To listen to the blog post “When Jesus Takes The Wheel ~ 5 Important Lessons” over reading it click the play button below.
I want to tell you about the time that Jesus saved my life or better yet what happens when Jesus takes the wheel quite literally. Remember that song by Carrie Underwood ” Jesus take the wheel. I will not go too deep into the song, but the basic principles of it were that she was driving, about to get into an accident, having a near-death experience, she decided to let go of the wheel and Jesus took the wheel and saved her and her child. She looked in the back seat and her baby was sitting in the back sit sleeping not even realizing the accident happened. Instead of me recapping the entire song for you, you can feel free to just watch the video.
Now for my Jesus takes the wheel moment/ Jesus save my life moment. Literally, I lived this in the moment. My son, I, and my mother was in the car and got into a car accident. Once we crashed I turned to the back seat of the car and my son was still sleeping not to be traumatized by this event.
Let me explain how Jesus takes the wheel and even how Jesus saved my life (in a literal sense) and most importantly what I learned from this. And what you can learn too. Lessons that we should always remember as we go through ANY situation in life.
1. Jesus Takes The Wheel And Saved My Life Quite Literally
So maybe this car accident was not the MOST life and death situation ever but make no mistake about it, we could have died, ran into the swamp, or be injured. One weekend my mother, myself, and my son drove to Georgia from Virginia for my grandparents 55th anniversary party (see my blog here).
A drive that normally takes us 8 to 10 hours and a drive that we have driven several times before. It was in the morning and I decided to lay back and get some sleep while my mom was driving and my son was in the back seat sleeping as well. YEAH don’t judge me, apparently, it is supposed to be the passenger’s job to keep the driver awake but I failed. I stayed up most of the time but then I got tired. I am human.
I was only asleep for a little bit when I felt us going off the highway, a major highway at that. It was I- 95 south, a major highway, and being a mom you automatically become a light sleeper. So I felt the car not going straight. I sat up and asked my mother what was going on and that is when MAYHEM took place.
Because she was SLEEP! And she stayed in this sleep mode during the whole accident. First, because she was still in a sleepy state and highly confused my mother did not break BUT HIT THE GAS. And so we sped up on the highway, going cricked down the road, skidding all the way.
You know that moment when your life flashed across your eyes, well that did not happen how bad this accident was going to be flashed across my eyes and I began to scream. Here we were sliding ACROSS the highway. A MAJOR HIGHWAY. On the right side of the road were swamps and a wooded area. As we were sliding sideways down the road, the car almost turned back into oncoming traffic. I could see a huge semi-truck and all the traffic heading toward us. SHEER PANIC.
But my mother is ex-military so no matter how sleepy she was, some tactical military driving training in and in her sleepy state she did not lose control of the car. But in the meantime, it was like a roller coaster. Her eyes closed the entire way, me screaming, my son sleeping in the back seat.
We went all the way over to the right and I thought to myself this is it we are going to swerve into the swap. But then we swerved back onto the road. And I thought great she is going to get in control of the car. BUT then we started to skid, the SUV almost made a full 180 turn, on the highway, which we would be facing ongoing traffic.
The thoughts in my mind were: Jesus, take the wheel, Jesus save my life. We slide off the side of the road onto where the rails were, and the car hit on both sides. My mother fully woke up, and I looked in the back seat and my son woke up like “what happened.” Jesus saved our lives that’s what happen. At that moment I learned some key lessons.
1. Jesus Takes The Wheel Remember ~ God never promises we would never have hardship, what He does promise is to be with us during the hardship.
My mother was tired and she fell asleep at the wheel, which was not God’s fault. But the fact that we were on a major highway, going across all lanes and there were no cars around us, that was God. The fact that we were on the verge of doing a 180 on the road and about to be facing ongoing traffic but that did not happen, that was God. And the fact that there was swampland and woods on the right side of the road, where we were headed off the road but didn’t, that was God. Jesus saved my life and he continues to save my life.
Never think that because you are a Christian that you are exempt from anything bad happening to you. If you think that, then I would encourage you to read the Bible because many people who were chosen by God went through hard times (see my blog here). God cannot promise that we will never go through something but He does tell us that He will be with us when we do.
As a Christian, it took me a long time to understand that. I remember when I lost my job and was struggling to survive, eat, live, I thought “God why has thou forsaken me.” I know dramatic right. But even in that time (click here to read) God had a reason for it. God has a reason for everything even if we do not see it. No life is not perfect, he does not promise us to never deal with anything ever.
He just says He will be with us, deliver us, and work everything out somehow and even in the midst of the storm. When we cannot see any way out, and even in those times, we think we may DIE (in this case quite literally) Jesus will still show up and save you. Also, check out my video down below on how to glory through your suffering, and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel by clicking here.
2. Jesus Takes The Wheel ~ God Corrects Our Mistakes
When Jesus takes the wheel it’s like he does what we cannot. As I mentioned before in the confusion of the situation, my mother had the pedal to the metal thinking that she was hitting the brake when she was really hitting the gas. Once again not God’s fault. But God corrected it. On most roads, there is a guard rail, but on this highway, it wasn’t. It was a barb wire type rail situation, and it was a few feet off of the road as opposed to right on the side of the road.
What stopped us was the fact that we hit this barbed wire (that was very strong by the way) we crashed and stopped. And before we hit, the thick mud slowed us down. Thank God because had we gone through the barbed wire we would have gone to the other side of the highway into oncoming traffic. Once again Jesus saved my life.
But how many times has Jesus saved my life or your life? Hear me out. Even though we make mistakes, God can fix our mistakes or He can set up the perfect storm to prevent us from hurting ourselves even more. And that is what is called grace. Something that God decided to rescue us from, bless us anyway, or save us from even though we don’t deserve it.
I remember when I became a single mom, did not get child support (still don’t), and my son’s father got locked up for 7 years and I had no help. Most people thought the situation would break me. And in a way, I did too. But becoming a single mom is what saved my life that is what made me go into business, get an MS and Ph.D. degree. If I did not become a single mom I would be a hot mess. Read my single mom story here, and watch my video below to see my story. Once again Jesus saved my life. Not like in the car accident, but he redirected my mistakes (which were plentiful before I had my son) and turned it into a blessing.
In this case, it just so happens to be mud and a barb wire fence. In life, there are so many mistakes that I have made, and if it were not for God coming in and correcting them then Lord knows where I would be. And that is the beauty of Jesus taking the wheel, He literally comes in grabs control of the wheel and HE will steer you in the right direction, even if you had been steering yourself in the wrong direction before.
You just have to be open and willing for the redirect and see where God is leading you. Yes, God leads us on the side of the road into a barb wire fence. But it was not into the swamp, it was not into oncoming traffic, so in that situation although not perfect was the best direction given the situation.
3. When Jesus Takes The Wheel Remember It Is Not That Bad
When we finally stopped, throughout everything that had happened I thought the SUV would be wrecked. I went out to examine the car and the mirror was broken off, the side of the windshield had cracks, and there were some not-so-deep scratches on the side and on the hood of the car. I looked down at the tires thinking there were going to be flat, bent, or we were going to be stuck in this ditch. But aside from the damage to the car, the tires were in perfect condition and the car was drivable.
Yes, we could have been mad that the car still had some issues, the mirror was broken, there were some dents in the side. We could have complained about that BUT I was thankful that Jesus saved our life, my mom’s life, and my son’s life. And we were thankful that we could still drive the damaged car the rest of the way. I encourage you to watch my video below on complaining. Because so often when Jesus is trying to save us, we complain because things do not look like what we want, how we want, as fast as we want and we want to tell God how mad we are.
Can you imagine if you got out of the car and started cursing God because the car was dented and telling God how He could have done a better job in intervening in the situation? How crazy would that be? But so many of us do exactly that. When we feel that what God is giving us is not good enough we complain. And not being thankful is the fastest way to block your blessing. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel by clicking here.
That is why it is important to always evaluate your situation from a realistic point of view because what you may think is the end of the world, the situation in God’s eyes may not be that bad. Sometimes you just have to stop looking at everything wrong and look at what is going right. And be thankful for what God is doing for you instead of getting stuck in what He isn’t.
4. When Jesus Takes The Wheel ~ Jesus saved my life and I realized He Does Not Give You More Than You Can Bear
As I describe this situation it is very traumatizing right! However, out of everyone in the car, I am the only one who remembers it. Throughout all this chaos my son was sleeping in the back seat and only woke up when we crashed. Even then he was still a little out of it and had no idea what even happened. My mom because she was asleep did not remember what happened. And really that is for the best. I am an adult am I am still a little traumatized over the experience. I can only imagine how my son would not want to even step back into a car if he had witnessed that accident.
Of course, I am talking about an accident but this also applies in real life. God knows what we can take and He knows what we cannot take and each of us is different. Sometimes He will allow one person to go through something while the other person is left going through something less significant. Sometimes He shows us things and sometimes He saves and shields us from things, that we do not even know are an issue because God is protecting us from it. I can almost bet this is how it is daily.
The hardships or situations that God does reveal to you, is because He knows you can take it and there are probably 100’s if not a thousand situations that He protects you from that you do not even realize. So never get discouraged from what you are going through but know that if God is allowing you to go through it, you can bear it.
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
5. When Jesus Takes The Wheel Remember ~ It Could Have Been Worse, It Can Always Be Worse
This is an example of when Jesus takes the wheel in a very literal sense. Yes, Jesus saved my life and the worse could have been serious injury or even death. And here lies the lesson. Whenever bad situations happen even when we do not know why they happen, it is a habit to want to blame God because we do not understand. I did not understand the accident, but I do not have to understand.
What I know is that it could have been worse. We could have been in the lake, we could have flipped over, or we could have still been stuck in the mud with no way to get back home or to my grandparents’ house. Even though the situation was bad, it was not that bad.
Often times instead of getting on God for what a bad situation is, sometimes we need to praise Him (which I talk about in my song below) because the situation is not worse. No matter how bad your situation is, it can always be worse and I can promise that someone out there in the world does have it worse. If you cannot afford to drink anything but water then praise God for the water you can drink because in parts of the world there is no clean water. Hate your apartment, praise God for it because some people are homeless. Never get caught up in how bad your situation is, instead praise God for what it is not.
When Jesus takes the wheel in my situation I also know that Jesus saved my life. Not just in this situation but overall. Daily, weekly, yearly. Perhaps in not such an obvious way but if you look around He does. And sometimes literal situations like these remind you exactly how God intervenes in our lives and how we need to just be thankful.
If you know someone who may find this post useful then feel free to share.
And speaking of being thankful, I have something called a Christian Affirmation Guide, with Bible verses and affirmations to keep you thankful, grounded, and in constant reminder of how Jesus saves your life. Just click here or the picture below.
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