Photo by Chelsea Jo Photography
Several years ago I had a massive heart attack while I was on vacation in Mexico. I nearly died before they could get me back to the United States for treatment. Because of the delay in my care, there was much damage to my heart.
My wife and I hadn’t been on a vacation for years since that trip to Mexico. Just recently we decided to go on a cruise to the Caribbean. I was anxious about the trip because of what happened last time in Mexico. A friend prayed for me before we went—specifically that God would show me in the first part of the trip that He was with us. My friend prayed that God would make it known to me that He was there with me and that God would show me in a way that was very clear to me.
We left for our cruise and our first stop was in the British Virgin Islands. We got off the cruise ship and went to a small island, Baths. We walked to the beach and put our stuff down on the sand. I turned around and saw two people swimming pretty far out in the ocean. I told my wife that I was going to go out to where the people were and for her to stay in the shallow end. I got in the water and started leisurely swimming out toward the two people in the ocean. As I got closer, I noticed the fear in the woman’s eyes and I could see the man was up against the woman.
I swam closer and heard her yell, “Help! Help!”
I said, “Is he sick?”
The woman said, “No, we are drowning!”
The man was almost underwater and she had her hand twisted in his shirt, trying to hold him up.
I told her to hang on to him. I got her by the wrist and took off swimming toward the beach, pulling both of them. As we got close to the shore, another man came into the ocean to help pull us in. Once we were back on shore, the man was recovering; I was recovering myself, as I was exhausted from the swim.
The woman asked me where I was from. I told her I was from Kentucky. She couldn’t believe it. She said, “You aren’t even from around the ocean?! We live in Daytona Beach and we are in the ocean all the time, but we have never been in that kind of trouble before.”
There is no way that I could have pulled that man and woman from that far out in the ocean on my own. My heart is not strong because much of my heart muscle was destroyed in my previous heart attack. I also have a pacemaker and defibrillator. God sent me out there and God pulled us right back in, saving those two people. I believe this is how God answered my friend’s prayer. God showed us that He was with us. There was no doubt about that. The rest of our vacation was wonderful.
This is just one of many stories I could share about God’s faithfulness and goodness to us. I have seen the Lord work in wonderful ways in my life and the life of my family.
Let all that I am praise the Lord;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
Psalm 103:2
A Million God Stories is a Christ-centered ministry which offers a platform for Christians from all streams of Christian faith to give praise for how God has worked in their lives. Christ heals in infinitely creative ways and we acknowledge that His way of helping may differ from person to person.
