Picture of wrecked 1996 Ford Crown Victoria taken by Fran Meservy in Sept 2001
"If The Lord Wasn't Walking By My Side" by Elvis Presley from CD "Ultimate Gospel"
Gut Feelings by: Frances M. McCrory-Meservy
I have had gut feelings as long as I can remember and they have always been accurate. I came to realize they were from God and part of the way he guides me.
There were times that I don't know what would have happened because I listened to them; but always it was not good if I ignored them. Sometimes I would ignore the feeling because it didn't seem to make sense. I let my brain override the gut feeling. Each time I leaned on my own understanding, I regretted it.
An example of ignoring the but feeling was in 2002. I was taking my sister-in-law to the hospital in Kauffman for a MRI. There was a light rain when we started onto the freeway. As I approached the ramp, I had a gut feeling that I should stop and wait for the white car, white truck and orange truck that were a quarter mile back. My brain overrode my gut feeling because there seemed to be no reason to wait and I went onto the freeway.
The orange truck (going at least 90) hit us on the left rear and we went air-born into a flat spin. When we came down, I was aimed at a fence post. I turned hard left and we slid sideways on the wet grass. The right side of my Crown Victoria took out a steel cattle gate and 4 railroad tie fence posts that were buried in concrete. My car was totaled - it was T-boned on the right side and the frame was bent.
Sheila and I just sat there too stunned to realize what had happened. The chief of police and a fire truck came upon us just as we climbed out of the car. They stopped to render aid. The Police Chief asked what happened and I told him I was not sure - "I felt like a giant slapped the left rear of my car." He pried the trunk open and hit the reset button for the engine and closed the trunk.
Sheila said it felt like we were going to flip but it didn't. The Police Chief told her that it is impossible to flip a Crown Vic unless you run one side up a steep ramp and then you have to work at it. He said it is the safest car on the highway and that's why the police use them.
A fireman started the car and he tried to drive up the wet bank to the road. He kept sliding backwards. The Police Chief got in and drove it down the ditch toward a business parking lot. It stuck solid just before it got there. The firemen (6 of them) told me, "please take note that we did not get your car stuck in the mud - the police did." I needed a good laugh about them.
The business owner had a winch on a long cable that he used to pull my car into his parking lot. The Chaplin for the fire department let me borrow his cell phone to call Al. Al showed up about this time in our truck.
I had a gut feeling that Sheila would not go have that test if we did not go right now so I asked Al if he would drive the car home so I could take Sheila to the Dr. His reaction was, "You just totaled my car and now you want my truck?" The Chief of Police had a good laugh.
I had not really looked at Sheila other than to make sure she was OK. At this point she spoke up and said I'm not going to the hospital looking like this. She had on a white outfit. We were both smoking and both had coffee when we were hit. All the ashes in the ashtray and most of the coffee landed on her white outfit. She said, "It is appropriate that I should die with coffee and ashes all over me because I've lived my whole life with a cigarette in one hand and coffee in the other." We had another good laugh.
Al drove the car home and I drove the truck. Sheila nor I had a scratch on us and we never even had a twinge of pain. God had protected us even though I had not listened to Him.
Prov 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Psa 91:9-12 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
Psa 32:7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
Psa 40:11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me.
Psa 91:14-16 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."
John 17:15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
2 Th 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.