Six years ago I was driving down one of the roads I travel frequently in our neighborhood heading home from shopping with my son, Jacob. He was 7 years old at the time. As we approached an oncoming intersection we witnessed a terrible accident. One car ran the stop sign at full speed and T-boned another car at full force. They were both going around 30-40 miles per hour. Both cars briefly flew up in the air and made an awful noise somewhat like an explosion!
I was terrified! We were the only other car on the road at the time. I knew that I had to act. I instructed Jacob to stay in the car until I came back. I told him that I MUST check on the people and make sure they are okay. Honestly, the accident was so bad, I truly didn't know what I was dealing with. I was expecting a fatality. My heart was pounding. As soon as I opened my door I heard screaming coming from one of the cars. At that moment I was just thankful that someone had survived and was alive.
I ran to the car closest to me. As I started to look around to check for injuries I first came upon a little girl. She was in a car seat and I guessed her to be around 4 years old. She was sitting right where the other car struck and she received the majority of injuries. Her face was covered in blood and broken glass. She was having a hard time breathing. I was guessing that her nose was broken. Her window was broken out and most of the glass went right in her face. I couldn't make out her face from all the blood. She was crying. Both of her parents were in the car. Her dad was able to get out and was in quite the panic just yelling and screaming. A man that lived in the neighborhood came out of his house and were trying to deal with him. The mom was not doing so well. I went to her side of the car. Her leg was pinned in, she had visible injuries from the impact and then I looked down to see that she was about 7 months pregnant! There was nothing I could do, but wait for an ambulance to arrive. I held the mom's hand, tried to keep her calm and prayed over her. The driver of the other car was able to get out and walk, more neighbors were helping him, so I knew he was fine.
I stayed long enough to see the Jaws Of Life cut open the little girls door so they could get her out and loaded into the ambulance. I made sure that everyone was taken care of before I left. I drove home in a daze. I thought about these people and wondered about them for a long time. My husband was telling the story of what happened to a co-worker a few weeks after the accident and his co-worker happened to know the family. At some point he must have told them my name. I was just glad to hear from him that everyone survived and was fine.
Well, yesterday, six years after the accident I received the following private message via Facebook:
Hi Heather! 6 years ago, you stayed with me and kept me calm after we were in a car accident. I have wanted to say thank you many times, and just didn't for some reason, so I am doing it now! You have no idea how much it means to me that you would do that for a total stranger! ~Melissa
I was so surprised and so glad to hear from the mother that was involved in this accident! It got me to thinking...How many times we miss the opportunity to say a simple "thank you" to those that have touched our lives. (Now, before you think I'm judging this lady, I'm not. I never expected to hear from her again. It's not like I gave her my name and number at the scene of the accident so that she could call and thank me some day!)
The word, THANKS, appears 73 times in the King James version of the Bible. That's not including the words Thankful, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, or other words such as Grateful, Gratitude, etc. I'm pretty certain the Lord wanted us to have a thankful heart and to be thankful people.
I know that I fail miserably at this sometimes. I take many of my gifts and circumstances for granted without uttering a "thank you" to whom the "thank you" is due...be it God or man.
So, I'm glad that Melissa wrote me yesterday....no, I'm thankful that she wrote me. It's given me something to chew on the next few days as I deliberately work on having a thankful heart.
1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
