Are you a fan of True Stories? Interesting history, celebrity trivia, true crime, weird news? Then you're going to love my podcast, True Stories with Seth Andrews. And I'm your host, Seth Andrews, releasing five-minute podcast vignettes three times a week. Search True Stories with Seth Andrews on Spreaker and all major podcast apps or visit the website, truestoriespodcast.com. Janelle reached the speed limit and eased her foot off the gas pedal. She stared at her speedometer in confusion. I took my foot off the accelerator pedal and it did not stop accelerating. A wave of panic hit Janelle. I try my brakes and nothing happens. And I knew at that moment that I was in trouble. and there was no one there to help me. This is The Miracle Files. I'm Emily Jones. And I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters who love a captivating true story, but we're also seeking more light in our lives. So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable, uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us on this journey. Welcome back to the Miracle Files. We're excited today to share a story for one of our listeners. It is both a wild story and a really powerful story. Yeah. Fair warning. If you happen to be driving while you're listening to this episode, don't hate us, but this one may raise your arm hairs a little. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. This is about a woman who is driving on the interstate when suddenly nothing's working like it's supposed to in her car. We'll just put it that way. Like it's, it's pretty terrifying, but we don't want to give too much away. So let's just jump right in. All right, let's do it. It was a weekday afternoon as Janelle's SUV hummed along the streets of Lakeville, Minnesota. Janelle had dropped her two kids off at her parents' house. Being a homeschool mom, she rarely got a moment to herself. She looked forward to taking a quick break before dinner, maybe a quiet lap through Target for nothing in particular. Janelle's life had been full of ups and downs in recent years, but it finally felt like everything was falling into place. Well, my story begins in 2020. I had just come out of a really hard season. I'd come out the other side. And I think there was this underlying thought that I've done my time. I've gone through the hardship. Now life can be great. Now life can be all about me and what I want to do. It felt like I was taken out of a valley and brought to a broad place. But what I wasn't expecting is that I would encounter the valley of the shadow of death. Janelle continued driving down the road, making her way toward the interstate. She felt relaxed, as if nothing could go wrong at that moment. The October light glowed golden on the road. Janelle merged onto the freeway. Ahead of her, brake lights winked as rush hour traffic began to stack up on I-35. Janelle reached the speed limit and eased her foot off the gas pedal. But something unexpected happened. She anticipated that her acceleration would slow down, but it didn't. Instead, the engine roared louder. Janelle stared at her speedometer in confusion. When I went on the freeway, like I had done about a million times before with my car, I took my foot off the accelerator pedal and it did not stop accelerating. So I was like, that's not good. The sound was there. It was really loud and it continued to climb in speed. So I'm going, you know, 70 miles an hour and climbing. The speedometer showed 71, 72, then 73. Directly behind her, a semi appeared in the rear view mirror, bearing down on her as she moved along the two lane road that curved ahead toward a lake. I couldn't try my brakes right then because I did not want to get creamed by this semi. And so I was like, I will just take the next exit and I will try my brakes. So I do that. I try my brakes. and nothing happens the sound of acceleration is still happening my car is going over 75 miles an hour so then i know like i've got to try the emergency brake so i tried the emergency brake and that didn't work a wave of panic hit janelle there are moments when time does something strange thins out, stretches, when the world becomes only the sound of a pulse in your ears. Janelle assessed her situation in a heartbeat. She pumped the brakes again. Nothing. Her SUV hurtled along at its own will. At the end of the off-ramp, the road split, leaving her no choice but to turn right or left. Heavy traffic blocked the left lanes, and her options were closing like the tightness in her throat. In a split-second decision, she cranked the wheel, prayed the SUV wouldn't flip, and somehow made a 90-degree right turn at over 75 miles per hour Her vehicle whipped right and fish wildly zigzagging across two lanes of traffic and still gaining speed And I knew at that moment that I was in trouble And there was no one there to help me but I knew that in the Spirit Jesus was there So I cried out. I think the only thing I said was, Jesus, help. And immediately, like it says in the book of Isaiah, I heard a voice behind me say, Janelle, do you trust me? You have to jump out. Shivers went down Janelle's spine, but she didn't have time to question the voice. With shaking hands, Janelle gripped the door handle. Later, witnesses would tell officers they watched in horror as Janelle opened the driver's side door of her moving vehicle and jumped. Janelle's vehicle jerked left as she fell hard to the ground. The back tire barreled over her leg. Her SUV then continued across the road, veered over a median toward oncoming traffic, missed a head-on collision by a hare, and finally careened into a tree where it stopped, a heap of crushed metal. Janelle lay unconscious in the middle of the road as strangers gathered around her, staring in shock at her motionless body and bloodied face. Somehow, Janelle's purse had landed on the ground right next to her. Within it, strangers found her cell phone and driver's license. The things an unconscious woman needs so crucially when she can't speak for herself. Soon the EMTs arrived and began treating Janelle. The ambulance took Janelle to HCMC, Minneapolis's trauma center. The police interviewed witnesses. Janelle's husband wasn't home when they called him, but when the police went to the house, they found a neighbor who happened to have Janelle's mother's number. While doctors worked frantically to stabilize Janelle's unconscious body, her husband received word of the accident and was overcome with fear. But as Janelle said, this was 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic was still going on. Because of strict protocols, her husband wasn't allowed to see her. Instead, he sat alone at home, desperate for answers, and praying for his wife. With no loved ones allowed in her room, Janelle lay in a hospital bed, unconscious. Yet something was happening to her. Janelle's first memory is of a room. Harsh light, bodies moving, monitors beeping. An advantage point that made no sense. She was above herself, observing her own hair matted with dried blood, watching nurses file out while she tried to speak to them, tried to move a body that wouldn't respond. Her mouth formed syllables no one heard. As Janelle looked down at her own body, she wondered if she was dead. The door closed and the room thinned to a silence that felt like a question. They couldn't hear me. They left the room, but there was someone who was still in the room and he was in the corner. I couldn't see him at first, but my eyes started to like be able to see better at that point. And I kind of came back into my body like it was me looking above and then me coming back into my body. And I saw I knew who I knew who that person was. She didn't recognize him by features. She recognized him by the way he made her feel. The warmth that isn't heat, but safety. The love that is tangible. In fact, her whole soul recognized him. I just remember the way that he made me feel when I looked into his eyes. I wish I could describe what he looks like, but I think that's part of his grace on us. To not necessarily remember that. He came to me like a good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. That's the essence of Jesus that I experienced in the ER. And I don't really need to know anything else because I know that I know that I know that that was him. And so I gazed into his eyes and then he winked at me and he was gone. In a moment that could have been so terrifying and disorienting, Janelle was sustained and comforted. That one small wink meant everything to her, and it held her together in the challenging days to come. News spread quickly that Janelle needed prayers. Holly, one of her closest friends, described the moment when she saw the first photo of Janelle in the hospital. I'll never forget seeing the initial photo of her in the hospital. And I will use the word unrecognizable. If you wouldn't have told me that that was Janelle, I would have had no idea that that was who it was based off of how many cuts were all over her face, the dried blood that was still all over her. It was horrific. Janelle's medical chart read brain bleed, broken nose, a gash at the back of the skull stapled shut, concussion, sprained ACL. And yet unbelievably, despite the tire tracks left on her clothing, there were no fractures in the leg. that the SUV wheel had rolled over. The hospital put Janelle on suicide watch until she could explain why a woman would jump from a moving vehicle at rush hour. Because if you can think of it, you know, with their perspective, all they know is a lady jumped out of her car. I mean, if you don't know the backstory, that sounds like possible suicide. Being placed on suicide watch was difficult and strict COVID protocols meant no visitors not even her husband for the first few days Yet even in the midst of her pain, she never felt truly alone. She continued to feel a comforting divine presence. There was so much fear in the hospital. There was a presence of fear there that I just, the whole time I was there, I was like, I need to get out of here. but I'm so grateful that in the presence of that, Jesus was there. And so he didn't leave me like when I didn't see him anymore. His presence was still there protecting me and keeping me. At last, her husband was able to see her. And after three days, doctor sent Janelle home with anti-seizure meds and a walker. She returned to family and friends who had prayed for her, worried for her, and stood ready to support her. The months that followed were difficult, but brought gradual healing, her body mending and her mind recovering from the trauma. Through it all, Janelle held one unwavering truth in her heart. She had experienced a miracle. But there's another aspect of Janelle's story that we haven't yet shared. Years before her accident, a pediatric hematologist had diagnosed her with von Wildebrand disease, a condition that results in thin blood, poor clotting, and bruises from nothing. Even a scratch can be dangerous to someone with this condition. When my husband and I started dating, my tonsils got inflamed, and I think I ate like a chip during lunch. It nicked the back of my tonsil, and I started coughing up blood. After receiving treatment in the hospital, doctors warned her that she would need to be extremely careful. She wore a medical bracelet. She prepped for every surgery with DDAVP, a synthetic hormone to clamp down bleeding. She hemorrhaged after her second baby, and the drug helped save her life. Her condition was real, documented, carefully managed. And then one day, during yet another procedure, the staff went to give her the usual DDAVP, and her body refused it. Her heart rate spiked, her skin flushed. The doctor told her she'd had an allergic reaction to the synthetic hormone. Janelle wondered what she would do if her body couldn't accept this life-saving drug. The thought terrified her. But on the drive home from the hospital, the Lord whispered, look at your arm. The vein where the IV had gone in, normally a blossom of purple that lingered for weeks, was clear. Her legs, usually constellated with bruises, were unmarked. Her cycle normalized. She realized with awe that the great physician had done something no chart could predict. He had healed her blood. Two years later, when a tire rolled over her leg, when a head wound was stapled closed and a small bleed in her brain threatened to become a bigger one, Janelle's blood acted completely normal. Call it coincidence if you like. She calls it mercy scheduled in advance. She knows it's another miracle amongst many that took place throughout her brush with death. In fact, she sees God's fingerprints all over her experience. The day before the accident, her daughter was baptized and given a plaque that said, The Lord is my shepherd. The plaque was in Janelle's SUV when the accident happened. And my parents had given her this beautiful little wall hanging that says, the Lord is my shepherd. That was in the passenger seat. It was totally fine in there, and we were able to retrieve that. So I'm grateful because that's a testimony for my whole family. This is really true. Jesus is our shepherd. When we're in a place where we have no control, where dark forces are coming against us, that little wall hanging was fine. Janelle had learned that life doesn't always go as expected, and maybe the road ahead won't ever be completely smooth sailing. But in the midst of an absolutely terrifying experience, despite all the trauma she had endured, with God by her side, Janelle has emerged stronger. Her friend Holly later shared what it was like the first time she saw Janelle in person after the accident. I'll never forget her walking through the door the first time that I got to see her in person, and it was only two months after for her to be able to walk through the doors without being on crutches, without looking still battered and broken, but she looked healed. And I'll never forget her opening the door. And what I saw was the face of a lion and walking through with such a confidence and a boldness and carrying the presence of God in such a beautiful way. Janelle now shares her story every chance she gets, and her understanding of the power of faith has grown. Faith is trusting God. And so I'm just grateful to be here. I'm grateful to have experienced Jesus in a supernatural way. And I'm grateful for whatever open doors he's giving me to share my story and to be his witnessed in the world around me. Though the accident was one of the greatest challenges of Janelle's life, it brought with it miracles big and small. Little miracles like her purse landing next to her or a wall hanging that survived a horrific accident. And bigger miracles like a blood condition that was suddenly healed or seeing the loving, glorious face of Jesus winking from the corner of a hospital room. Each miracle carries an invitation to see God's power. Janelle now knows more than ever before what to do when the world roars and the brakes don answer She listens She obeys She jumps Wow. So I have a new fear unlocked after hearing Janelle's story. Me too. That would be so scary. Can you imagine just like your car is going out of control faster and faster and faster? You can't do anything about it. I cannot imagine. It would be so terrifying. And the whole time she was sharing her story with us, I kept wondering, like, what would make something like this happen to her car? Yeah, me too. And so we asked Janelle if she ever found out, like, what went wrong with the car. And she spoke with this guy. He's a mechanic. He knows a ton about cars. And he shared with her what he thought likely happened. And here's a soundbite of Janelle explaining what he said. And they said the problem wasn't necessarily mechanical. Like the accelerator pedal itself wasn't stuck. It was electronic. You know, our cars are mostly computer these days. And so he said there was nothing that you could have done to stop the car. And that was so healing for me to hear that because I'd always wondered, what if I put it in neutral? What if, you know, just think of all those questions. I'd heard last year of a kid in Minnesota as it would be who had the same problem, but he didn't jump out on what ended up happening. He's on these roads that are kind of out in the middle of nowhere. So thankfully, there's not a lot of people, but they had to come alongside of him to slow him down. He was going, I think, over 100 miles an hour. Yeah. So I guess we'll never know for sure what happened to Janelle's car. But after she told us about this other guy, we went and looked him up and this 18 year old car also malfunctioned and wouldn't stop accelerating. Yeah. And his car, like she said, got to over a hundred miles per hour. Yeah. He was able to call the police and they caught up with him. They told him to put his car in neutral and they had a police car in front of him and on the side of him. And they just slowed down in front of him until his car butted up into theirs and then they gradually reduced their speed going 100 miles an hour yeah imagine them doing that super brave police officers but here is a clip of the dash cam footage and you can hear the moment when this car smashes into the police officer's car oh my gosh i think the forward collision isn't letting them hit me we're slowing down That worked. If uh... Hold him, hold him. First stop. Ugh. Are we good? oh that hit hard that was like it was slowing down slowing down and then it wasn't somebody's gonna have to drive me to detroit lakes we're all out of spares up here i'll break it oh man that makes my heart race just thinking about how scary that would be it would be terrifying and this happened to two different cars in minnesota yeah like how crazy chances of that Yeah. I know. So we asked Janelle, did you sue the company that made your car? And she said no, because she hadn't totally kept up on her car maintenance. So they didn't feel like they had a case, but such a weird thing. And with this young man, I mean, he was driving at night, so there wasn't a lot of traffic. And luckily he, he walked away relatively unharmed, but for Janelle, this was rush hour. So she had nowhere to go. Well, and you think if she wouldn't have jumped out of her car, how fast would it have gotten? And there was cars on the freeway stopped ahead of her. She didn't really have any options like this young man did. But another thing I think is amazing is that once she jumped from her car, it didn't hit anyone. I mean, she said there was another oncoming car that barely missed a head on collision. And I don't think that that was a coincidence either. No, no. That was another miracle amongst miracles in this story. And another thing that just amazed me, I mean, we have to talk about this is when she had that out of body experience and feeling the presence of Jesus in her hospital room. That was really special. So powerful and so beautiful. And I love that he winked at her. I loved that too. It's just incredible to me the many ways that God reminds us that he loves us, that he's aware of us, that he knows us individually. Yeah. So many little miracles throughout this entire story. And I know that this experience changed Janelle's life, but these stories touch our hearts too and change us. And I know this is one that I won't forget. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, we want to thank Janelle and Holly for sharing the story with us. Different Holly. Different Holly, just so you know. But I like her name. She got a good name. Thank you guys for listening today. And if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe to our podcast, like share, leave us a review, all of that to help us to continue to grow and share more miracle stories. And we will see you guys next time. Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle to share, contact us at themiraclefiles.com or find us on Facebook. We're now releasing multiple episodes each month. So subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well. Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles. And don't forget to look for His light in your own lives.
