Thanks for Nothing, God!

by Lorie Newman

All For His Glory Ministries Speaker/Trainer

“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” Psalm 91:11

Recently as I drove home from church on a cool, crisp Wednesday evening, my six children urged me to let the windows down in the car so they could feel the cool air. After a few miles of the chilly night air blowing wildly in the car, I let the windows back up despite the complaints of my kids. Not even five seconds later, even as my children still moaned with complaints, a massive object hit my driver’s side car window with such force I nearly ran off the road! My heart skipped a beat when I saw a streak of smeared blood all over my window and across the passenger window behind me. As my children screamed in fright at the loud impact and the sight of blood running down the car window, I quickly looked with terror-filled eyes into my rearview mirror to see what in the world had just hit us. With my heart still pounding, I couldn’t believe my eyes! In the road just behind the car was a huge hawk tumbling to its death. Its wings were fully outspread, and its talons were grasping for solid ground. A hawk! It had hit my window while I drove at 55 mph!

When my heart settled a bit, I heard my pre-teen son say, “Mom, what if that hawk had hit us five seconds earlier?” We all shuddered at the thought. If my window had still been open during the impact, that hawk would have come into the car directly on me as I drove! My mind raced with images of what could have been. I imagined the talons of that massive and frightened bird ripping into my flesh and me losing control of the car and hitting oncoming traffic. All of my children sat in complete silence as we took in the magnitude of what could have been. Then I heard the sweet voice of my then-four-year-old daughter quietly say, “I’m so thankful God didn’t let nothing happen to us, Momma!” We all agreed that God was so good to let nothing happen to us! Together we wondered how many times God has saved us from, well … nothing! How many times have His angels protected us in situations of unseen danger? If you’ve lived long enough you have likely seen God’s protection in very dangerous situations, but how many times do we thank Him for the times He has saved us from the unseen dangers of life?

Thank God today for His protection from unseen illnesses.
Thank God today for His protection from unseen evils.
Thank God today for His protection from unseen dangers.
Thank God today for the things that didn’t happen. Be thankful today for … nothing!