Unseen Hands: God's Protection at the River

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh

While I was doing something at home the other day, a memory just came back to me—something I hadn’t thought about in years. It was like God brought it to my mind and reminded me of how He protected me.

When I was a teenager, there was a boy who liked me. He invited me to go swimming in a popular river in the community we lived in. Now, that river was a place my parents warned us never to go near. My mum was especially strict about it. She used to say the river didn’t like non-indigenes, and there had been quite a few deaths connected to it. I remember she even warned my brother seriously when he once mentioned going there. I think they even announced in church for parents to tell their children to stay away.

Interestingly, that same river was where I got baptized—though in a different area, the sand dredging site that’s more controlled. But still, this boy kept asking, and one day when my parents were out, I followed him—and a few others—to the river.

Now that I think of it, neither of us knew how to swim. We were young and just wanted to have fun, but looking back now, it was such a dangerous thing to do. The part of the river we went to was near an abandoned school. We just got in the water and stayed there for a while. I even went near a narrow part at one point, not knowing how risky it was. Thank God nothing happened.

Afterward, I rushed home, took my bath, applied some cream, and acted like nothing had happened—because my mum could always tell when someone had been in the water. She’s from Rivers State, so she just had that sensitivity. She used to look at my brother and say, “You went to that river,” and she’d be really upset.

As for me, I never dipped my head, so my face stayed dry, no red eye, and looked normal. I didn’t even have proper swimwear—just regular clothes and a change of clothes. But what’s interesting is that even though I didn’t dip my head, whenever my mum came back, she would still look at me like she sensed something was off. She was that perceptive.

We did that three times—completely unsupervised. Looking back now, I know I didn’t act wisely at all. It was careless and dangerous.

But just recently, God reminded me of that and told me, “I protected you.” That really touched me. Now that I understand better, I realize that could have easily been a trap. But God stepped in, even when I wasn’t thinking straight.

So I just want to thank Him for His mercy and protection. Even when I was unaware, He was watching over me.