Safety and Protection

Seth and I take praying for our safety and protection very seriously. It seems that that phrase is a bit redundant in prayers, but I have come to have a major testimony of it.
Last fall I packed up my-now 3 kids-in the car and took off to run an errand. On the way I rear-ended someone. No one was hurt thankfully and it was a "minor" accident, but afterwards I realized, while having a conversation with Seth, that we had not prayed for safety in our daily activities that morning.
Since that incident my testimony has grown.
Well, today I received another blessing of safety and protection...
I consider myself a good mother who keeps her kid's welfare at the top of her priorities. With that said...
Today on my walk I had James and Chloe in the stroller and Sam was riding his bike. We have started walking over the bridges and around the lake. Sam has done very well on his bike and I have tried to teach him bike safety with all the hills and edges that we use.
His bike is great, but lately the chain has been falling off from time to time. I never considered it to be a safety issue, just a huge inconvenience.
Well, today while crossing the bridge we ran into Sister T, a great lady in our ward who loves my boys. I stopped to say hi to her and meet her husband. While doing that Sam got away from me. I told him to stop and say, "hi". He was going pretty fast and tried to brake just as he was going off the bump at the end of the bridge. I saw his chain come off and my heart dropped. I was so scared. He was headed down the huge, steep, winedy hill that is encompassed by a huge rock wall and turns out to a almost direct shot to the lake.
I yelled, wedged the stroller in the wall and started running faster than I have ever run before in my life. I was so scared. I could only think of the worst things that could possibly happen to my little boy. It was amazing to me that so much could run through my mind in mere seconds.
It was one of the worst feelings I have ever felt in my life as I kept watching my child go faster and faster and finally disappear as I tried with no luck to catch up.
Then it happened. I could see him again and Sam, who was doing amazingly well, steering, staying on his bike, and keeping his cool, crashed into the one perfect spot that would help to protect him from the rock wall and the lake. He hit the railing post straight on and as he fell to the ground I was able to be there to grab him and comfort him. The poor boy was so scared and not quite sure what had happened.
He had smashed his bell and reflector to pieces, and I was happy to sacrifice those for a safe child.
I was SOOOO grateful for the safety and protection that my family is blessed with everyday. I know I don't even know about all the times that my Heavenly Father sends help and guides us to keep us safe, but when times like this occur they are all brought to mind.
I am grateful that when I needed to learn a lesson (a bike needs to be PERFECTLY working to be safe) that the Lord had placed so many things just where they needed to be to make us safe. I had a wonderful neighbor there to take my other children and help talk to us and make sure we were okay when it was all over. There was 1, yes 1, post just in the right spot to stop my son from huge injury on sharp rocks and a cold, deep lake. And I have been working out recently which allowed me to be able to just take off and have the physical strength to rescue my son.
After it was all over we were able to piece back together his bell and walk home calmly. Sweet Sam said to me, "Mom, I don't know what's going on with my crazy bike!" I chuckled and couldn't have agreed more. What a sweetie.
Needless to say, bike expert Grandpa T will be coming over tomorrow morning to fix his bike.