God’s Provision

So as most of my readers who receive my updates/newsletters via email already know that I was in a car accident Friday along with 5 other people. We were on the way to spend our long weekend camping and hiking at Nimba Mountain, 9 hours up country. If you did not know this and do not receive my email updates email me @ jeska297@hotmail.com and I will add you to the list.

This post is not to spend hours writing every last detail of the day to you all. It is a post to TRY and relay to you a small glimpse of the presence of God that I experienced that day. His provision was so clear that it was amazing. Like I said before I will try and interpret this for you however know that my words will never do Gods works justice, and in my heart and the hearts of the others will be the only place where Gods amazing handwork is truly understood. To you this may just be a nice story but to us it was so much more, and even though all of us where at the same place in the same accident at the same time, God managed to reveal himself to each of us in different ways. My story of Gods Awesomeness is not even the same as the others. :) God was busy that day.

Ok here we go. Buckle your seat belts and enjoy the ride.

Setting the scene:
7:30 am Friday October 3 2008, 10 bodies and 2 Land Rovers leave the Dock in Monrovia excited and eager to get the weekend started. My car, car A we will call it, was loaded with 6 bodies, one book bag full of snack food, an axes, a shovel, and two tents. Car B was loaded with 4 bodies, luggage for 10, food and water for 3 days, another tent, and a FIRST AID KIT.

1 ½ hours into the trip Car A and Car B get separated. Car A pulls over to the side of the road to wait on Car B. While we were waiting for Car B to catch up we decided to shop for an extra tire just in case we blew one and needed a spare. I was in the back and I looked out the back window I spotted Car B zooming by at lighting speeds. So Car B thinks all along that they are trying to catch up with Car A. When in reality my car was trying to catch up with Car B. Side note Car B did not find out we were in an accident until they reached about 6 hours into the trip.

3 hours into the trip 10:30am. Crash!!!!!!! Which brings me to Blessing #1 We need a first aid kit….ours nicely equipped first aid kit is in Car B which is who knows where. We gather together and pray. We pray for Gods wisdom, we pray for courage and strength, we pray that the other car realizes something is not right and turns around so we can get a first aid kit, we THANK GOD we are alive, and we pray for a way for us to get in contact with the police in the next town which is 10 miles away. Maybe five minutes after we pray a car of Nigerian UN soldiers pull up and make sure we are ok and call the police. Blessing #2 maybe 5 minutes after that Doctors without Borders Land Rover pulls up and they say hey we don’t have a doctor but we have a first aid kit. We say thank God for the blessing no worries that they don’t have a doctor with them we have an ICU nurse with us.

Noon rolls around, the police inform us that we would need to go to the police station. Four of us myself included 1 male and 3 female pile into the back of a rice truck and hitch a ride 10 miles to town to the police station. The driver had to stay at the scene and since we thought it would not be a good idea to send 3 girls to the police station without a guy and that it would also not be a good idea for us to leave our driver alone at the scene the ICU nurse-Ali decided she would stay with the driver-Lourens.

The entire time we are in the rice truck I am praying God please don’t let them do anything to harm us. You hear all the time of incidences were foreigners are mistreated by the so called authorities. I was scared out of my mind where they going to rob us, beat us, toss us in prison, or even worse. I prayed for safety and courage. Once we arrived in town the rice truck dropped us of at his work and told us to walk the rest of the way. There stood 4 white people with bags and tents and an ax and shovel. Me being the person I am thought hmmmm might not be the best idea for us to walk to the police station. Considering it might be miles away tucked behind other shops that we might never find. So I became friendly Jess and started to talk to this man who looked like he was in charge or “the boss man” of the rice shop. I explained our situation and he said oh no you don’t walk we will give you ride. Wait small and when they are done unloading the rice we will give you ride there. Blessing #3 Come to find out the station was about 5 miles away tucked behind other shops….hmmm we would have never found it. Also I am not sure if you understand but there are not many white people in this part of the world. And those of us who are here are either NGOS or UN not locals.

So there we sit at the Charge of Quarters in Totota Town Police Station. Mind you we have no phone, no one from the ship knows where we are, we have little food and water, and no idea how long we are going to be sitting. This is Africa and they do run on Africa Time- still praying for God’s provision.

Blessing #4 Once again I decided to start chatting with one of the police officers, just trying to get a feel of his niceness. Turns out he is super nice- Augustus was his name. He quickly asks us where we are all from. I, Emily, and Ben answer US and Hanna answers Sweden. Augustus answers oh Maria we have a Sweden UN police officer who is here working with us. Hanna says WHAT, can I talk to her. There are not many Sweden UN soldiers in Liberia. He says yes and there is also an American UN solider working here with us as well. We say what we can talk to him. YES answer Augustus. Maria the Sweden UN came to the station to make sure we were ok and then went to the accident scene to check on the other two. Blessing #5 Augustus allowed us to use the phone to call the ship and check in. Maria came back and said they are safe, they are going to be awhile and there is no need for you to sit here. Terrie-the US UN solider has set things up for you all at a local hotel. He said that you will be safe there and there is lots of food and drinks for you waiting. We are thinking WHAT!!!! So after a time period of 3 hours of waiting at the Totota police station we lug all our stuff into the back of a UN vehicle and get taken to the hotel. Blessing #6 – we are so luck y we had little stuff with us, because we had to pack it around all day. You can’t leave anything unattended and or UN locked up here it will disappear in a matter of minutes.

Blessing #7- Kamal, the hotel owner. Great Christian man who feeds us and let us use the bathrooms, gave us water, assured us that we would be safe until a driver from the ship arrived to take us home.

7:00 PM a ships driver arrives to take us home, we thought. He informed us that the police wanted us to stay the night. Blessing #8 they allowed us to go home.

Blessing #9 As I was sitting in the back of the Land Rover feeling every bump and pot hole in the road on m y bum I was getting ready to lose it and suddenly I looked up out the window and the reflection from the head lights and the car had made a cross that was visible on the hills along the side of the road. I looked at it and started crying. I told Hanna and Emily to look and they said oh my gosh, what more could we ask for in a day. At that moment it hit me that God not only provided for us and protected us all day he was there by our sides through it all. I wonder if he was as tired as we were.

Blessing #10 We arrived back to the ship safe at 12am. WHAT A DAY!!!!!!

I am sure I might have forgotten a thing or two but the point is GOD was there. He was with us all day and He did such wonderful things in the hearts of all of us that were present. I have this new fire burring for Him now. This was just the day that I needed. Talk about needed to be re energized and re charged for the last 2 ½ months of outreach….dang are we all re charged, and not from a weekend on Nimba mountain but from the source of LIGHT Himself!!!!


Psalm 91:9-12

If you make the Most High your dwelling-
Even the LORD, who is my refuge-
Then no harm will befall you,
For he will command his Angels
concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot
against a stone.





Before We left!!! haha so EXCITED!
Ben, Hanna, Emily, and I hanging out in the police station
Coo Coo Nest Hotel....safe, food, and water
Before we got ready to head home!

Ali taking care of Ben's head
Never miss the photo!

Us with the Totota Police Officers

the other car
our car