Straight from a Rescued Heart
By Lisa Elliott

August again. The mother of all months for our family. But, thankfully, this August day was a happy and exciting one to get the month going. We had been looking forward to this day for months. After forty years of pastoral ministry, we were retiring in the last place we lived where our family was whole, before the death of my son in August 2009. It had been twelve years since I left my heart and all the memories attached behind. Yes, it was August again. But today felt different--a restart.

My husband, David was driving the twenty-foot rental truck loaded with all of our earthly belongings. His faithful navigator, our youngest daughter, Erin was riding shotgun. I was bringing up the rear in our fully loaded Honda CRV. Praise and worship tunes on Christian radio carried me happily on my way.

We, along with a few of our family and friends, had carefully packed the truck. Using Tetris-like skill, everything was loaded with no wiggle room to spare. Everything had to fit. I had sold half of our belongings on Facebook Marketplace to help make that possible.

As I drove behind the large vehicle I was keenly aware the Lord was going before us and would bring up the rearguard behind us. My mom had reminded me earlier that morning that Jesus was riding in the passenger seat beside me.

I called my friend, Jamie, to help pass the time. Given the context of our conversation, we got chatting about temporal versus eternal. I expressed that while I thought I had a pretty healthy perspective on earthly treasures, I couldn't help but be a little concerned about how things would come out of the truck on the other end, due to their tight quarters. Having made several moves of her own she said, "Things can be easily replaced."

We'd opted to take a more backroad route to avoid the major highway where there was more of a risk of an accident. We'd been on the road for five hours. Two more to go until we would be 'home.'

My husband signalled to pull off onto the side of the road. I guessed it was to find his bearings. I didn't know for sure, as Erin had called me a while before to tell me her cellphone was running out of battery power. Up until then, we had kept in regular communication on route. I signalled and slowly pulled off behind the truck, giving the cars following us ample time and space to go around us. 

I safely stopped the car, but had barely put it into park. What happened next made me gasp for oxygen which was suddenly in short supply. The truck began sliding down the three-foot embankment and, ever-so-slowly, rolled onto its side as the shoulder gave way.

I sat in stunned silence. That is, apart from crying out the only prayer I could utter, "Oh, God!"

Who knew what would be salvaged as I considered the horrific scene that literally lay on its side before me. But, that didn't matter at that moment. Two of my most treasured possessions were in the cab. My friend's words immediately came back to me, "Things can be replaced." But people can't, I thought to myself.

As soon as I could breathe again and found the legs beneath me, I jumped out of my vehicle. All I could do was stand and stare helplessly in horror at the belly of the twenty-foot truck.

What happened after that could only be explained as miraculous. For starters, I turned to my left where a policeman was miraculously standing there, already radioing in his emergency responders. When I asked him where he came from he told me he was coming from the other direction and saw the entire thing unfold. I told him it was my husband and daughter inside the cab. Before I could say anything more, he was climbing on top of the truck cab to retrieve them.

An eye witness, who had graciously pulled off the road, came alongside me and told me my people were alright. She encouraged me to come and see for myself. Up until then, I hadn't the courage to look inside. But she gently coaxed me and I apprehensively joined her.

There, before my eyes, through the now upright windshield of the truck were David and Erin, standing captive inside what looked like a glass holding tank. An expression of sheer panic was etched on Erin's face. It will forever be etched in my mind. She had had a near-miss accident only months before when a driver fell asleep at the wheel and came at her head-on. Thankfully, God spared her. However, trauma has been her close companion ever since. What would come of her after this?

In the split seconds I took to consider it all, I saw the policeman reefing the driver's side door open. That's when I heard my husband's desperate cries.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated over and over again. "It’s okay," I responded with each mournful cry. As much to assure myself. I could only hope.

Before I knew it, the officer had hoisted both my daughter and finally, my husband, out. Soon thereafter the first responders arrived. Miraculously, there were only a few scratches on Erin's feet due to the broken glass of the passenger window. It had shattered beneath her when she stood on it to help unfasten her dad's seat belt from which he was still suspended.

After a call to my son, Jacob, who was expecting our arrival, I texted my friend, Jamie along with a picture I'd taken of the scene. Her only response was, "Please tell me that's not your truck." She, in turn, called her husband, who happened to be working an hour away and left to come to our aid an hour later. He drove us to a hotel which just happened to miraculously be located four minutes from where we were told our truck was to be towed.

The question that loomed ominously was, how would we ever get our truck unloaded, reloaded, and to our destination? It would take nothing short of a miracle. Needless to say, we had a very rough, emotional, and sleepless night reliving the trauma of our day and anxious about the uncertainty of our tomorrow.

The next morning, as we stood inspecting a replacement truck that was--miraculously--available, a small plane, much like the one our son, Ben flew only two weeks before he died, flew overhead. With tears streaming down my face I wondered, to myself, what our mess looked like from his heavenly perspective. Later that morning, I got a glimpse.

Standing at a site that our tow truck driver had graciously offered, on his own property, I found myself surrounded by an entire crew of fourteen people. God had rallied friends, family, and complete strangers together from the east, west, north, and south spanning six hours across Ontario and sent them to our rescue.

I watched, in awe, as they formed a line between the two trucks to pass each box, article, and piece of furniture along. From what I could tell, everything was miraculously intact with minimal damage. Within the next two-and-a-half hours, the contents of our damaged truck were unloaded and reloaded onto our new rental.

Just one more miracle to add to the list, in answer to my daughter's desperate prayer in the middle of the night, one of our volunteers willingly offered to drive the rest of the way to our final destination.

Ten minutes from our new home we stopped to pick up some pizza to feed our hardworking crew. Upon our arrival, we were amazed to find the truck's unloading already well underway by a crew of old and new friends who had also joined the ranks. We were welcomed 'home' with warm hugs, fresh tears, and a filled refrigerator.

The next day, I sat in my new house, with my husband and daughter miraculously alive and well, doing my best to process all the miraculous ways the Lord had shown up to rescue us. My Bible fell open to Isaiah 43:1-7 (NIV) which says, "But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: 'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.'"

Before reading any further I added, "When you are in distress and stranded in the middle of nowhere, not knowing what to do; I will be with you. I will rescue you."

I read on, "For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; ... Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

The Lord had surely come to our rescue and rallied help from on high from every direction to ensure our safety. Looking back now, it's as if He recruited an angel troop to hold onto the side of the truck saying, "Easy now" as they gently lowered it down. Just to be sure, He had an angel dressed in a police uniform on standby to bear witness. He had to leave earlier than the rest in order to "take care of some other business."

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him" (Psalm 40:1-3, NIV).

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About this Contributor:

Lisa Elliott is an inspirational speaker and award-winning author of The Ben Ripple, Dancing in the Rain, and A Ministry Survival Guide. She’s also a writer for Just Between Us Magazine, theStory, and Good Ground. She and her pastor-husband, David, have four children (three on earth, one in heaven) and serve the Lord together in Ottawa, ON, Canada.