Kinley

In 2008 I still had all four of my kids at home.  Stephen was a Senior and about to graduate, Kaylyn was 15, Kinley was 9 and Landon was 5.  We had a LOT of rain and everything was flooding.  Our front yard was under water almost up to our front porch.  The kids didn’t have to go to school so we were all just on the porch checking out all the water.  Kaylyn and Kinley wanted to walk out into the ditch area to see how deep it was and I said they could.  I didn’t let Landon go because he was too little.  My phone rang and I answered it and suddenly while I was talking on the phone I heard a voice yell, “Help me!”  I looked and only saw Kaylyn in the yard…no Kinley.  I asked where she was and Kaylyn pointed to the area where the culvert is, which was under water, and said, “She didn’t come back up.”  I took off running through the water to try to get her, thinking maybe the suction of the culvert had her pinned under the water.  Halfway out to the culvert I tripped and fell and went under the water.  When I came up out of the water I saw Kinley across the road sitting in the ditch.  It took me a moment to realize she had gone through the culvert that goes under that road and came out the other side.

Now, I’m not talking about a big culvert.  This one was only an inch or so wider than Kinley’s shoulder span.  Not only that, it wasn’t a straight culvert, it is curved a bit.

I ran and picked her up and carried her to the house.  She was okay, had just lost some hair from her head banging against the top of the culvert and her knees were skinned up from the concrete…she was face down when she went through.  As I was helping her change her clothes and getting all the junk out of her hair she started talking about what happened.  She said she saw the whirlpool in the water and was curious what it was.  She got closer and as she did the suction pulled her under.  She was able to get her head above the water long enough to yell for help and then it pulled her under again.  She said she went into the culvert face down with her arms above her head and she grabbed the sides and was trying to pull herself out.  She said then she heard a voice say to her, “Just let go and keep your body straight and you will be okay.”…so she let go.  When she got to the middle part of the culvert she stopped moving and that’s when her head was getting hit against the top over and over.  She said she thought she was going to die but then she said a very bright light, even though her eyes were closed, and when she saw the light her body started to move again and she soon shot out the other side into that ditch.  She swallowed NO water and was alive.  God showed up in that culvert and spoke to her and she has been in the presence of His bright light…I know this for a fact.

By that night Kinley had no memory of the incident, none at all.  God had taken that memory from her and I was so glad He did.  It wasn’t her time to go.  I thought about how when I was running to get her I fell and that kept me from making it to the culvert, which would have also pulled me under.  I like to believe God pushed me down to slow me down and to also keep me safe.

That was the first time God showed up for Kinley.  Then again three years ago she had a wreck that totaled her car.  She was on her way home from Little Rock, AR and was three hours away from home.  She had fallen asleep and ran into some guard rails.  After she stopped she called us and Jose’ told her to call 911 for help, so she did.  The person on the phone asked her exactly where was she, what mile marker, and she had no idea.  She was crying and alone and didn’t know what to tell the person.  Suddenly someone knocked on her window and when she looked there was a man standing there.  She opened her door and told him what was going on and he took the phone from her and told the person her exact location and then handed the phone back to her.  She finished her call, which only took a couple of seconds, and hung up and when she turned around to thank the man there was no one there.  She looked around and there wasn’t even anyone leaving…just still her alone there.  Eventually help arrived and Jose’ got there but to this day she doesn’t know who the man was.  I do.  God showed up for Kinley again.

Thank you God for watching over her and keeping her safe.  Thank you for loving her as much as I do.

Vicki