Let's find out what God says about how fast He will protect you  

                      God will save you in a nano second 

 "Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble. The Lord will protect him and preserve his life; he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desires of his foes.   Psalm 41:1-2  

It was New Year's Eve, what happened to me that evening was very personal and very memorable to me for more than one reason. I was a sophomore in high school when I was invited to a good friend of mine's party that was over at his home. Our parents were all serving in the United States Air Force at Ellsworth A.F.B, and even thou we all lived in base housing, my friends house were the party was located was just outside of the Air Force base. So you did not have to go through a check point to get to his house.

Just like any other teenager, I was very excited to be invited. So I wanted to fit in with everybody so I had some wine as well as some lemonade. That night I was introduced to the strongest of all bottled alcohol called Everclear, that was mixed into the lemonade, I was told later that it was like180-200 proof which would be !00% alcohol.

I discovered this day, that alcohol seemed to affect me more quickly than most others, not in a bad way if I drank in moderation. If I wasn’t too careful I would literally lose my cookies which to me is the worse thing that can happen to me. And it was probably a prayer being answered from my mom.

I have never been drunk before, so here I was in the bathroom when I felt like I was going to lose my cookies, so as I was on bended knees before the hopefully clean toilet. I realized that every time I tried to throw up, nothing would come up. I would just go through the physical motions but nothing would happen.

So the only thing that would happen is that my stomach would hurt from the convulsions. I would find out later that this was called the dry heaves. The only fearful thought that was racing through my mind at this moment was the story I heard just a few days earlier about someone who had the dry heaves and that his stomach literally ripped loose and came up through his throat literally choking him to death. 

So here I was thinking that I was literally going to die, so each time that my stomach started to convulsed, It would take everything for me not to scream because of the unbearable pain I was going through, I kept pushing down with one of my hands on my stomach, and the other hand was trembling but still holding on to the porcelain toilet to balance myself in this undignified way, praying that it would not rip loose and come up through my throat and choke me to death.

It made me wonder if this was just as painful as child birth, and how could it not be.

Right then I made a promise to God, that if He would spare my life and from all this unbearable suffering that I will never get this drunk again.

I thanked God when I felt the pain go away,

 But God wanted me to get up close and personal with the after effects of getting drunk, which for me was the worst thing that can happen to me and that was still feeling like I was going to lose my cookies.

So like any dignified partier, I decided to go outside and find an appropriate place to lose my cookies.

I decided to go just a few houses away and do my business and I was still thanking God for taking away the unbearable pain, my stomach was still feeling quite sore from the earlier convulsions.

I was in front of some hedge bushes, no more than about fifty feet from plain view from the street, I decided not to go behind the hedge bushes on someone else's property, and make the home owner think that I was trespassing on their property, especially this late at night.

I was feeling sick as a dog, when just like that, three young service men that were in the Air Force drove up and parked their Volkswagen bug and got out and started to walk towards me.

The one man, who was closest to me of the three, showed me that he had a knife in his hand, then without any emotion or remorse he told me that they were going to gut me like a fish.

I did not know this man from Adam; I silently prayed that God protect me.

It's funny how our priority's change, just a few moments earlier I felt like it would be a blessing if somebody would just shoot me and take away my pain and suffering. Now I wanted to live and with the alcohol talking, Trying to be brave, I started to laugh and I said something like, oh yeah you think so!

I just stood there, feeling to drunk to want to run to fight another day, I knew in two seconds that there was a very good chance that I would be left for dead on a strangers front lawn in the freezing cold of winter.

And with less than a second before they would be close enough to start stabbing me to death.

A car load of the guys from the party were driving towards me, literally hanging out of the open car windows yelling and waving "There's Cartwright over there!" the three men literally stopped in their tracks and ran back towards their car, never to be seen again. 

Was my life saved by accident or by divine intervention?

I believe one of the reasons that God has never left me or forsaken me one time in my life is because I never blame God and ask why things happen to me, I always connect the dots together to praise God for always being with me all the time. In other words I always try and glorify God in everything that I say and do.

Such as...

The temperature was literally freezing outside,

It would have been perfectly normal for the boys that happened to drive by, to have their windows closed hoping that the heater would quickly warm up so that they would quit shivering from the intense cold.

I believe that God inspired them to open their windows, to hang out of the windows and to have a good old time hooping and hollering, so when they drove by they would see me, as they were yelling and waving, "There's Cartwight over there!"  They stopped and asked what was I doing out here?

For a moment just think if there windows were closed as they were driving, the side windows would have been fogged up and they would never have seen me fifty feet from the street.

Their car driving by would not have prevented these 3 men from trying to stab me; they would simply have waited until they drove by.

What helped put the fear of God in them were the boys hanging out of both sides of the windows screaming and yelling that startled them to run back to their vehicle and take off.

Now let’s consider the most important dot to connect,

The dot of "perfect timing,"

What if the car that they were driving in needed just five more seconds to warm up in this below freezing weather.

I was about to be killed in less than a second,

How about the dot of "The fear of God"  who the Holy Spirit used to convict the guys who were hanging outside the car window to start screaming and yelling at the precise place that I was at, and the precise time that I was confronting the very face of evil...  murder.

Everyone of our lives have been changed and shaped through adversity,

Did I learn anything from going to that party that night?

I learned to drink in moderation and to never get drunk again,

I learned that God is a God that will protect me in a nano-second,

I learned that God will never leave me or forsake me one time, 

"I will never leave you or forsake you." Hebrews 13:5  

So you be the judge if my life was saved by accident or by divine intervention?

Then multiply it by hundreds of divine interventions that I have documented throughout my life. Not just life and death situations, which would have been just a couple dozen times or so in my life. The other hundreds of times were other adversity that God was there for me. And God wants to do the same for you too.

"Oh, how great is your goodness to those who publicly declare that you will rescue them. For you have stored up great blessings for those who trust and reverence you."  Psalms 31:19

You want God to always bless you?

Always glorify God in everything that you say and do.

Here's one way...

Anytime that God has blessed you or someone else tells you that God has done something wonderful in their lives.

How we respond at that very moment will define the purity of our heart and determine to God if our motives are a blessing or a curse to Him in glorifying Him..

Will we choose to be a curse to God by taking away His glory by never sharing what wonderful things that God has done for us, or to tell others that we don't believe that it was possible what he/she said that God did for them?

Or will we choose to be continually blessed by God, to glorify Him by always being obedient to His will and share what He has always done for us, and that He wants to do the same for them.

God shapes our destiny by the choices that we make,

 I praise God that He gives us the power to make that choice everyday!

 "Everything comes from God alone, Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory." Romans 11:36 LB

God believes in you

Reverend Michael Cartwright

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