This is a post that I have wanted to write for a long time. I want to share something that happened to Ann and I in March 2009 on a lonely desert highway that gave us another reason to believe that our faith in the God of the Bible is correctly placed.
We decided to visit Phoenix, Arizona and the Grand Canyon during my spring break in 2009. We were driving on our way from Reno to Arizona on US 95 S and had just left Nevada and entered Needles, CA. I believed that the route through US 95 to I-10 would be a better and shorter way than taking I-40. I did not expect it to be so lonely or so long. It would be another 80 miles or so till we reached the junction to the Interstate. It was so beautiful to see the lonely desert road and distant mountains in the background.
We were talking and enjoying the ride when Ann suddenly felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. The pain quickly became unbearable and she was really hurting. I had no idea what it could be and told her to recline her seat all the way back. My thoughts went to gas. After a long time, the pain was still there. I then thought that it may be a kidney stone. There were no cars in front of us or behind us for miles. No towns nearby. Just miles and miles of featureless California desert.
I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I thought of pulling over and calling 911 for an ambulance. But how long would that take in the middle of nowhere? Would she make it to wait that long? By hearing her I knew that this was serious. I decided to keep going driving fast but surely, until I saw the first inhabited place I could stop at and asking for help there. That is when I started praying. I prayed like I never have in my life. I kept asking God to come down and help us since we have no other option. My mind was racing with prayers and my throat became so dry from the tension. I drove the next 40 miles in literal white-knuckle driving passing into the oncoming traffic lane to overtake numerous cars and trucks on the one-lane road. We drove a good 40 miles with Ann in intense pain and my mind racing with prayers. I remember specifically praying from the promise that God would be with his righteous in time of trouble and asking Him to make good on that promise because I had no other option at the time. I knew that we had no one else to help us on US 95 that day and asked God to take away the pain from my wife. That is when we came upon Vidal Junction.
Vidal Junction, CA. The cross roads of US 95 and state route 62 with nothing more than a couple of gas stations. It felt so good to see some signs of life! I stopped at the first gas station and wanted to run inside to ask if there was a hospital nearby. My wife said she wanted to go inside and try to use the bathroom. I escorted her inside to the bathroom ($1 charge to use it if no purchase) and told the lady at the counter our predicament and asked if there was a hospital nearby. She said the nearest one was a small hospital about 18 miles away across the border in Parker, AZ. Our intended destination to the junction of I-10 was another 40 miles away in another direction. That junction was in Blythe, CA and it had a much larger hospital but would take us much longer to get there. I did not know if the pain would get worse or what would happen. Going to Parker would be definitely out of our way throw our schedule out of track. But that did not matter. I just wanted her pain to go away.
So there I was. At the cross roads literally with a decision on which road to take. East or South. When Ann came out of the bathroom, I told her the situation. She told me she felt a little better. We decided to go South and continue on US 95 to Blythe. We prayed at Vidal Junction and started on our road south. The whole time I remember praying that her pain does not get worse and just get us to the junction and Blythe. That’s all that was on my mind the next 40 miles.
We reached the junction to I-10 and I asked her how she was feeling and what we should now do. Should we continue east to Phoenix or head west into Blyte and the hospital. She said she was feeling better and we decided to go on our original route to Phoenix. After driving a few miles on I-10, Ann drifted into sleep. When she woke up about an hour later, she said that the pain was gone. We still took it gingerly and I kept praying till we reached Phoenix that night.
Her pain was completely gone for the rest of the trip and we were on track the next day on our original schedule and got to see Phoenix and the Grand Canyon. It was a memorable trip but the most memorable part for me will always be that 80 miles in the California desert that afternoon with no one to help and everything resting on prayer. It could have gotten much worse, but it never did.
Later that year, we would find out exactly what the problem was when she had a recurrence of the pain (which I’ll write about later). The second time we were at home in Reno and had the comfort of the hospital nearby. But on that afternoon in March on that lonely road in California, we had nobody. Just our faith that God would be there when we prayed just as He had promised to us in His word the Bible.
I can safely say that God answered our prayers that day. While driving, I had asked Him to keep His promise… and He did just that. I witnessed it and I will always testify of it. I have written down in a secret place all the times that God has come through for me. Not every little minuscule prayer that He has answered, but the most memorable ones are when there was no other option and no one to help us like that day in Vidal Junction.
Psalm 34:15 says the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry for help. If Christianity is true and you are a true Christian, there must be experiential evidence in your life to the the things that are promised like this in the Bible. Not subtly, but powerfully and unmistakably. This is one of those times in my short life. The way the events of that day played out are memories stored deep within in my heart. I still ponder the mystery of how God operates in this world but I know that He is trustworthy when everything is on the line and there is nowhere else to turn. From this and many other experiences, I know I can take Him at His Word.
Vidal Junction. Another junction in my life where I chose to trust God and continue on my journey of faith in this life. One more event in my life that helps me know that my faith is well-placed. The pictures below would not have been possible unless God had helped us at Vidal Junction.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Recent Comments