Danielle | Germany

When God’s protection is stronger than death.

That day, we should have died.
And yet…
God was already there before the very first impact.

This story happened about twenty years ago.

At that time,
I was studying medicine in Madagascar.

During that season of my life,
I met a young woman who lived in a Christian community
in the city of Antsirabe.

One day,
she invited me to spend a few days with her community.

After our stay there,
we planned to return together to Antananarivo,
where I was living at the time.

She needed to pick up several sisters from the airport.

So we set off in a minibus.

A driver from the community was at the wheel.

My friend and I were sitting in the back,
talking peacefully together.

It was a rainy day.

The sky was gray,
and the road was wet and slippery.

But suddenly,
a strange feeling came over me.

Like a strange déjà vu.

Like a warning.

For a moment,
I felt as if I already knew what was about to happen.

Everything inside me became restless.

Then I suddenly said to my friend:

“Be careful…
we are going to have an accident.”

At that exact moment,
instinctively,
I pulled her down between the seats.

Only seconds later, it happened.

The driver lost control.

The minibus began to skid,
rolled over several times,
and finally crashed down a ravine beside the road.

Everything happened so fast.

The noise.
The chaos.
The shattered glass.
The screams.

Then silence.

Still in shock,
we tried to understand what had just happened.

People came running to help us out of the vehicle.

We were trembling.

Everyone was trying to see
whether anyone had been seriously injured.

But to our complete astonishment,
we had only minor injuries.

A few scratches.
A sore arm here and there.
I myself had lightly hit my head.

Nothing more.

Later,
when we saw the vehicle,
we stood there speechless.

The minibus was completely destroyed.

Crushed.
Twisted.
Almost unrecognizable.

We looked at one another,
unable to grasp

how anyone could possibly have survived such an accident.

And even less,

how we had come out of it almost unharmed.

Deep in my heart, I knew:

This was not mere chance.

After everything had been taken care of,
we continued our journey by public bus.

My friend insisted that I should have my head examined.

But I reassured her and explained
that my roommates were doctors
and could check on me later.

Only once I was alone again in my room did the full weight
of what had happened fall upon me.

I sank to the floor.

Curled up in the corner of my room,
I began to tremble and cry.

Not out of fear.

But because I suddenly realized
what had just happened.

God had protected us.

In the middle of the chaos.
In the face of death.
In the accident itself.

His hand had been over us.

No one should have walked away alive
from a vehicle in such a condition.

And yet,
by the grace of God,
we were still alive.

At that moment,
there was only one thing left for me to do:

To thank God with all my heart.

For I now knew:
God had been our refuge and our fortress.

“For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways.“
— Psalm 91:11 (KJV)

Danielle | Germany