Monday, April 26, 2010

A Scarey Moment

Dear Friends,
My daughter and I experienced a frightening moment yesterday and I have been debating whether or not to share it with you.  I decided that I would in the hopes that it might prevent you from experiencing the same thing.  


My husband and I and our two teenage children went out to lunch after church yesterday.  The restaurant is located in one of our local hotels.  As the four of us were leaving the restaurant and entering the lobby of the hotel, a waiter from the restaurant called my name as I had left my credit card on the table.  My daughter stayed back with me while I retrieved it and my son and husband kept walking.  By the time I had gotten my card, they were quite a distance in front of us.


As my daughter and I were walking to the escalator which would take us to the parking ramp, I noticed a man getting on the escalator.  I wondered for a split second why he hung back and didn't just get on.  He then got on, then my daughter and then me.  There were two steps between he and my daughter and I was behind her.  What I didn't know was that another man got on the escalator right behind me.  When we reached the top of the escalator the man in front of us dropped a handful of change and blocked our exit off as he stooped to pick it up.  My daughter and I were trying to figure out how we weren't going to knock him over when I felt someone pushing me from behind.  At that moment my daughter shouted that the man behind me had his hand in my purse.  I snatched my purse away as he denied it while we tripped over the man in front of us.


The rest is a bit of a blur, but I did start shouting for my husband who came back and took off to get help.  I saw the two men talk to each other and then they split up and left.  I do not know if they were caught or not.  I'm not missing anything from my purse.  I have been thanking the Lord all day that we are safe and that we were not hurt.  My daughter has had a difficult day.  I've been a bit numb.  Your mind goes, unfortunately, to what could have happened and I'm choosing to stay focused on the facts.


What I do know is that God gives us intuition in many situations.  We must train ourselves to act on those moments when we know something is not quite right.  I should have acted on the uncomfortable feeling I had before getting on the escalator.  My daughter told me that she saw the second man get on behind me and that she had uncomfortable eye contact with him and wished she would have said something to me.  I don't know why I didn't scream when I felt the man on me but am thinking that perhaps it was best I didn't, for our safety, but only God knows the answer to that.


I pray that you will be aware of your surroundings in a new way and that you will learn something valuable from us.  


Be blessed,
"When I am afraid, I will trust in You." - Psalm 56:3

27 comments:

  1. I am so sorry that something so scary happened to you two, and very, very grateful that you are both alright! It is such a great reminder to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
    Love you both!!!
    Joyce

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  2. I'm so glad you are both safe! That's very frightening. It's always good to listen and be aware! Thank God you are okay!

    Karen

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  3. Praise God you were both okay! How frightening for you all. It is a good thing that you shared this because it will help to make us all more aware of our surroundings and the possibility of what could happen. We must be alert and trust our intuitions! Thank you so much!

    I will pray that your daughter has peace soon.

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  4. oh my dear that is SCARY!!
    Thank th e Lord for His angles around you!!
    thank you for posting this!

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  5. Thank you for sharing. I'm so thankful you are all ok. This reminded me of a time many years back when I went to walmart with my much younger sister(17 year age difference). She must have been about 3-5 years old at the time. I saw two men who kept making signals back and forth and didn't do a great job of hiding the fact that they were following us. I was SO scared! We were in the electronics section and I quickly picked up my sister and told her to hold on tight to me no matter what. I was finally able to make it to the front of the store where I told a cashier what was going on and asked to have a security guard walk us out. We got to my car ok but I was shaking and so scared but I am very thankful for God's discernment and intuition. I know it was God that made a way out of a very scary situation. I'm so glad you shared this and that the Lord had His protection over you and your daughter. Praise God!!

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  6. Be kind to yourselves - you reacted how many of us would have done. Hindsight is a fab thing :)
    I am so glad you are both ok and hope God takes your fear from you real soon. Thank you for sharing - I shall be much much more careful now - thank you.
    Lynn.

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  7. Sorry to hear about your scarey moment, but glad you are both ok. Jenny

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  8. SO Glad you are OK. I have heard of this sort of thing happening here in the UK in shopping malls.

    Glad you were not hurt. Hope your daughter feels better soon x

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  9. Renee, I am glad you are both safe. Thank you for sharing this.

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  10. Renee, this story gave me goose bumps. So thankful that you and your daughter are ok physically and hopefully emotionally too. I know with your faith and God's help you can leave this scary time behind you.
    Praying for the two of you,
    ~Karen~

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  11. Renee,
    I have chills reading this! Thank God you are both safe. Wish I could give you a big hug! I'll pray instead. I know that creepy feeling. My car was broken into when I was Toys R Us once. They took a back pack that had my address in it. Didn't feel safe at home for a long time. Hope you can both find peace. Hugs~Krista

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  12. Renee, praising God that you both are okay and that He will bring you both the Peace that only He can bring. Thanks for sharing, as it makes each of us more alert and more attentive to the Holy Spirit's promptings. Blessings to you. Bev

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  13. Oh my goodness Renee.
    I am so glad that you and your daughter are ok. I can imagine how scary that must have been and so glad you passed this experience along to us, Joyce is right, we need to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and so many times I think the feelings are "just me" and I discount them. Your post is a good reminder for me.
    A hug to you and your family.
    Sincerely ~ Trish

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  14. Renee,
    I'm so sorry this happened to you and your daughter! But I'm so glad that you are alright! Thank you so much for sharing. You are right...we need to be aware of our surroundings and to be able to listen to what that still small voice is trying to tell us.

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  15. Renee...when I read your comment this morning I had an uneasy feeling so I popped on over and could not believe my eyes. I am thankful you and M are ok! What a scary thing to have happen. Thank goodness for God's hedge of protection that was around you two. Take care friend...sending you both a hug!

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  16. LIving in a rural area where crime is almost nonexistant, I know I am so ignorant when it comes to situations like this. Now that we have girls living away from home in the city to attend college, I'll relay this incident to help them be aware of their surroundings as well....we all wish we could only see the good around us, but unfortunately there is sin and it's consequences. Thankful to know the Lord and that He is sovereign over all these happenings....

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  17. That is horrible. Thanks for sharing it. Hearing this I know I will be more alert when I'm out. I'm glad you are OK.

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  18. I'm so sorry about your experience! I do know I will keep an eye out even more for those circumstances & I'm sure your readers will too. I'm glad you are both okay & nothing was taken!

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  19. Scary story! I am so glad you both are safe, and that God had his hand of protection on the both of you. We really need to trust those first fear instincts that God instills in us to protect ourselves. It is a reminder to always be aware of our surroundings!

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  20. You were protected and that is His promise.

    Blessings Gail

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  21. Oh Renee, I am so sorry this happened to you and your daughter. Thank God that you are both okay.
    It sure sounds like a set up to me. It is good that you shared about it. It may save someone else from the same type of scam.
    As a Mom, I learned along time ago to pay attention to those "feelings" that something just isn't right. I will pray for peace for you and your daughter about what happened or could have happened.

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  22. Jesus is a very present help in time of trouble. I know he kept you and your daughter safe. This is a great reminder, I am often day dreaming.... probably about the fat quarter shop!
    I am so happy you and your daughter are both safe.

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  23. What a frightful experience. I am sorry you had to go through this and sorry that your daughter had to witness this too. Life brings unexpected things. Thanks so much for dropping by Beach Vintage. xx

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  24. OMGosh....I could see their plans unfold as you described this. They were penning you in between them! I'm so thnkful that you are OK and their scheme did not work! I can't believe what people will do these days....its awful. When you can't trust anyone around you its so hard to show God's love! Thanks for sharing this ordeal so others will be aware!

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  25. Oh, my goodness, I'm so glad you both are all right. What a scary thing to go through.

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  26. Oh my gosh how awful! I'm glad your daughter saw what was going on. We never think we will be the target of something like that. I'm glad you're both ok!

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