March 15th, 2022

God Will Never Allow You to Be Harmed

Isaiah 43:2 NIV

"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."

      Have you ever considered God being with you everywhere you go? For the longest time, I didn't. For all of my life, my family has been in the show cattle industry. Even as a very young girl, grabbing the halter of a full-grown cow and leading them through the show ring never scared me. The show arenas were my home; a safe place if you will. In 2014, I was finishing up my final year of 4-H. My sister had an important ball game the night of the market steer show, so I had to show her steer on her behalf. Market steers were nothing new to me, and I was well prepared to stand in her place. The class went smoothly, however, at the end of the show, I was blindsided by a steer that had been spooked by a dog at the entrance of the barn. Try as she might, the girl on the other end of the rope couldn't prevent her 1400lb market steer from toppling over me. The steer hit me from behind and the arena went black. When I came to, I had no idea what had happened. 

      Where am I going with this? You see, after hearing what other people had witnessed at that moment and having watched the replay on video (because it conveniently got filmed), it looked as though the steer had stomped on my head and back. If this had been so, I could've very well died or been paralyzed. However, what looked horrible turned out to be just a bruise to the back of my thigh and some whiplash, leaving me slightly concussed. The thing is, no matter how ugly, how bad, or how scary that situation looked (because I still get emotional watching the video) God didn't let it harm me. Going into the show God knew what I was going to be faced with, however, just as he controls the waves and the flames, he controlled the footsteps of that steer. You may be faced with some scary situations. You may be in the raging waters or the burning fire, but God will bring you out of them untouched. May this be your reminder that in every situation, be it big or small, God is guiding you through it so that you will come through it better than you were before.

When in your life has God shown you that he is with you through both the biggest and smallest of situations?