Tiffany Johnson and her husband are experienced snorkelers but nothing could prepare them for what would happen during a fun snorkeling trip in the Bahamas this summer.
The committed Christians were on holiday when they decided to take a snorkeling trip to the coral reefs off Nassau. Her husband James stayed up on the boat because he was feeling sea sick, while Tiffany went ahead into the water.
She was under the water and admiring the beauty of God's creation when she felt something bump into her, BillyGraham.org, shares.
She turned her head to see what it was and found herself face to face with a huge shark with its jaws clamped tightly around her arm. Terrifyingly, it started thrashing and trying to pull her deeper under the water.
Mother of three Tiffany says in that moment she didn't panic or feel any pain but she did start to see her life flash before her eyes. That's when survival mode kicked in and she snapped off the remainder of her left arm from the shark's jaws.
Then, she swam - literally - for her life. With a trail of blood following behind her, she kicked and swam with just her left arm screaming 'Help me Jesus' and praying to Him all the way to the surface of the water.
Amazingly, she made it to the top alive and without any thought for his own safety, her husband James jumped straight in to the water to help her into the boat.
Looking back on her lucky escape, she thinks the peace that came over her in the moment of the attack was God giving her a 'sound mind' like how it's described in 2 Timothy 1:7.
'When I got into that boat, the peace of the Lord was so strong on me,' Tiffany said. 'It was like a cloud, a thick presence, tangible. I've never felt anything like that before.'
After her wound was bound up, she then continued to pray during the 30 minutes it took for the snorkeling boat to get back to dry land. Her husband was in shock but she described feeling calm and prayerful even when she had to go into surgery.
Two months on from the attack, the word she uses to describe how she feels is 'grateful.'
'There's just so many miracles in just getting out of the water alone and in that boat ride,' Tiffany said. 'I prayed that God would use this for His glory and somehow He would make this a massive testimony that would change lives.'
Now, that's just what she's doing, sharing her story and glorifying God with what He did for her that day deep under water.
