was no deterrent to the many motherly kisses she planted on my head. “I have to go now,” she said, “I am picking someone up. He is with you.” I had to get a glimpse of her, it was my last chance. I lifted my head back and saw the upside-down view of her face. “You’re an angel,” I told her, and she disappeared just as swiftly as she had arrived.

My mom arrived minutes later. In one of the scariest moments of my life God provided a stranger to offer the type of care only my own mother would have given. This is not an isolated incident. God has sent people, perhaps disguised as angels, to provide comfort and guidance at other times in my life, and in the lives of countless others.

On Thanksgiving 2019 this past year, two months after the above-mentioned accident, I was overcome with gratitude. My walking was improving each day, and I was so appreciative for the daily help from family and friends. Normally Jorge and I would have been up before 7 am to run the “Turkey Trot” that morning, but this year was different. I still rose early and sat down with my laptop. I began writing letters of gratitude to the family I would see in the afternoon, in addition to the poem in my previous blog-post entitled Thankful. It was a release of my heart to my loved ones and an expression of adoration and indebtedness for God’s faithfulness.

The day was spent playing Legos and baking pies. During the preparations I couldn’t help but ponder those who would spend their day in a hospital, and I inwardly gave thanks to God once again. Before departing for our family’s Thanksgiving celebration at my parents’ home, I made sure the letters and personal cards from the morning were ready. I was warm from the oven, smelling like flour and apples, so I freshened up with a quick shower. I had exited the bathroom and laid out my Thanksgiving attire when my youngest son Davin needed help getting a button-down shirt from his closet. I walked bare-foot into his room hitting my left foot on the low-lying bedpost which was hidden underneath a long Paw Patrol comforter. “Ow!”

The pain was very poignant, but I sat down and felt some relief. However, I had heard an awful cracking sound that I initially didn’t associate with the injury. Looking down I cringed: My fifth toe, the pinkie, was pointing the wrong way entirely! I told my kids not to look and cried for my husband to come quickly. At this point I was in tears, knowing the day’s events had taken a tragic turn and now the Thanksgiving I had envisioned was not to be this year.

My son Luke couldn’t take it anymore either and blurted out with tears in his eyes, “Why do all these accidents keep happening to us?” A fair question. “I don’t know, I don’t know. God has allowed this, and I don’t understand,” I replied. We prayed that God would bring good, as He says He will and does, out of every situation. (Romans 8:28-“And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose”).

The pies and our kids went to grandma and grandpa’s house to be with our family while my husband and I spent the day in the emergency room. My emotions came to a head as we entered the hospital; I couldn’t believe I was here again, after all the previous doctor visits and months filled with constant therapy and appointments. I found out my toe had been astonishingly broken in two places (on a lighter note, when I do something I really make it count)! The reality was that finishing out physical therapy now for my ankles would be hindered. I was also petrified of someone attempting to reset my toe. In that moment I just wanted to be held and hugged, like I was by the stranger in the middle of the road. So my husband Jorge wrapped his arms around me in the ER, sang, and didn’t let go. We truly are all children at heart, in need of a comforter and ultimately The Great Comforter: God Himself.

At some point Jorge told me I had a voicemail and we put it on speaker phone as I waited in our curtained room. It was my Aunt Betsy, the prayer warrior in our family. Her message was simple yet profound: “Krystal, I had a short dream I want to tell you about. I was standing by a beautiful pink rosebush, admiring the color and taking in its sweet aroma. Then you appeared sprinting past and I shouted, ‘Krystal, wait, come back and smell the roses.’ Then the dream ended. So Krystal, we really have to stop and just smell the roses along life’s path.” Wow. This new injury had stopped me again for sure, although it wasn’t the “rosebush” I had expected. Interestingly my aunt was standing and walking in the dream, a goal which she is working towards but has not yet attained. In addition, I cannot sprint or run, though I yearn for that day. God used that phone call to reassure me that HE KNEW this would happen, it was part of His will, and THAT WAS ENOUGH. Blessed reassurance.

A few months have gone by and all of this is now just a memory. May I never forget the lessons learned and the people who God used to become “trees of hope” in those tough times.

Have you ever experienced something similar? Like when you’re at your lowest point and God sends a person, a card, a phone call, or a text of encouragement? Let us take time to remember God and each time HE decides to love us in these “tiny” yet remarkable ways. Please feel free to share a brief example in the comments below, to inspire someone else.

May we be God’s TREES OF HOPE for OTHERS, and recognize the TREES OF HOPE He lovingly provides FOR US! THIS is blessed assurance: God is alive and cares about us and the very details of our lives! The song “Blessed Assurance” is below, a classic hymn to remember our story is in His hands. Listen and believe it to be true in your life.

God bless you always, dear ones.