As a child Violet Jessop became very ill. The family doctor gave her parents no hope for survival. She lived! In 1911, at the age of twentyfour, Violet was hired as a stewardess on the luxury White Star liner RMS Olympic.
While at sea her ship collided with a Navy vessel. It could have meant death for all on board. Violet survived! On April 10, 1912 Violet began working on a newly constructed White Star luxury liner, the RMS Titanic!
On Sunday, April 14, 1912, this luxury ocean liner struck an iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic. The time was 11:40 P.M. In less than three hours the ship sank. Violet survived, having been ordered by male crew members to show non-English speaking women what to do. She once again survived disaster and death.
Violet became a voluntary Red Cross nurse on another White Star ship during World War I: the HMHS Britannic, which had been converted into a hospital ship. While cruising through the Aegean Sea on November 21,1916, the ship struck a deep sea mine.
Violet was placed in a lifeboat with other passengers where she watched as they abruptly began jumping into the sea. She turned only to discover her lifeboat being pulled toward the ship’s giant propeller. She had on a life vest, but couldn’t swim.
She was suddenly taken under water and her head hit something hard – possibly the propeller. She resurfaced and grabbed a life vest floating near her. Remaining afloat, she soon realized there were no other survivors from her lifeboat. They had all been killed by that rotating propeller.
Each of these events were unexpected, placing Violet in imminent danger of possible death. Her survival in each of these catastrophes was even more unexpected. Have you ever come close to death? The apostle Paul tells us that we are similar to Violet Jessop or a drowning person going down for the third time. Realizing our lostness, we must cry out to God “who delivered (rescued) us out of the power of darkness, and translated (gently moved) us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have…the forgiveness of our sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).
You were in the dark world of sin, but only in Jesus Christ can you be forgiven. Then you are placed into Jesus’ kingdom of light. Only Jesus is able to come to your rescue!