It’s been a bad year. From the coronavirus to the election to the death of loved ones, this year is at the top of my “worst years ever” list. 

I know I am not alone. Others have suffered the same grief and frustrations. They’ve lost loved ones. They’ve been ill. They’ve lost pets. It’s been a hard year for all of us.

In the middle of the storm, I realized that there is only one hope for making it through all that I and so many others have endured. 

I do not put my trust in vaccines. I do not put my trust in presidents. I do not put my trust in my ability to keep myself healthy. As we know, my life may be demanded of me this very day.

No, I can only put my hope in Jesus, Who alone has the power to save me and sustain me.

Saved by God’s Hand

I guess it’s easier for me to understand that, given that I’ve seen my life saved by God’s hand multiple times. From before I was born, God intervened on my behalf. Here are a few of the times when He protected me.

My parents were young and already had two girls. One night, when my mother was pregnant with me, she felt a great burden to pray for her unborn child. My parents laid their hands on her belly and prayed. She felt something was wrong, and it was. When I was born, half of the placenta was already dead. My umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck tightly, multiple times. The doctor told my mother that if I’d grown any more (I was 4 lbs., 13 oz.), I wouldn’t have survived. 

Then there was the time that I opened the car door as my father was driving down the highway. Although I was three years old, I remember that moment. I wanted to see what the pavement looked like when we were traveling. Back then, of course, we didn’t have seatbelts in the back seat. None of us girls were strapped in. I could’ve fallen out, but I didn’t. 

On my sixth birthday, I crawled up into a makeshift treehouse, along with my sisters and best friend. It didn’t have rails and my father warned us girls not to go up there until he could make them. I didn’t listen. I fell, and landed on my left side. My mother remembers that I was in shock. She rushed me to the hospital, but during the long wait I perked up. When I asked for a candy bar, we left. There was no permanent damage. 

There were other times when I saw God’s provision, like the time when I was a preteen and became very ill. I laid on the couch for a couple of days, unconscious. My mother prayed over me. She felt God tell her not to take me to the hospital because if she did, I would die. She didn’t. After much prayer, I regained consciousness and slowly got better.

Shortly after I gave birth to my first child, I became very sick. I had a high fever. I thought I’d contracted the flu, but mother knew better. She instructed me to get to the doctor quickly. When I did, the doctor discovered that I still had some of the placenta inside me. I recall thinking that if God hadn’t allowed me to be born when I was, I would not have made it. A coworker’s mother died after her birth from the same problem, I learned later.

There are so many more times God’s been with me and provided for me when I couldn’t see a way through. They are too numerous to mention here.

A Testimony

I write all of this as a testimony to God’s hand on my life. I’m sure others have similar stories. But the bottom line is, God protected me over the course of my life for whatever reason. I do not know; He does.

When coronavirus rages, I trust God to keep me healthy. When elections don’t turn out quite like I’d expected or prayed, I understand that I serve God and He is my ultimate authority. When I lose family members to cancer or other illnesses, I hurt, but I know God’s timing and reasons are perfect. 

I firmly believe that when it’s my time to die, I will, but not before. “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Jesus asked (Matthew 6:27, NIV). We cannot, even though we may try.

As for the election, God places those in power over us. All authority comes from God. “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1, NIV). I may not agree with the election results. I may even think there was fraud. But I understand that God is still in control, regardless of who is in the White House.

No matter how hard the storm rages, no matter how frightening the situations in which I find myself, my hope is always in Jesus. Only He has protected me, guided me and saved me. Only He will calm the storm.

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Nancy Flory is an associate editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3, and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.