My name is Ilona, I'm 21 years old, and on June 25, 2023, I encountered the glory and grace of God.
Trigger warning: images and details of gun violence are mentioned here.
Before I begin speaking on this traumatic experience that I went through, I want to give a little background on how my life was prior to. It was summertime, and I had pretty much been out partying numerous times a week, engaging in fornication, neglecting church, and a long list of other things that are 100% against God. Before this accident, I was not modeling what a true Christian looks like or following what God's word asks of us. So when I say God spared my life when He had EVERY reason not to, His Grace and Mercy is something I will forever thank Him for.
Around 1:30 A.M., early on a Sunday morning, I was involved in a shoot-out where my car was hit over 20 times. I will admit that I was not mindful of the company I was keeping. I had absolutely no idea what was going on during the shooting or why they were shooting at my car. Inside my car, there were a total of five of us, one being a friend-of-a-friend that I didn't know. We were on the way back to their apartment from grabbing food from a place called Sweet and Fresh here in Atlanta. We were at the traffic light right in front of a club called Lyfe, which is in Midtown, where it's usually crowded at this time of night. I remember sitting at this light and hearing the guy who I didn’t personally know say a few words that I won’t disclose, but along the lines of he see his “opps”. At this time, I’m not sure what he’s talking about or who he’s talking about, and I frankly didn’t take what he was saying serious. I remember him trying to put the window down, but I locked the window and he looked over at me and said if I didn’t let him put it down, he was going to "pop” me too. During that time, he was facing me saying this, and that's when my life literally flashed before my eyes.
Gunfire erupted and my car was shot up. Mind you, I have never in my life gotten into anything like this before, nor did I know how to get out of something like this. I remember thinking to myself, “wow, I’m about to die and have no clue why or what’s going on, my family will never know what truly happened either”. At this moment, I am in complete shock. The light is red. There’s built-up traffic, my car can't move, and I feel a sense of defeat like everything I ever wanted to accomplish in life was now over because I was about to die. I put my head down and started to pray. I asked God to help me get out of this situation and guide us to safety. I also remember praying and asking God to forgive me for everything I’ve ever done, because at that moment, I knew if I were to go that day I wouldn’t know where I would end up after that.
After praying, I decided I was at least not gonna go out without a fight. I put my head back up, knowing at any moment I could’ve gotten shot in the head, and I kept my eyes forward. I didn’t look to my left or my right, because if I was going to die, I didn’t want to see the bullet hit me. I was completely zoned out from the world, and my only goal was to get away. I remember trying to step on the gas and speed off when the car in front of me started to run the red light, but for some reason, my car felt like it was in neutral, it wouldn’t move. I thought that maybe a bullet went through a part of my car that was keeping it from being able to go forward, but eventually it moved.
My eyes were still looking forward, and I was still scared because I still didn’t know why anyone was shooting at my car, or if they were still looking at my car, or if they were following us. I also didn’t know if me or anyone else was hit by a bullet or not because I was in complete shock and didn’t want to turn my head to look. I just remember turning the block at least two times and kicking out my old friend and his friend because I wanted no parts of what they had going on. I then went a little further down and parked in an alleyway still in complete fear that it wasn’t over yet. Eventually, the police came and found that not a single person in the car, including myself, was hit or injured. Everyone walked away alive and unharmed.
The following day after the shooting, I went to go see my car at the lot, and when I tell you I began to thank God again. I then realized why during the shooting God didn't let my car immediately move, if it would have, the bullet that went through my dashboard AND the bullet that went through my seat belt holder would’ve went right through me and could have killed me.
I will say that this encounter made me so thankful for life and everything God has done for me. I'll tell you right now that there's a God in heaven and He is working overtime to keep His children safe. Though that may not be everyone's outcome, His plan is always so much greater than ours even when we don't understand why a certain thing had to happen. In the end, you will be better, and stronger, and firmer in your faith because of it. Never forget that God has His hands on you.
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