| Biographical Non-Fiction posted September 14, 2020 |
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An driving incident with no explanation
Unseen Hands
by BethShelby
Over the years, many things have happened in my life that defy logical explanation, and while I hesitate to assign all of them to God’s intervention, I can’t think of any other way to explain them.
My daughter and I are the sole witnesses to the incident I will share here. I’m not sure I would believe it, if I had not been there.
Karen was sixteen and not really interested in learning to drive. She found the idea of controlling a vehicle intimidating. She was old enough to get her licence, and I needed her help for picking up the younger kids from school and doing other errands. I was pushing her to learn to drive and get her licence. For hours, I’d had her practicing driving around in an empty parking lot, and now, I felt she was ready to drive on one of the less traveled city streets.
Karen was behind the wheel, and I was in the passenger seat. I knew she was nervous, but she was handling the car well enough. Abruptly, a car driving ahead of us stopped beside the curb. We were far enough behind the car for Karen to slow down gradually and go around it. Instead, her reaction was to hit the brakes hard. In her panic, what she pushed to floor was not the brakes but the accelerator. The car shot forward straight toward the parked car.
There was no time to react, and I braced for the impact. Immediately, the wheels swerved toward the yard on our right. It went into the yard, narrowly missing several bushes and trees, and turned back to the right and into the street on the other side of the parked car. It all happened so quickly that I was in awe and unable to react. At that point, the car slowed to crawl.
I couldn’t believe we had gone through a yard without hitting a thing and had not even left tire tracks on the soft grass. Karen and I were both pale and shaking.
“Why on earth would you turn through that yard?” I asked.
She looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Me? I didn’t do that. The wheel just started turning. I thought you were doing it. I just let go.”
Now, I have to wonder why those unseen hands, that turned that wheel and guided us safely back into the street, chose to take the car in that direction. It would have made better sense to stay on the street by passing on the left. I have no answer.
Even now, when we mention that time so long ago, we shake our heads and wonder. Maybe our guardian angel went in that direction because it was even more of a miracle that we could go safely though a yard filled with vegetation without leaving any sign of having been there. It is something neither of us will ever forget, and that detour certainly makes it more memorable.
His Mysterious Ways writing prompt entry
Over the years, many things have happened in my life that defy logical explanation, and while I hesitate to assign all of them to God’s intervention, I can’t think of any other way to explain them.
My daughter and I are the sole witnesses to the incident I will share here. I’m not sure I would believe it, if I had not been there.
Karen was sixteen and not really interested in learning to drive. She found the idea of controlling a vehicle intimidating. She was old enough to get her licence, and I needed her help for picking up the younger kids from school and doing other errands. I was pushing her to learn to drive and get her licence. For hours, I’d had her practicing driving around in an empty parking lot, and now, I felt she was ready to drive on one of the less traveled city streets.
Karen was behind the wheel, and I was in the passenger seat. I knew she was nervous, but she was handling the car well enough. Abruptly, a car driving ahead of us stopped beside the curb. We were far enough behind the car for Karen to slow down gradually and go around it. Instead, her reaction was to hit the brakes hard. In her panic, what she pushed to floor was not the brakes but the accelerator. The car shot forward straight toward the parked car.
There was no time to react, and I braced for the impact. Immediately, the wheels swerved toward the yard on our right. It went into the yard, narrowly missing several bushes and trees, and turned back to the right and into the street on the other side of the parked car. It all happened so quickly that I was in awe and unable to react. At that point, the car slowed to crawl.
I couldn’t believe we had gone through a yard without hitting a thing and had not even left tire tracks on the soft grass. Karen and I were both pale and shaking.
“Why on earth would you turn through that yard?” I asked.
She looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Me? I didn’t do that. The wheel just started turning. I thought you were doing it. I just let go.”
Now, I have to wonder why those unseen hands, that turned that wheel and guided us safely back into the street, chose to take the car in that direction. It would have made better sense to stay on the street by passing on the left. I have no answer.
Even now, when we mention that time so long ago, we shake our heads and wonder. Maybe our guardian angel went in that direction because it was even more of a miracle that we could go safely though a yard filled with vegetation without leaving any sign of having been there. It is something neither of us will ever forget, and that detour certainly makes it more memorable.
My daughter and I are the sole witnesses to the incident I will share here. I’m not sure I would believe it, if I had not been there.
Karen was sixteen and not really interested in learning to drive. She found the idea of controlling a vehicle intimidating. She was old enough to get her licence, and I needed her help for picking up the younger kids from school and doing other errands. I was pushing her to learn to drive and get her licence. For hours, I’d had her practicing driving around in an empty parking lot, and now, I felt she was ready to drive on one of the less traveled city streets.
Karen was behind the wheel, and I was in the passenger seat. I knew she was nervous, but she was handling the car well enough. Abruptly, a car driving ahead of us stopped beside the curb. We were far enough behind the car for Karen to slow down gradually and go around it. Instead, her reaction was to hit the brakes hard. In her panic, what she pushed to floor was not the brakes but the accelerator. The car shot forward straight toward the parked car.
There was no time to react, and I braced for the impact. Immediately, the wheels swerved toward the yard on our right. It went into the yard, narrowly missing several bushes and trees, and turned back to the right and into the street on the other side of the parked car. It all happened so quickly that I was in awe and unable to react. At that point, the car slowed to crawl.
I couldn’t believe we had gone through a yard without hitting a thing and had not even left tire tracks on the soft grass. Karen and I were both pale and shaking.
“Why on earth would you turn through that yard?” I asked.
She looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Me? I didn’t do that. The wheel just started turning. I thought you were doing it. I just let go.”
Now, I have to wonder why those unseen hands, that turned that wheel and guided us safely back into the street, chose to take the car in that direction. It would have made better sense to stay on the street by passing on the left. I have no answer.
Even now, when we mention that time so long ago, we shake our heads and wonder. Maybe our guardian angel went in that direction because it was even more of a miracle that we could go safely though a yard filled with vegetation without leaving any sign of having been there. It is something neither of us will ever forget, and that detour certainly makes it more memorable.
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Writing Prompt Write a true story about God working a miracle in your life or someone else's life. Describe how this miracle took place in 500 - 1,000 words. |
 Recognized |
The only thing in this story that I've changed from the way I remember it, is my daughter's name. I did this so as not to be recognized.
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