I have chosen Psalm 34:1-10 as my verses to show how God’s glory is given even in the most difficult times. The verses relate to my story because God watched over me, protected me and acted on my behalf when I needed Him the most:
The year 1991 started badly for our family for within three months, we lost my husband’s parents. We just needed to get away for a while and decided to go to Europe on vacation. We made plans to leave on the first of October and return later that month. We flew out of Newark airport and on board my husband started having pains in his chest and was sweating profusely. I alerted the flight attendant that he was in distress but unfortunately there was no doctor on board. The captain was alerted, and the plane made a stop at Heathrow airport to let us get off the plane.
At the airport’s medical facility, the doctor checked him and said he needed to stay in London and go to the hospital to be checked out before we could continue our trip to Belgium. At the hospital, X-rays were taken and the doctor told us he probably had the flu and should stay in London for a day or two before we started on our trip. In the cab to the airport, I told him that I thought he was dying and I prayed that God wouldn’t take him. He said, “I thought I was dying too, and I just thanked God for saving me and giving me you and the children.” We then had to return to Heathrow to pick up our luggage and while we were there, he suddenly collapsed while we were at the airline counter and fell backwards. Between my screams, two or three people came and one was a doctor who said that he should be taken to hospital immediately.
Two police officers arrived and took me to the hospital because I wasn’t allowed to ride in the ambulance. The officers, Dave and David, were very kind and stayed with me the whole time while I was waiting to hear the news from the doctor. After what seemed like hours, the doctor appeared and said there was one last thing he would try and if that didn’t work, there was nothing else left to do. The doctor came and said he was very sorry but that he didn’t make it. Crying and in shock, Dave and David came and consoled me and asked if I knew anyone in London I could call, which I didn’t. Then they asked me if there was anything they could possibly get for me or do for me. In a shaky voice, I told them I wanted a Baptist preacher. They went to the nurses’ station and tried to find a preacher in the telephone book. A doctor walking past them heard them talking and asked what was going on. They explained what happened and the doctor replied, “My pastor lives two streets from here and he is a Baptist.” Within, an hour, John and Carolyn Langridge came and picked me up and took me to their home and kept me there until I was able to book a flight back home. Because he had died in a foreign country an autopsy had to be performed and the U.S. Embassy had to be involved, so John graciously said he would deal with all the details so I could go back home and be with my children.
I don’t remember much about the flight back except I was flown first class by the airline, and someone was there to meet me at each departure. After getting back home, I kept thinking it was a bad nightmare and this didn’t really happen. And I was asking God, “Why did this happen?” Then on October 16, I got the answer. I should have told you this before, but my husband was a technical writer, and everything was planned down to the last detail. So, on that ill-fated trip, we were to start in Belgium and end up in Paris. He had already made reservations for all the places we would be stopping and had made reservations on a night train from Nice to Paris for October 16.
That very train that my husband had booked, crashed and killed 16 people in first class where our seats were. Then I knew why my husband was taken and I wasn’t. First and foremost, I don’t know if I was ready to meet my Lord and secondly, my children would have been left orphans if we both died. After that experience, I knew I had to be rock solid in knowing that if I die today or tomorrow, that I will be in Heaven with my Lord and Savior.
I praise God for watching over me, for putting the right people in my path and for His many blessings that He has bestowed on me.