Because I won't be able to blog on May 4th...

...I will share my story now. Brace yourself, because this is quite possibly THE coolest story you have heard in a long time. Maybe ever. I made a vow that I would forever tell this story, and I intent to keep it.

I guess the best place to start would be the beginning. My story begins May 4th, 2001,on a bright, beautiful morning in Sussex, New Brunswick, on the Bethany Bible College campus. I awoke as usual and went about my morning routine. Went to breakfast (it was a Saturday.....why I was up for breakfast I will never know), but up I was at the crack of dawn, having breakfast. As I was enjoying my morning meal, into the caffateria walks Mr. Dave Pusey,(whom I have affectionately termed "my brother"). Most of you know him, and of his amazing heart and spirit. He was accompanied with a couple other of my friends at the time (you know who you are :)) Anyways, this particular morning, Dave was in one of his dare devil crazy moods....wait a minute....his NORMAL moods, and he thought it wise to have some of us accompany him on his mid-morning adventure. I, not being one to back down on a challenge, decided to humor him and go to a place we all at Bethany like to call "the falls." I can still picture everything that happened from here on to this day...five years later. I even remember what I was wearing as I stepped into the back of Dave's humongous red beater, along with the two other friends I was speaking about. It was still cold. Mind you, it was Canada, the first week of May. There was still ice on the water when we got to "the falls." We stepped out of the car and roamed around a bit. It really is a beatiful place there. It is a water fall, although most if it's height is hidden because the water is so deep and there's a huge cavern where the river and water fall part meet. And it's not a huge place by any means. It's relatively small and quiet, despite the fact that it's just off the side of an old country road. We took some pictures and dipped our feet in the FREEZING cold river. It was extremely high at this time, being the tale-end of a Canadian winter, and the melting ice and snow attributed to most of that. I had on some sweats, and Dave offered to let me wear the extra pair of shorts that he had in his car. Since he offered, I took him up on it, and after I changed back in the car, Dave and his accomplice challenged me and the other friend I was with to a little dare. And here it is. Tell me if you'd do it. About five feet from the water falls drop off (which we didn't realize at the time), there was a SMALL branch overhanging the water. Dave climbed to the end of the branch, fell into the freezing cold water, and swam to the river bank, and wanted us all to do it. I think he and his friend had already done so earlier that morning, and being the incredible rush it was, he just had to do it again :). So my and the friend I was with, agreed. Interestingly enough I was the last to go. Dave went, then his friend, then the other friend, and then it was my turn. I remember so many of these last moments, that's it's scary. I forgot to mention that to get to the other side of the river where the tree branch was, we had to jump this cavern which held mighty rushing water, and was so far apart that we had to literally run and jump and Dave had to grab our arms and pull us onto the rock before we fell into the water. The rock we jumped on was wet and slippery from the mist of the rivers rapids. But we all made it. And it was my turn to swim to the other side. Now I have had VERY adequate training in the water. I had numerous lesson, and wanted to be a life guard very badly. I am very skilled to say the least when it comes to the water, and even water rescue. I remember climbing on that cold, wet branch, that was hardly big enough to wrap both of my hands securely around. I slowly pulled myself to the middle. The branch was so small that it wobbled a great deal with any amount of pressure that was put on it, and I found myself clinging to the middle of this branch, stuck. I lost my balance, and to move forward seemed next to impossible. The only option was to fall smack dab in the middle of the current and try to swim my way out. It's interesting that this river way MAYBE 3 feet deep. But it was a mighty three feet of tormenting current. And so I don't actually remember if I fell in or if I jumped, but I went in. I don't even remember the water being cold, but I know it was. It was so cold I was numb immediately. I tried to stand up before the current dragged me down, but it was impossible. The bottom was too slippery and I was too cold to move very fast. I struggled to swim to the side, but found myself being draggged downstream, which I would, in about 3 seconds time realize, ended in about a 10 foot drop. And under I went. I still couldn't feel. I didn't know where I was. I only knew I was deep, and that everything around me was a dark green. I remember that I was stuck, being continuously, forced into a cavern deep underneath this water fall because of the pressure of the falling water on me. There's a word for this. I don't remember what it is. I remember that I was under water for a long time. Minutes were passing, and I couldn't hold my breath any longer. I began sucking in the water. I HAD to breath, and out of sheer panic I inhaled water. Lots of water. I literally felt the life being sucked out of my body with every second that passed. A million and one thoughts raced through my head and I remember every single one of them. Not in the order that they occurred, but I do remember, and will never be able to forget. I remember thinking about my parents. I remember thinking of how devastated they would be that their daughter died by drowing. I didn't want them to find my body floating, life-less, at the end of this river. I remember talking to the Lord. I remember telling him that I was ready. I remember telling him that I couldn't wait to see him, and that I knew it was only a matter of seconds now. I felt the "pull" of heaven. It was so close I felt as though I could have reached out and touched it. I felt so much peace. Unbelieveable peace. My worst fear has always been death by suffocation, even before this accident. How ironic that I faced that fear, and found it to be so peaceful. I have heard from numerous people that have almost drowned, that it is such a peaceful experience, and not something that people would expect. And I remember something else. A voice. A distinct voice that said to me, "No...it's not your time." I'm in tears now as I write this. The memories are powerful. The voice still as clear, and so gentle. Immediately after I heard this, I remembered a story that I read from a Reader's Digest Magazine. My parents were subscribers, and I would always read the drama stories that had in their magazines. I loved them. The story was of a man that was drowing, and all he could think to shout was the name of Jesus, and he was saved. And so I shouted with all my might. Where the breath came from is a miracle in itself. I had no breath left. All I had were lungs dangerously full of water. But I screamed. I screamed the name of Jesus so loudly that bubbles flew around my head. I remember so many bubbles. And then I surfaced, and found a hand. It was Dave's. He had jumped in to save me, and has a tremendous, miraculous story of his own about being trapped in an underwater cave while trying to get to me, and praying to the Lord that if he was going to save me, he had to get him out. And he got out, and was on the side waiting for me to surface so he could grab my hand. I missed his hand, and went under again. I remember the feeling of defeat when I had missed his hand. But it didn't last long, as further down stream I was able to finally grab his hand, and he pulled me onto a nearby rock. And after coughing up water, and barely able to speak and/or breath, all I could say was "I almost died, Dave. Jesus saved me," over and over again. I quickly began to go into shock, as the water was below freezing. When you go into shock and you have been in freezing temperatures for as long as I was, all you want to do is go to sleep. I didn't understand the danger in this, but Dave did. As he sent the other two people we were with for help, he calmly asked me questions about my family to keep me awake. I remember telling him that I didn't want to talk about my family, and that I wanted to sleep. He pressed me for more answers, and I must have gave them to him. A lot of this part of the story is incredibly fuzzy. The police arrived soon after. Where the ambulence was I have no idea. It never arrived. While we were waiting for help, an old man was walking down the road with blankets. No one saw him leave, and no one saw him go. We didn't even know his name. But he just happened to have a warm, browm blanket, and he somewho got it to me on the other side of the river. We all call him our angel. My angel with a blanket. I believe to this day that he really was an angel in the flesh, as the Bible speaks about. The police finally arrived, and they wanted to air lift me over to the other side of the river. I refused to be air lifted, and said that I would walk to the other side of the river in the shallow part. Thay agreed, and with a rope tied to the other side of the river somehow, they police, and Dave half carried me across the river that threatened to claim my life. By the time I arrived at the hospital, my injuries were painfully obvious. My left elboy was swollen the size of a baseball, and my body was severely cut and scratched in various places. X-rays revealed no broken bones, but that was the least of my problems at the moment. Shock was still a threat, and so I was stripped (very wrongfully and harshly) by the nurses, and put under a special blanket to ward off any damage the hypothermia may have caused. And then about an hour after that I was rushed by ambulence, on a backboard, to Saint John hospital where I endured a painfully long wait, and a back check to make sure that I hadn't injured any part of my neck or spine. Everything appeared surprisingly fine. More miracles. I was told that not too long before, another person, a young man, had fallen into the falls and drowned there.

But I didn't. I am alive, and well. I remember walking around (barely) that night, all bandaged up. I remember going back to my dorm room and laying in my bed with tears streaming down my face. I would live to see another blue sky. I would see the green grass rippling in the wind. I would see the world again. I have never been so thankful for anything in my life. My salvation I guess is in there with this somewhere, but for me this WAS my salvation. My faith and purpose in life has been built largely on this experience.

And every year while I was at college, on May 4th, I would go to this site, and I would praise the Lord. Dave would come too, as would some of our friends, to support and hear our story again. I wonder if Dave remembers this day as well as I do. That day, back in '01 has changed my life dramatically, and the story never gets old to tell. It only causes my faith and love for the Lord to grow by leaps and bounds.

And here I sit tonight, typing this story. With a wonderful husband, a beautiful child, and another on the way. So many things that I have been given since that day. That particular day wasn't my time. But when my time does come, I only hope that when I get to heaven that I will hear, "Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord." I am hear on this earth because for some reason(s) the Lord has more he wants to do in and through me. And In a desperate, passionate compulsion, I seek to give back what he's given me....my life.