My God. My husband. My heroes.

The LORD will keep you from all harm — He will watch over your life. (Psalm 121:7)

God and my husband have both saved me in countless ways. God saved my soul and has prepared a place for me to spend eternity with Him. Jesus has always been my closest friend and perpetual protector. His love constantly surrounds me. David is my earthly best friend. He is my soulmate, filling my days with love, laughter, and companionship. His love, too, constantly surrounds me, and I would be lost without him. This past week, a brief but epic event proved them to be my heroes as they saved me in a new and profound way.  

I love cooking – baking, devising new recipes, and seeing the satisfaction of those who eat what I’ve created makes me happy. I recently developed a new recipe for air-frying pork chops that is both quick and savory.

After praying over our meal, I cut myself a piece of the succulent pork and enjoyed the flavor explosion in my mouth. My second bite was more significant than the first, and for whatever reason, I swallowed it quickly without masticating it enough.

As soon as I swallowed it, I knew that something was wrong. The lump in my throat wasn’t moving down as it should. I looked at David, knowing I needed to dislodge the pork, but I didn’t know how. Without saying a word to him, David also knew that our meal had dramatically changed.

“Are you okay?” he asked as I drooled and considered what to do next. “Do you need help?”

Jumping up from the table, I moved to the kitchen sink and immediately placed my head down, trying to cough but unable to do so.

David came up behind me, beseeching, “God be with us. Jesus, help us! Love, are you okay? Do I need to call 9-1-1? Can you breathe?”

Glancing to my left, I tried to speak and quickly realized how serious the situation was compared to what I had first thought. “Not really,” was all I could rasp out.

Placing my head down over the sink again, I motioned for David to pat my back, thinking that might help. I tried to cough but realized that I couldn’t. During that heartbeat, I knew that I couldn’t get any air and that the situation had become perilous.

At this point, David started yelling, “Jesus, help us! Don’t do this to me, love. Breathe, baby, breathe.”

In what seemed like a millisecond, David had his arms around me from behind and began thrusting upward in a modified Heimlich maneuver. “Are you okay?” David kept saying. “God help us! Don’t do this to me! Breathe!”

As he said this, I looked down and saw the partially chewed pork chop in the sink. Without my realizing it, David’s thrust had dispelled the piece of food from my throat.

As tears rolled down my face, I wheezed, “I’m okay. I’m okay! It’s out! I’m okay!”

David and I immediately embraced as ten thousand thoughts cycled through my head. What if David hadn’t been here? What if that hadn’t worked? How would anyone have known what had happened to me?

“Oh, my gosh, love,” David said. “I’ve never been so scared in my life! Don’t ever do that to me again!”

As we sat back down at the kitchen table, I realized how quickly our whole world could have changed and how grateful I was to breathe normally again.

“I can’t believe how quickly that happened,” I told David after taking a long drink and touching my husband’s precious face. “Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, David! Thank you, Jesus!”

With tears in his eyes, David reiterated how frightened he had been at the prospect of losing me in such an unexpected event. “You really scared me,” David repeated over and over throughout the rest of the evening. “I’m so glad I was here. Don’t ever do that to me again! I can’t even think about losing you like that.”

As we hugged and snuggled close to one another the rest of the evening, I told David how the thought of something happening to me while I was alone had occasionally crossed my mind over the years. “Who would ever know?” I asked. “It might have been days before anyone even knew anything was wrong. I was all alone.”

“You’re not alone anymore, love,” David responded. “Never again. I’m so glad I was here.”

“Me, too,” I replied while showering my husband with kisses. “Thank you for saving me, David. Thank you, Jesus!”

This whole incident has reminded me anew of how fragile life is. In a moment, in the expanse of a heartbeat, our lives, our existence, can inexorably change. One moment, we’re here – eating, working, laughing, planning for the future – yet we could be gone from this world and living our eternal lives in a fraction of a second.

Please make no mistake: life continues after we stop breathing. Forever and ever, we will either be spending eternity in heaven or hell. There is no purgatory, soul sleep, reincarnation, or any of the other convoluted concepts that atheists and alternate religions have tried to envision. There is zero evidence of the same.

Scripture is filled with references about eternity:

• “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)
• “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
• “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46)
• “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20: 11-15)

And so, I am grateful to my heavenly Father, who saved my soul from eternal punishment and promised me a home with Him in glory. As John 14: 1-3 reminds us, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house, there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.”

I have a home in glory, yes, but I also have a beautiful home and life with my earthly soulmate – my dearest David. I am so grateful to God for allowing me to stay here with my husband longer. We have so much more to do for Christ’s kingdom. Our work here has barely begun.

My heroes saved me yet again. Every day is a gift, and I intend to continue to worship my Savior and use my life for His purpose.

Be sure to do the same, beloved. You never know when your next breath will be your last.

Use me, Lord Jesus. My life is yours. You gave it to me, and I give it back to You for Your glory. Forever and ever, Amen.