Does GOD Intervene in our Lives? Here are 8 Times He did in My Life.
By Shaun Shuler
How many times have you read about GOD intervening in someone’s life in the Bible and wished to see Him intervene in your life the same way? If He did show up in your life, what would it look like? Would you even recognize it?
In the Bible, GOD shows up “big” like in parting the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21), and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s preservation in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:8-30). But He also shows up in less flashy ways like when Peter pulled money out of a fish to pay taxes (Matthew 17:24-27) or when Elisha threw a stick in the water and an iron ax head floated to the top of the river so it could be retrieved (2 Kings 6:1-7).
GOD will intervene in a miraculous way, like a healing that doctors can’t explain, or He will intervene by using another person, like someone jumping into water to save someone drowning (happened to me twice!)
If GOD still intervenes in our lives, then how come He doesn’t intervene every time I need Him to?
The truth is we don’t know. Sometimes GOD intervenes in our circumstances and sometimes, he doesn’t intervene for a reason. We just have to trust that whatever happens, it does not catch Him by surprise and that in the grand scheme of things, it is still part of His plan.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NLT
So when bad things happen to us, is that still a part of GOD’s plan?
I would say yes and no.
JESUS said, “...Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 NLT
GOD does not go out of His way to make us suffer, but He also is not caught off guard when bad things do happen to us. Since GOD gave us free will, bad things could be a result of our own disobedience or someone else’s disobedience. Simply put, the world we live in is a broken and messed up place.
This broken world started back in the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, the earth was cursed.
“Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.”
Genesis 3:17-18 NKJV
The perfectly created man, woman, and the earth became imperfect because of Adam and Eve’s sin. So, we do not live in paradise, we live in a world that’s cursed with imperfections.
Despite this, we can rest in the truth that when we do suffer, GOD can, and will still use it for His purposes.
I know the times in my life when I’ve suffered (humiliations, failures, betrayals, deaths of loved ones, etc.) it was not fun, but I did eventually learn and grow from it. By going through some of these things, I’m also better equipped to relate to someone going through the exact same thing. As the saying goes, “You can get better or bitter, the difference is in the I.”
“And we know that ALL THINGS work together for good to those who love GOD, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Romans 8:28 NKJV
If you are waiting on GOD to come through for you, do not lose hope, do not give up, GOD is still in control. And on this note, I would like to share these 8 GOD “stepped in” events as real-life evidence that He does love us and He still intervenes in our lives.
Clearly, GOD has stepped in my life much more than these examples, but these are just a few of many.
8 Times GOD Intervened in my Life.
#1-My Mom Giving Birth to me
Baby Papa Shaun
Let’s start at the beginning. November 11, 1977, a giant 10.14lbs behemoth of a baby was born. Birth is an amazing miracle by itself but there were other factors.
In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion is legal. So with my mom being really young and single, she could have easily had an abortion and moved on with her life. Another option she could have chosen was to put me up for adoption. Do not get me wrong, I am for adoption, but in my case, I could have lived with someone else and had a completely different upbringing.
Thankfully, my mom chose life, and chose to raise me. It was my mom who first brought the idea to me several years later of going to church. Through that invitation I eventually learned about JESUS and accepted Him as my LORD and SAVIOR. There’s many things I’m thankful to my mom for, but giving birth to me and bringing me to church are the two biggest!
#2-Survived allergic reaction to penicillin
September 1978, me getting in a much needed nap
Obviously, this is not something I remember because at the time I had not turned a year old yet, but in 1978 I had a severe ear infection. The doctor gave me penicillin and my body decided to go into anaphylactic shock.
I puffed up and broke out in rashes all over my body, my eyes and throat were almost swollen shut, and I had difficulty breathing. I know it had to be extremely stressful for my mom and grandmother to stand there helpless, but by GOD’s grace I did survive and I have had to avoid penicillin ever since.
#3-Almost Drowned Two Separate times
Now we move into the early 80’s and my mom decided that I needed to take swimming lessons. One particular day after the lessons were over with, we were allowed to still play in the pool until our parents came to get us. So, I was in the middle of the shallow end bobbing up and down when I moved too far towards the deep end and went under.
Needless to say, I panicked and splashed around until the instructor jumped in and pulled me to the side of the pool. If he would not have been paying attention, I definitely wouldn’t be here today.
On a sad and unfortunate note, later that summer, the instructor (sorry I can’t remember his name), was in a fishing boat, fell overboard, hit his head, and drowned. He was not wearing a life vest.
The 2nd time was when our new large family spent a few days in New Orleans in the late 80’s for vacation.
While playing in the swimming pool at the hotel, a decision was made that I would ride on my older step-sister’s shoulders while she walked towards the deep end. When she hit between 5 and 6 feet deep, we both went under. She, of course, could swim and was fine, but I still couldn’t, so I again panicked and desperately splashed around while I began to sink. My step-dad had to dive in the pool to rescue me.
If you’re wondering, yes, I had no common sense when I was growing up, but I am forever grateful to the man that saved me and later became my best-man at my wedding.
#4-My Grandmother’s Car Wreck
The more I think back on this incident in the mid 80’s, it is truly amazing that I was not hurt. It was a rainy Saturday morning and I was riding in the car with my grandmother on the way to the store. For whatever reason, I was sitting on my knees in the front seat without a seat belt on. We had stopped in the road to turn left to get to the store, when all of a sudden, we were rear ended by a truck whose brakes locked up and smashed into us.
How I was not thrown through the windshield was truly a miracle. Now, you might be thinking that the truck probably wasn’t going that fast. Sadly, the accident was severe enough that it resulted in my grandmother having to get surgery on her back. Though the surgery helped, she was never really the same after that wreck.
#5-Lost control of car…twice in same day
In the summer of 2000, I drove to Beaumont, Texas, to visit their mall. While driving back home, on the same wet roads that I have traveled hundreds of times before, I hydroplaned and drove off into the median. As I am spinning out of control and mud and grass are flying all around, I knew I was a goner if the car keeps going into the oncoming traffic. Thankfully, the car came to a stop and I was able to drive to the opposite side of the interstate and got off on the next exit.
After stopping at a gas station to catch my breath, I got back on the road again, driving 60mph which was 10mph less than the speed limit. 10 minutes later, I spun out again, and this time there was no muddy median to slow me down. If I would have spun the same direction as before I would have slammed into a concrete barrier. But I spun the opposite direction and stopped on the outside lane facing backwards. If I would not have stopped where I did, I would have ended up crashing into some trees.
I drove backwards on the interstate to the shoulder and then turned the car off. So, a Texas State Trooper came to check on me and then he stopped traffic (on the interstate!) and I was able to turn around and eventually get home safely.
Even to this day when I drive in the rain or wet roads, I tense up.
#6-Greta disappeared
In April 2012, my wife and I went to work like we always do. When I got home 10 hours later, the house was quiet for the 1st time in 13 years. Something was terribly wrong.
My dog Greta, that I had since March of 1999 was missing. Being a schnauzer she was a very smart dog, but had only lived in the house and played in the fenced in yard her whole life. That being said, she wasn’t wearing a collar with our information on it and she had no idea how to behave out on her own, especially with us living next to a busy street.
So I panicked, and went searching around the neighborhood calling her name. With each passing minute my heart continued to sink further and further into my stomach. I walked the block twice hoping she would come running to me. Then a mailman drove up to me and asked if I was looking for a dog. I got excited and said yes! He said a gray dog was walking behind him but before he was about to cross the street, he was worried that she would still follow him and possibly get hit by a car. So he asked a woman whom he just delivered mail to, if she could watch the dog and maybe the owner would come for her. He told me which house to go to and I went there as fast as I could.
Then I heard what I thought was her whimpering, and I followed the sound to the house. I knocked on the door and a gentleman answered and told me they had no dog there. As I started to walk off, I heard the whimpering again and walked to their backyard and met a woman. She had Greta!!! She told me she knew the dog wasn’t a stray because Greta was recently groomed. I was so elated.
Apparently, the sliding glass door at our house wasn’t shut all the way when my wife went to work, and Greta went out into the fenced in backyard, squeezed through a small opening in the gate and followed the mailman around the neighborhood.
Now some of you may ask, “Isn’t it just a dog?” She wasn’t just any dog she was longtime member of the family, and she had been with me through many hardships and lonely times in my life.
She could’ve been taken by someone or hit by a car, but GOD worked out this amazing miracle for us; even though it was “just a dog.”
#7-Wife involved in scary wreck
In September 2012, my wife left early in the morning to drive to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for training classes for work. As I was getting ready for work, I got a phone call from her. She was upset. Her voice was not the same like it usually was. She had been involved in a wreck.
Going 70mph down the interstate, she suddenly lost control of the car, slammed into the guardrail on the right side of the interstate, just under an overpass, then bounced from there into the median and slammed into the guardrail on the opposite side of the interstate. Oh, and I forgot to mention the air bags never deployed from either collision.
An 18-wheeler going the opposite direction saw what happened, stopped, crossed the interstate, helped her get out of the car and called for help. No other vehicles were involved. According to the police officer, she was 5 feet away from missing the 2nd guardrail and could have rammed into oncoming traffic.
I drove there as fast as I could and when I arrived she was standing there talking to the officer and the paramedic. They saw no reason to bring her to the hospital. The only injury she had was a little cut on her pinky finger.
An absolute miracle that she survived with only a scratch. On the other hand, her favorite car was totaled.
#8-Wife gets a concussion at work
The morning of February 28, 2018, my wife and I were not getting along. We were arguing about something and then I went to work. Sometime around 1pm, I received a call from Genette’s phone. I thought to myself, so now she wants to talk? When I answered the phone, it wasn’t Genette, it was her boss from the hospital and she said that Genette fell and hit her head and was in the emergency room.
I immediately left work and drove an hour back to Lake Charles, and went to the hospital. She was a little out of it, but her boss told me that she just gave blood, and fainted and was found on the floor by another worker. She had a concussion but does not remember anything and we really didn’t know the extent of it until we saw the security footage.
The video shows her waiting for the elevator to come and when it opens she stops right before getting in. The doors close, she stumbles across to the other side slamming her head into the wall. She lays there for a few seconds wiggling her foot, then struggles back up to her feet. She walks towards the elevator doors as it was opening and stops again and falls flat on her back slamming her head into the ground. Thankfully, a lady was just coming out of the elevator and saw her fall the 2nd time and was able to call for help.
She suffered with dizziness and headaches for a long time after the incident. Even her memory has not been the same, although she still can remember EVERY TIME I have ever made a mistake before or after this scary injury. With head and possible neck injuries so many things could have resulted in a much worse outcome. I’m just so thankful that it wasn’t too serious and she was able to recover.
I cried watching the video because I felt helpless and could not keep her from getting hurt, but GOD protected her!
How about you? Can you remember back when GOD intervened in your life during a crazy situation? If you cannot think of anything perhaps there was something amazing that happened and at the time you chalked it up to chance or luck, when it was actually GOD showing up and showing off in your life. If you didn’t thank Him then, thank Him now and share that amazing story with someone!!!
It is easy to doubt and become overwhelmed with the troubles of this life, but GOD loves us so much and He still intervenes in all of our lives in His perfect timing.
GOD Bless and thank you for visiting and please leave any comments, questions, prayer requests, or ideas for new topics you’d like for me to discuss in the comment box below.
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