(This is part two of Beth Reger's moving story of the reality of guardian angels. You may read part one by clicking on “The Angel Story” in the top left-hand column.)
At that moment, a truck pulled up to us. Now, we hadn't seen a single person since we’d left town that day. We couldn't think of any reason why anyone would be out there at that particular time. But it didn't matter to me. I ran up to him and said, “Sir, we had a four-wheeler accident and we need an ambulance.”
“OK,” he said, in a southern drawl. “We'll get it taken care of.”
Then the old guy pulled out a cell phone and called for an ambulance. The fact that this stranger had a cell phone was hard enough to believe. That it worked from all the way out in the middle of nowhere was positively stunning. I ran back down to Megan. As soon as she saw me, she started crying harder than I have ever seen anyone cry. I reassured her, telling her that I was right there and that I wouldn't let anything happen to her. When she began to calm down a little I asked her where it hurt. She pointed to her right ankle. I looked at it, and all I saw was muscle and bone; there was no skin left on it at all.
The next hour was all a blur. I stayed beside my friend, assuring her that everything would be all right. She wanted to get out of the ditch, but I wouldn't let her move — I couldn’t tell which bones might be broken. Suddenly she grabbed me around the neck, pulled herself up and scampered out the ditch with amazing strength, crying hard all the while.
Then the cries stopped, Megan's eyes rolled back in her head, and she passed out. I knew she was in shock. I also knew that people died from shock. So I racked my brain, trying to remember what I had learned in training. Almost automatically I “woke her up” and made her keep talking to me. She knew my name, her name, her phone number, and even where she was.
Then, out of nowhere, a beautiful young woman touched my shoulder. Even though people were jostling around me, I specifically remember that touch. I knew she hadn't been with the man in the truck, since I had gone up to his car as soon as he pulled up. She clearly didn't have a vehicle, and there was no way anyone could have walked to where we were — it would have taken all day!
“Do you need anything?” she asked.
“Yeah, I could use some water,” I said. I wanted to rinse out Megan's eyes and all her scrapes.
She left, and about 30 seconds later came back with a big jug of clean, sparkling water. I thanked her, and tried to clean out Megan's eyes, mouth, and all her scrapes, which were filled with dirt.
“Do you need anything else?” she asked. “How about a towel?” I said. It was about 100 degrees outside, and I wanted the boys to hold a towel over Megan's head to keep the sun out of her eyes.
“Sure,” she said. She left, and came right back with two clean towels. Wow. I put one under Megan's head and had the boys hold the other one over her head.
It took the ambulance just over an hour to arrive. As I was climbing in alongside Megan, the girl came over and touched my shoulder again. She looked directly into my eyes and said, “You did a great job. Everything is going to be all right.” At that moment, I felt a surge of such peace that it had to have come from God.
I stayed with Megan for the duration of her time in the hospital, and we became much closer friends. Chris called about a month later with a heartfelt apology, and I became like a spiritual director to him. His growth since then has been amazing. Megan and I talked later, and I told her about my quick prayer to our guardian angels when the accident happened. She replied that all she remembered from that day, besides me being there, were the two “angels.” She said she looked up and saw her angel; the old man in the truck, and my angel, the beautiful young woman.
I still remember pieces of that incredible day with such clarity that it can take my breath away — the flip, the scrapes, the blood and tears in Megan's eyes. But the most tangible sense I’ve taken away from that experience has been how our most loving, compassionate God can take a horrible situation and turn it around with his love and healing. He can and does turn our bad choices into His will for our lives. He makes His love pour forth from the hearts of each person He touches.
