On September 19, 2011, I went with my daughter Nidia to Cookstown Outlet Mall, which is a shopping mall about 25 minutes from our home. Before we left, I said to my daughter, “I don’t really feel like going out, but it is the last week that you are going to be here and I need to practice driving before you go to the missionary school in Atlanta.” When we left the mall it was raining. Nidia drove home, and when we came to a red light and Nidia tried to stop, she couldn’t control the car. The only thing I said to her was “What are you doing, Nidia?” She replied, “I can’t control the car.” It was just in seconds that I saw my daughter fighting with the car, trying to control it, and as a mother I felt powerless. I started thinking so many things but I didn’t say anything, and God saw our need, our powerless human nature. I only saw that our car was going right and left and then going on to the sidewalk and heading straight for a post. The closer we were getting to the post, the more I saw us coming to a crash. Miraculously the car stopped a few steps away from the post. When I turned to look around, all the cars had stopped. Neither my daughter nor I knew what to do. I do not how these words came, but I said to her, “Do you want me to drive home?” She looked at me and she answered, “No, Mom, I can drive, but tell me what to do.” I turned and I told her, “It looks like all the drivers are waiting for us; they know that we are in trouble, so I guess they are expecting us to move first.” And no one moved until they saw that we started moving. Nidia drove for a while and then I told her, “I’ll drive home now.”
When I think about it, I realize that if the car had hit that post, it would have been a big impact. I remember that I told Nidia that it was good that I didn’t scream. When I saw that big post in front of me, I felt a big relief that the post was on my side and not on my daughter’s side. Since we were driving a little bit faster than the speed limit in that area, the crash probably would not have been a small collision. Therefore, I am very thankful that God sent His angels.
The next day I was lying on my bed and thinking how wonderful God is and about this great miracle. He protected us, and thanks to Him, nothing happened to me and my daughter. I remember I said to her, “God protected us from this danger.” I also wrote the following:
I am a sinner and I deserve death.
Great and merciful—You are my Lord,
You deliver us from tragedy and death.
Thank you God for Your blessing and the protection of Your angels, whom You send day and night; they protect us from the dangerous labyrinth in which we live.
Thank you for the life that I enjoy and every day that I am given with my family.
On September 22, 2011 of the same week, Nidia went to say good-bye to her friends. Before she left I told her, “I wish you wouldn’t go out, since on Monday we almost had an accident.” Then I told her, “Just drive carefully.” About two hours had passed when she came back and very calmly she told me that a car had bumped into her car. She said that it had not been her fault and that the car was okay. She drove the car home without knowing whether the car was going to work and be safe to drive afterward. I asked her, “But are you okay? Nothing is hurting? Come, let us have a prayer.” But she replied, “I already prayed, Mom.”
How thankful I am, dear Lord, that nothing happened to my daughter. I said God sent His angels, and I know that sometimes things, struggles, and accidents still happen; only God knows what is best for us. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
These days could have turned out to be very dramatic, but God in His mercy came to protect us and save us from danger.
Thanks to God that my daughter and I are still here, and I truly believe that God has a mission for me and my family.
Lucia Flores