Originally published in Charisma News.
A North Carolina woman is crediting God for saving her during a horrifying shark attack while on vacation in the Bahamas.
Tiffany Johnson, of Charlotte, says it’s a miracle that she is alive.
“I had this supernatural, God-given strength that just rose up within me,” Johnson said in an interview with WBTV.
And I had this determination and thinking this is not the end for me. I’m not going to die here. He’s not going to take my life. I’m not going to allow it to.”
Johnson and her husband, James, had been snorkeling in about 6m of water near Nassau when she was attacked by a large shark.
“I felt a bump, and I look over and I was face to face with the shark. And he had my arm in his mouth,” Johnson said.
She said the entire ordeal didn’t seem real.
“I went to yank back my arm, and that’s when he latched down harder, and we started to struggle,” she said.
“I remember just pulling my arm out and just looking at it and seeing that it was just this mangled stump, and I just threw off my snorkel mask, and I just screamed, ‘Help me, help me, Jesus,’ she said.
Her husband, who was in the boat, jumped in to save her.
“I was just praying the whole time that the shark wasn’t following us,” he said.
Johnson said she continued to rely on her faith after being rescued.
“I prayed for my kids, and I prayed for the doctors that would be touching my arm, and I even prayed that God would use this for His glory,” she said.
Meanwhile, Johnson lost part of her right arm, but for people who don’t believe in miracles, she hopes her story turns them into believers.
“If you really listen to this story, you will realise there really is no other explanation but God,” she said.