The wind blew down an ailing tree a few days ago. When it fell, I had just walked past the spot, going out to and coming in from checking on the heat in my greenhouse. I had just come into the house, and removed my coat when a shaking of the house and a loud noise just outside the room where I stood, let me know a tree had come down. My husband, who was napping, never even heard or felt it, but awakened to my verbal response. "A tree just fell, I am sure a tree just fell!" I ran toward the door fully expecting to find the tree leaned against the house. Realizing I should be careful, I calmed myself a bit and tried to get my husband away from what could be further danger, if the tree came through the house, if it were hanging above it, hung up on electric wires or something.
Just waking, and always skeptical, he was saying his usual, "I doubt it, it's probably just a limb." And although I hadn't seen it myself, I was confident when I retorted, annoyed and still shaken, "Get up and see for yourself if you don't believe me, but there IS a tree down in our yard!
The instant I stepped onto the deck, I was really awakened to the presence of Angels. That doesn't happen often in life. Even though they are always there, you don't notice them except in crisis. I felt as if I was sort of in a bubble of safety, kind of other worldly....oh I don't know how to explain awareness of Angels....when they are active on your behalf, you know, you just know. And the feeling expanded to an overwhelming awareness of how close I just came to being underneath that tree, except for their intervention. I felt as if God still had his hand outstretched and the angels were still adjusting their halos. LOL
What I saw when I got outside was beyond belief. The tree was lying with its tip about 2 inches from the downspout at the corner of the house. The tip of a dead limb was broken on the deck, but not a scratch was on the deck rail, the side of the house, the roof line, the gutter...nothing. The only thing that had been touched was the cable line, which was pulled from the house where it was attached near the roof; however the box itself wasn't affected at all. I looked back through the door to see if the TV was on, and it hadn't been affected at all. I looked quizzically at the power lines under the cable line, and wondered how in the world, the tree had missed them entirely. Or if it hit them, how they were totally unscathed. I expected there to still be vibration running out their length from being hit, and they were totally still.
The more we inspected where the tree had fallen, we realized what a tiny space it would have had to fallen into, in order for it not to have hit something, not even considering that it could have killed one of us. That spot is where my husband stands to put wood in the wheelbarrow for our fireplace. There are support posts for the deck, and the water-hose and wood stacks to prevent you from standing anywhere else. A severe cold was setting in, and we were preparing for the windy cold weather. Any other time Jimmy would have been there in the evening bringing in wood. But because of the expected storm, I had asked him could we prepare early in case the power went out. I never once thought of that tree taking our power out at the house. It was just that, let's be prepared mind set you know you should go into just in case. But here we were, facing what could have been a tough situation, yet still with power, with a major winter storm approaching. I was immediately thankful and in awe.
God had just set that tree down before an ice storm, in precisely the one tiny place in our yard that it wouldn't destroy something else, protecting us in so many ways. Had it hit the house and come through the corner, Jimmy might have been injured where he slept. Had I been only moments longer in my greenhouse, I would have been walking there as it fell. In so many ways, I was glad that tree was down safely. No children to be injured in my back yard....I could just go on. The realizations rushed in and I became overwhelmed. I began to cry, as I thought how I had just faced the moment when I could have died, but God chose that I should live.
For about an hour I felt angina, as if I might have a heart attack, as my anxiety rose. It was as if the moment of shock, when the tree fell, had caused a blockage to occur. (My husband has had several heart attacks, so I know the lingo.) But as I thought of how God had just spared my life, it seemed ridiculous that he was going to take it with a heart attack. So I forced myself to be calm and took a blood thinner (asperin+), and did everything I could to be calm. I promised myself.."this is not a heart attack."
In the days that have followed, I have become weary in the record setting cold, snow and ice, of climbing over that tree to get to my green house, or of walking around the house in the wee hours of the night. In the cold, I must check it more often, and at any hour that it is the coldest. If the low tech heat sources fail, everything will freeze. And for a while this afternoon, when I had no sleep last night, and all I could do was fall asleep today, I thought for a moment, why am I doing all this for a few plants?
But then I heard the still small voice say, "I didn't help you keep these plants safe for this long this winter, and direct that tree off the greenhouse, just for you to give up now. We are in this together."
It wasn't just myself and my husband God spared, but the greenhouse and its contents. In fact, He's pulled it through record breaking temps as well. A propane tank I use for emergencies, which I burn for about 4 to 5 hours on the coldest nights, burned for 11+ hours last night - while the temps went to 6 degrees outside. And it didn't smoke, although the flame was so small at daybreak you couldn't even see it. It burned so cleanly, that it was invisible, but the heat was there as proof of it's burn. When I think of all that has happened this week on our behalf, I am so humbled. Once again, God and his angels were there, making those little miracles that whisper, I am here, my child, see me.
Thank you Jesus. Thank you. I am in awe. AMEN
