I recently wrote an article for our church newsletter about God’s perfect timing in my life. I'm sharing a slightly edited version here.
I witnessed that timing on a November night in 2007. My 83-year old mother unfortunately had been a smoker for her whole life. As it turned out, cigarettes were almost her undoing.
She had gone to bed unaware that she had dropped a stll-lit cigarette in between the couch cushions. That’s what the Fire Marshal had concluded. That cigarette must have smoldered for quite a while because by around 2 a.m., black smoke was coming out of her house.
If her neighbor hadn’t come home at just that time and seen the smoke and called 9-1-1, my mother would not have survived.
An alert volunteer firefighter happened to live a short way down the road. He quickly arrived on the scene, put a ladder up to the bedroom window and grabbed my petite mother who was frantically waving out the window. This hero brought her down the ladder to safety!
Her travail didn’t end there. She had suffered smoke inhalation that landed her in two hospitals for treatment. We welcomed her home on Thanksgiving Day that year. We were all thankful indeed she was finally on the mend.
God’s grace intervened that night. His watching over my mother until help arrived was no coincidence. It was truly a blessing on our family. I believe the neighbor’s quick actions were part of God’s perfect timing.
Her rescue gave my mother another nine years. And it afforded her the opportunity to attend both of her grandchildren’s college graduations and witness them both starting their careers.
Life can change in the blink of an eye, whether through an accident, fire, or diagnosis of a serious illness. I believe how our lives go forward is part of God’s perfect plan for each of us.
