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Read on to find out the winner of last week’s giveaway, learn what you can win this week, and discover evidence of God’s love in today’s stunning Mysterious Ways story:
Today’s Mysterious Ways comes from Fresno, California, where a little girl’s life hung in the balance…
Victor Perez hit the gas, sped up, turned the wheel. Next to him, a brown pickup truck with a white stripe on the side sped up too, not letting him get in front. Victor tried to move in front of the pickup again. The other driver glared angrily at him, shouted obscenities. Maybe it wasn’t the right guy, Victor thought. Maybe this wasn’t the same pickup that held a kidnapped eight-year-old inside.
But then Victor saw a tiny head pop up from the passenger seat. And any doubts he had went away. He tried to cut off the driver a third time. Finally, Victor managed to cut in front. The pickup screeched to a stop. The passenger door of the pickup flew open, and the girl tumbled out. The pickup backed up, turned, and sped away.
Victor jumped out of his truck to comfort the girl. When police arrived, Victor gave them the part of the pickup’s license plate number he remembered. The kidnapper was caught shortly afterwards. “You’re a hero,” people told Victor.
For Victor, however, there was another hero involved.
Normally, Victor works as a carpenter, busy most mornings. But work had slowed down. For the past few weeks, he’d been cutting wine grapes for minimum wage.
But today, there had been a light rain, just enough to call off work for the day. Instead, Victor was home, watching television. That’s when he saw the Amber Alert, that the eight-year-old had been kidnapped. Victor paid attention to the details. The suspect’s pickup truck was a brown Chevrolet, with a white stripe on the side.
He stepped outside to talk with his cousin a little while later. While they were speaking, a pickup truck drove by. A brown Chevrolet, with a white stripe on the side.
“God works in mysterious ways,” Victor says.
Mysterious Ways Giveaway
We’ve randomly selected a commenter to receive the 2010 His Mysterious Ways collection! Congratulations to Lorraine Ernst, winner of the 2010 His Mysterious Ways collection! Check your email, Lorraine, on how to claim your prize.
For the rest of you, don’t despair, because this week, we’re GIVING AWAY ANOTHER AWESOME PRIZE to one lucky commenter: The One-minute Devotions Page-A-Day 2011 Calendar! Every day gives you a quick, uplifting story, taken from our popular Daily Guideposts books and Mysterious Ways.
Just leave a comment below to enter. Next Wednesday, I’ll randomly choose the winner. It could be you!
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Adam Hunter is a senior editor for Guideposts magazine. He’s edited the Mysterious Ways section since October 2006, and is continually amazed by the astounding stories shared by readers. Follow him on Twitter: @MMysteriousWays
Your Comments
To start off, a few months back my daughter & I had a falling out & we stopped talking & I wasn't allowed to see my 16 month old granddaughter anymore. During that time my life was transformed it seemed like overnight and God brought me home to him and delivered me instantly from alcoholism.
After two months God started working on the relationship with my daughter and we started building a new & better relationship. It started out with seeing my granddaughter for a few minutes here and there, progressed to me going over there to help watch her & then being able to watch her alone at her house, but I wasn't allowed to take her anywhere or to my house.
On Friday, October 29, 2010, I was supposed to watch my granddaughter at her house but I was tired from work and so my daughter made other arrangements. I went home and got a call from my daughter saying those arrangements had fallen thru and could I go ahead and watch her. I asked if she could come over to my house because I really didn't want to go out again and she said yes.
My daughter was supposed to go to the haunted house, to a movie and then come and get my granddaughter. She ended up going to a party afterwards and my granddaughter stayed the night with me.
I got up Sat morning and got ready for work and took my granddaughter home. When I went in the house my stomach turned and I almost got sick from the smell of gas. I woke my daughter up and got all of us outside. We called the gas company to come check for a leak. He said the leak was not reading gaseous. He checked around the house to see what else it could be and found the exhaust pipe from the heater was off and blowing directly into the garage and leaking into the house.
The house was filled with carbon monoxide and noncombustable gas, that's what I was smelling.
Praise the Lord that my daughter did not get home until 5 am and that I got there around 6:30.
Praise the Lord that I wasn't "out there" anymore and had a relationship with them again.
Praise the Lord that plans changed and I watched my granddaughter at my house.
Praise the Lord that I had to work and went to my daughters house that morning because carbon monoxide poisoning is a silent killer.
Praise the Lord that there was also noncombustable gases in the air or I would've dropped off my granddaughter and left.
Praise the Lord for finding me when I was lost and bringing me home to him.
Thank You Father for watching over us all.
Thank you Father for letting me be Your hands and feet and using me to do Your best!!
Great story about the love of God!!!!! I get encouraged just knowing GOD is watching out for children.Charlotte
What an incredible story of the unique way that God uses us in our every day lives to do extraordinary things in His Name.
Great story. He is a very brave man!
Thanks for all the great comments! I get a lot of joy reading how much these Mysterious Ways stories mean to you. Please let me know if there's anything you'd like to hear more about!
This would be a great resource for my daily devotional. Thanks. garrettsambo@aol.com
This would be wonderful.. Please enter me :)
What a great resource to have as a daily reminder of hope, love and guidance. Thank you for the chance!
What amazes me, is how little attention we pay to the work of God that is continuously occuring around us, in which He is inviting us to join in with Him, but we mindlessly skip along oblivious to His work.
This is truly a beautiful story. Given that the suspect was a gang member, and had already assaulted the little girl, it is quite likely she would not be alive were it not for this man's heroism and of course, God's intervention. Thank you for sharing this!
This would make a great addition to my work desk...I work in child protection and sometimes my days are filled with despair and hope...this would be a great reminder of God's goodness and grace
I want to win this for my new daughter-in-law.
I have been reading Guideposts since 1979, so I would love to win this!
Alicia Webster
5webs@comcast.net
These types of stories give me goosebumps, but I wish there were more of them. There are angels all around us, and I feel confident that Mr. Perez was guided by one of them when he saved that innocent life. God is good.
I hope God would make sure there would be a Victor around if that were to ever happen to my children. In fact I pray that God will always try make sure there is a Victor when a child is kidnapped. I do realize this is a hefty request but prayer has proven to work.
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