There's no way newscasters can tell her story without using the word "miracle." That's easy to understand.
Baby Lily had been trapped in a partly submerged car in Utah's Spanish Fork River. She's 18 months old. She was upside down in her car seat for 14 hours, with the cold water of the river running through the car.
Sadly, Lily's mom didn't survive the accident. And no one knew there was a car in the river. Until a fisherman spotted it the next day.
Thank God, the rescuers he called got there in time. Just in time. Initially, there were no signs of life. But after triage CPR and the efforts of an emergency room staff, Lily started to respond. To be sure, it's a bittersweet situation. Mom didn't make it. But only days later, Lily's with her dad, singing her nursery rhymes again.
And the first responders can't stop talking about the voice. The one calling 'help me!' from the car in the river. It couldn't have been Lily's mom. It wasn't Lily - it was an adult voice.
Reporters call it "divine intervention." I call it God.
It's something God's been doing for a long time. Calling someone He's rescued from spiritual death to rescue someone else. Someone Jesus died for. Someone who doesn't know or doesn't understand how deeply Jesus loves them. So much that "He gave Himself for our sins to rescue us" (Galatians 1:4).
God summons the rescued to rescue when He says things like "snatch others from the fire and save them" (Jude 23) and "rescue those being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11).
But He won't leave those rescue calls general - they are specific. For each of us who belong to Jesus, God wants to put a name in those verses. The name of someone we know. "Save Brian." "Rescue Annie, who's being led away to death."
The Voice has cried "help" on behalf of family members He's wanted me to help rescue. Neighbors. People I've worked with in a community.
Because God wants each of us who know Him to carry a piece of His heart in our heart. A burden with a name.
Someone we care enough about that we want them in heaven with us. Someone we pray for by name every day. Someone for whom we regularly pray the 3-open prayer - "Lord, open a door for me to talk about a relationship with You" . . . "Lord, open their heart" . . . "And Lord, open my mouth!"
Even if going in for the rescue is hard. The rescuers who followed the voice to baby Lily had to use all their strength to lift the car she was in. Several were treated for hypothermia!
Rescue isn't cheap. Not for Jesus. Not for us.
But a life depends on me responding to the call to jump in. Because I have a greater fear than what might happen to me if I go in for the rescue.
It's what might happen to them if I don't.