Van in the River: A Miracle Rescue/A Mother's Immoveable Love | Ep. 46

Summary

The Miracle Files – "Van in the River: A Miracle Rescue / A Mother's Immoveable Love" (Ep. 46)

Date: October 6, 2025
Hosts: Holly Worthington and Emily Jones
Featured Guests: Rachel Mitchell (survivor/mother), Mark Nelson (kayaker/rescuer), Brian Champagne (news reporter), Logan City Fire Department personnel

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Overview

This episode of The Miracle Files tells the harrowing true-life account of Rachel Mitchell, a mother whose van, with her four children inside, plunged into the frigid, raging waters of the Logan River. What followed was an against-all-odds rescue—a dramatic story of uncanny timing, the power of prayer, expertise of strangers, and a mother’s unwavering will—that hosts Holly and Emily share as a powerful example of everyday miracles and divine intervention.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Breakdown

Setting the Stage: A Routine Family Outing Turns Tragic

• Rachel sets out with her children (Cody, Kaylee, Liam, Camden) for a day trip, stopping briefly for snacks and a bottle of vitamin water—an innocuous detail that later triggers the accident ([02:32]).
• Driving up Logan Canyon for the first time, a fallen vitamin water bottle gets stuck under the pedals, distracting Rachel and causing her to miss a turn, sending the van 15 feet off the road into the river ([03:29], [04:13]).

Inside the Sinking Van: Mom Instincts and Early Miracles

• Rachel is briefly knocked unconscious; she awakens disoriented but hears a persistent, inexplicable internal voice urging her to "roll the window down now" ([05:05]).
  • Rachel: "I just remember, roll the window down. I knew I was in water... just this weird. Roll the window down. Get that. Rolled down." ([05:05])
• The van somehow lands upright and is lodged, facing upriver, preventing it from tumbling immediately into deadly rapids—a stroke of fortune Rachel and the hosts repeatedly cite as miraculous ([05:59]).
• Rachel quickly fits life jackets (intended for a trip to Bear Lake) on her children and keeps her little ones out of the freezing water by holding them on her thighs ([06:25]).
  • Rachel: "I had them like sitting sort of up on my thighs so that they weren't submerged..." ([06:25])

The Community Gathers: Unlikely Heroes Assemble

• Passersby, unable to call 911 due to no cell service, are aided by a radio enthusiast who contacts emergency services ([07:03]).
• Brian Champagne, a local news reporter, runs three miles to the accident (he was training for a 5k) after hearing about it on his radio scanner ([09:32]).
• Rock climbers provide much-needed ropes for the rescue operation; kayakers, led by Mark Nelson, use their training and equipment to cross the treacherous river and assist firefighters ([09:53]–[11:47]).
  • Mark: "I can get that rope across for you in about 10 seconds..." ([11:03])

Early Rescue Attempts and Setbacks

• The first attempt to send a firefighter across the rope fails—the current pulls him under, and he is briefly trapped underwater before kayakers pull him to safety ([12:03]–[13:26]).
  • Rachel: "...they had him walk out into the river up above us... he just went under instantly." ([12:03])
• New plans are made, but each attempt is foiled by the river current or logistical barriers. Hours pass as Rachel and her children grow colder; hypothermia sets in, and the danger remains critical ([15:56], [16:33]).

Miraculous Calm, Prayer, and the Final Rescue

• Despite the terror, Rachel and her kids experience a deep, inexplicable sense of calm. Conversations drift to mundane family topics while the van sits precariously above deadly rapids ([14:05], [15:33]).
  • Rachel: "...there was this weird calm. We just talked... you know, we're sitting in the middle of a raging river, having a conversation..." ([14:05], [25:49])
• The rescue escalates: firefighters, with rock climbers’ ropes and a truck ladder, rig a pulley system over the river ([16:33]–[17:31]).
• Rachel, despite severe bleeding from breaking a window to help with the tow rope, prioritizes her children's safety over her own ([17:40]–[18:42]).
  • Rachel: "...you're fat chance. You're taking all my kids first. You will not take me out of this car until every single one of my kids is across the river." ([20:45])
• As rescuers evacuate each child, rain threatens to halt progress, prompting collective prayer among the bystanders. The rain suddenly stops, seen by many as an answered prayer ([19:52]).
• After five hours, all the children—and finally Rachel herself—are rescued to cheers and applause ([21:52]–[22:43]).

The Aftermath and Unexplainable Phenomena

• As Rachel is reunited with her boyfriend (now husband), news crews reflect on the teamwork and the missed opportunity for the story to hit national news in a tumultuous news year ([23:08]–[24:50]).
• Kayaker Mark reveals post-rescue that, incredibly, there was no rock anchoring the van—the spot where it lodged was just smooth, free-flowing water ([27:13], [27:52], [30:10]).
  • Mark: "There was no rock... That whole section is flowing free water." ([27:52])
• Discussion turns to the countless unexplainable “what ifs” that, strung together, mark the event as undeniably miraculous ([28:00]).
• The hosts reiterate the importance of sharing such stories, expressing how often miracles go unreported and are eclipsed by negative news ([33:33]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Rachel’s sacrificial love:
  • "I thought to myself, I'm gonna die before I let my kids die. So this might be it for me, but it's not going to be it for them." ([26:30])
• Mark, upon discovering there was no rock:
  • "There was no rock. So when you look at the pictures in the video, there was nothing there. That whole section is flowing free water." ([27:52])
• Brian, on bearing witness:
  • "I had nothing to do with [the rescue]. And that's how I want to be. I don't want to influence any one way or the other." ([25:24])
• Emily/Jones on the extraordinary rescue:
  • "Too many things had to go exactly right for this mother and her children to survive, and every one of them did... Rachel left the river that day with her children in her arms, not because the odds were in their favor, but because grace was." ([28:00]–[29:17])
• Holly & Emily on the underreported nature of miracles:
  • "When we say that we believe there are more miracles than murders, this is part of why we say that. Because so often these stories just get underreported..." ([33:33])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Accident Occurs / Immediate Aftermath: [02:32]–[05:59]
• Community Gathers / Kayakers Arrive: [07:03]–[11:47]
• Failed and Dangerous Rescue Attempts: [12:03]–[14:05]
• Calm Amidst Chaos (“Weird Calm”): [14:05]–[15:33]
• Firefighters, Kayakers, & Climber Rope Plan: [16:33]–[18:42]
• Final Rescue — Mother’s Refusal to Leave Before Kids: [20:45]–[21:52]
• Celebration and Immediate Recovery: [22:43]–[24:05]
• Miracle Confirmed — No Rock Under Van: [27:13]–[30:15]
• Reflection on Faith, Prayer, and Miracles: [33:25]–[34:06]

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Tone & Style

The episode is heartfelt, compassionate, and reverent. Holly and Emily maintain gentle humor, awe, and an overt faith perspective, inviting listeners to see God’s hand in moments of deliverance and emphasizing gratitude for community, sacrifice, and divine grace. Their language is warm and inclusive, aiming to uplift regardless of the listener’s background.

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Conclusion

This episode serves as a testament to the power of faith, prayer, and community. The miraculous circumstances that protected Rachel and her children, the convergence of specialized bystanders, and the van’s inexplicable stability form a memorable story that reaffirms the hosts’ core belief: “there are more miracles than murders.” It is an ode to the unsung, unreported miracles that continue to illuminate everyday lives.

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For further inspiration and community stories of faith and hope, tune into The Miracle Files.

Transcript

[Emily Jones]

The van slammed into the turbulent river. From inside came the terrified screams of Rachel's children.

[Rachel Mitchell]

And it was so loud. The water was coming up over the windshield and I just, I didn't know what to do. All of the airbags had gone off. My children clearly were very distraught.

[Emily Jones]

Rachel took a deep breath. She looked around at her kids. The van began moving.

[Rachel Mitchell]

You know, I hear them all screaming.

[Emily Jones]

The current had them now pushing the van backwards, shoving it downstream toward even larger rapids. This is the Miracle Files. I'm Emily Jones.

[Holly Worthington]

And I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters who love a captivating true story. But we're also seeking more light in our lives.

[Emily Jones]

So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable, uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us on this journey.

[Holly Worthington]

Welcome back to the Miracle Files. Emily found this story that we have today in a Facebook group.

[Emily Jones]

Yes, I did. I actually was scrolling through Facebook and I saw this woman post about this experience. She'd actually been there that day. She'd seen all these miracles. And when I hear the word miracle, obviously it piqued my interest. So I went and looked into this story and I just knew it was one that we had to share.

[Holly Worthington]

Well, I'm so glad you found it. The mother in this story, Rachel, is awesome. Talk about a warrior mama. Like, she's such a fierce advocate and protector of her children.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah, definitely see that all throughout this story. So, I mean, I think a lot of parents out there will probably be able to relate to this and feel for her.

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah, for sure.

[Emily Jones]

It's an incredible story. So let's get started.

[Holly Worthington]

Let's get to it.

[Rachel Mitchell]

Okay.

[Emily Jones]

The Logan Canyon Scenic Byway is beautiful and dangerous. Its towering green pine trees line the Logan river, which winds beside the narrow two lane road. In the spring, the river's churning whitewater swells with snowmelt. On a May morning in 2020, Rachel Mitchell set out with her four children. She drove into the canyon, looking forward to meeting her boyfriend and his son at their final destination, Bear lake. She brought four of her five children with her. Cody, almost 16, Kaylee, 14, Liam, 5, and Camden, 4. Here's Rachel.

[Rachel Mitchell]

We got ready to go. We headed up through Logan Canyon. And there's a maverick we stopped at just to get snacks. They all wanted whatever. And I remember I wanted a vitamin water. So I got myself a vitamin water water.

[Emily Jones]

A simple bottle of vitamin water. It seemed so innocent at the time. It was supposed to be a carefree, fun family day. Who knew that something so simple as a bottled drink could be the undoing of it all?

[Rachel Mitchell]

And I was driving a minivan at the time, and the minivan in the center console there was like this place where you could set your things, but it was on the floor. And I had my purse there, and I had set my vitamin water in my purse, and my son had set his snacks, and he was in the front seat. And so we headed up to the canyon that goes to Bear Lake, and it's very windy. I had never driven that canyon before. And there was a lot of people, a lot of cars, a lot of things going on.

[Emily Jones]

Rachel drove her van around a turn, and just like that, the vitamin water tumbled out of her purse and rolled onto the floorboard beneath her.

[Rachel Mitchell]

And the vitamin water had fallen out of my purse and was lodged underneath my petals. And my son reached over and was trying to get it.

[Emily Jones]

Cody stretched his fingers. He almost had the bottle, but it stayed just beyond his grasp. Rachel leaned down, too, reaching for it with her own hand. But suddenly another turn in the road appeared before them. Rachel didn't have time to react. The van didn't turn. It launched straight off the road, 15ft down and into the icy waters below.

[Rachel Mitchell]

And we missed turning because I couldn't do anything. And then just off we went into the river. And immediately I blacked out.

[Emily Jones]

The van slammed into the turbulent river. Airbags deployed and water exploded over the hood. From inside came the terrified screams of Rachel's children in the driver's seat. Rachel lay slumped over the wheel, motionless. When Rachel came to, she was disoriented. She didn't see water at first. She felt it freezing, rising, pushing. It surrounded her, seeping into her vehicle. Her mind struggled to grasp reality as she felt fear taking hold. Then Rachel felt something else. A voice inside her urging her, roll the window down. Now I remember.

[Rachel Mitchell]

I didn't see anything. I just remember, roll the window down. I knew I was in water, like, roll the window down. Just after that, none of them worked. I tried to roll down other ones. Everything went completely dead. But it was just this weird. Roll the window down. Get that. Rolled down.

[Emily Jones]

The van was facing upriver, and somehow it was upright. Somehow it hadn't landed on its side or rolled yet. Rachel took a deep breath. She looked around at her kids. For now they were okay. But the moment of reprieve was gone before it started. The van began moving. Her children screamed behind her, high pitched and panicked. The current had them now, pushing the van backwards, shoving it downstream toward even larger rapids. And then a violent jolt and the motion stopped.

[Rachel Mitchell]

And then we got lodged and I believe we were lodged on a pretty good sized rock. And I just, I didn't know what to do. All of the airbags had gone off. My children clearly were very distraught. My daughter in the very back was in the third row. When the airbag went off, it put a big old gash in her thigh.

[Emily Jones]

As the freezing rapids roared around her, Rachel tried to assess her situation.

[Rachel Mitchell]

And it was so loud, the water was coming up over the windshield. Ironically, we were going to Bear Lake. So I had life jackets and so I had my daughter grab the life jackets. We got them on the little ones, you know, I hear them all screaming. At that point I was just like in mom mode, trying to like keep my kids calm. And I put my boys, my younger boys, I could put my feet on the tippy toes and my tops of my thighs weren't in the water because the water was freezing. And so I had them like sitting sort of up on my thighs so that they weren't submerged because it was freezing cold.

[Emily Jones]

Inside the van, water crept higher around them as Rachel and her kids sat frozen in fear. The river roared like a freight train. In their ears, airbags hung like crumpled sails. Rachel encouraged her children to sit very still for now. The vehicle had come to a stop, but it was a fragile pause. Rachel feared one wrong move could dislodge them from the rock and the current could carry them further downstream. Just 100 yards below them, the river dropped into a mile long stretch of Class 4 rapids, violent swirling water that would almost certainly flip the van. Rachel knew that staying put was their only chance for survival. Above them, on the shoulder of the road, a crowd gathered, trying to shout to Rachel. But she couldn't hear them. The river was too loud. There was no cell service in the canyon. Everyone who arrived on scene could see how precarious Rachel's situation was. But as much as people wanted to help, they didn't know what to do. They needed to call 911, but with no reception, that wasn't an option. But just then, someone stepped forward. This man was an amateur radio enthusiast and incredibly, he had his radio with him. That day. He was able to call out for help with great difficulty. Police and fire trucks made their way up the canyon past the lines of traffic now caused by everyone stopping to try to help. As each new person, even firefighters, would arrive and see the van in the river, they would have the same expression. Every one of them knew this wasn't good and Rescuing this mother and her children in time before their van dislodged and tumbled downstream wasn't going to be easy. In fact, they feared one wrong move on their part could cause the van to dislodge and disappear into the current. On the shore, a news reporter held a camera. His name was Brian Champagne. His car had been stopped three miles away in a long line of traffic down the canyon. But Brian had been training for a 5k, and when he'd heard about all the commotion on his radio scanner, he knew he had to find out what was happening. So he started running. Brian had worked in California for years in broadcast TV news and had seen a lot of crazy things. But this incident would be one he would never forget. Here's Brian and I first laid eyes.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

On that van just in the middle of the river.

[Rachel Mitchell]

This was May, so the river was.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

At its second highest level of the entire year. So I finally go up there and.

[Emily Jones]

I start shooting my way in.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

So I'm getting wide shots as I move up, and then finally, like, I see that there's this family in this van and the water's coming up to their windshield.

[Emily Jones]

Somehow the firefighters needed to get the mother and children out of the van and onto dry land. But no one could wade or even swim into the whitewater. Maybe if they had some kind of rope, they could make a pulley system. Even that would be dangerous, but it didn't matter either way. They didn't have any rope that would work. At that moment, more people began stepping forward from the crowd. Amazingly, some men on mountain bikes pulled up. They had been rock climbing and had rappelling rope with them. Then Mark Nelson and his buddies arrived on scene. They were kayakers who had their kayaks with them and were trained and ready. Within minutes, a group of volunteers had formed to help. As Mark the kayaker surveyed the scene, he realized immediately the danger Rachel was in. Here's Mark.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

Kind of a difficult situation, obviously, that she's right above of the biggest whitewater for a mile that we could do. So we had come back up, and when we got there, the fire department arrived. And we went up to the person in charge of the fire department and said, hey, we've got experience. We can help you in any way, shape or form that we can.

[Emily Jones]

The firefighters eyed the kayakers and discussed their options.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

They kind of assess the situation, and he comes back to us and he says, the number one issue that we have is that we can't get a rope from this side of the river to the other Side. And I said, I can get that rope across for you in about 10 seconds. So he said, all right, let's do it. Me and my friend, instantly, we just grab our kayaks, we rig up the ropes and everything that we were doing, and both me and my friend paddle across right above where the van was and enter into one of the eddies. Eddy is a side of the river where the water actually flows up river instead of flowing down as it hits the side. And so we were able to safely paddle into that. So set up a rope system and tried to get some of the firefighters and things over.

[Emily Jones]

The kayakers were able to get the rope across the river with ease. But as is often the case in life, after that, things didn't go according to plan. Rachel and her kids watched as one of the firefighters tried to make his way across attached to the rope.

[Rachel Mitchell]

I remember watching in just, like, complete and utter terror. It scared the living daylights out of me because they had him walk out into the river up above us. I think he was going to try to sort of float down to us, and, man, he just went under instantly.

[Emily Jones]

As mark and his friends stood on the far bank, they quickly realized the rope sagged with too much slack. Here's Mark.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

We had set up the rope system. One of the firefighters, unfortunately, as he was coming across, went into one of the small rapids that was there and actually ended up getting pulled underwater. He was probably about 3ft away from us, but when he got pulled underwater, because he was attached to the rope, it held him underwater. And your life jackets, they're designed to have a breakaway system where you can pull a little string and it will release the rope so that you don't get into that situation. Unfortunately, he couldn't find that little breakaway system.

[Emily Jones]

Mark and his friend watched as the firefighter struggled beneath the surface of the water. As critical as the situation was for the family, it now became full far more urgent for the firefighter.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

So when he was underwater, me and my friend instantly responded to that, and my friend got out as far as he could. I held onto him so he could get out further into the current, and we were able to pull on the rope and get him up high enough that we grabbed him and pulled him in, which was one of the craziest things that we did.

[Emily Jones]

Thankfully, the firefighter had been rescued, but unfortunately, the rescue team was no closer to helping the family. Now what they needed to devise a new plan to save Rachel and her children. But there were no easy answers. Minutes ticked by, turning into hours as Rachel and her children sat in the middle of a river in the frigid white water. Something strange was occurring to them. Their panic began to settle. Instead, a feeling difficult to describe. Drive filled the van. While Rachel knew the danger was far from over, somehow Rachel and her children felt a quiet sense of peace.

[Rachel Mitchell]

So I just kept focusing on my kids, and honestly, there was this weird calm. We just talked, and my little ones, you know, they were nervous, they were scared. Every now and again, it was like up and down. They were, you know, they were kind of, like, hysterical one moment, and then they'd be calm, and next moment, we're just talking about different things. Random stuff. School we were talking about, you know, because my older son, he was due to get his driver's license soon, so that was less than stellar, getting in an accident like that. So, you know, we just kind of sort of talked through everything.

[Emily Jones]

Rescue workers decided to try to get a raft to Rachel and her kids again. The kayakers helped.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

We tried a few different things to get them out, but they were in really, really swift water. And as the water was going around the car, it was creating a really awkward current. So when we tried to set up a system to get the raft down, the raft couldn't get close enough and stable enough for us to get anybody out because of this really powerful swirly current.

[Emily Jones]

Despite the repeated rescue attempts falling short, Rachel was amazed at how well her children were doing. Still, they were beginning to get restless. Though they remained mostly calm, Rachel couldn't help but feel anxious with every small movement. The constant fear of dislodging her van remained ever present in her mind.

[Rachel Mitchell]

I was absolutely terrified to move at any point in time. I just told him I was, okay, everybody sit still. Let's just not move. And I just sat there with my boys for quite a long time. They were on my lap as time went on, and I had to move them. I had to rearrange. I just was like, it's not moving. This thing is not moving. But every now and again, it would seem like there was like, a whoosh, and it would kind of go way up the windshield. That was always terrifying.

[Emily Jones]

By now, they'd been trapped in the icy river for over three hours. Each minute that passed felt like an eternity, and the window of rescue was closing fast. The longer they remained in the river, the more certain it became. Hypothermia wasn't just a threat. It was closing in. Rachel sat shivering, her legs cold and numb as she held her children, trying to boost them above the frigid water. She was willing to sacrifice her comfort or even her own life to protect them. The rescue workers put their heads together and came up with a new plan.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

Eventually, what ended up happening is they brought a truck with a ladder, and it took them, I don't know, maybe an hour to get that truck up to the canyon. But they were able to set that truck up with the ladder and swing it out over the top of the river and actually repel one of the firefighters down again.

[Emily Jones]

The firefighters used the ropes the rock climbers had given them. The rock climbers helped with the rigging, and. And the kayakers paddled against the current, fighting to stay near Rachel's vehicle.

[Rachel Mitchell]

And then they had rigged up a whole bunch of stuff. They had ropes on the ladders, and they had a guy come out on the ladder, and he was talking to me. They wanted to drop me a tow rope. It was really thick and heavy, and I was like, okay, I can do that. But I needed to break the other window. So I had my son climb in the back, and I had my little boys. They kind of had to stand with them, so they all kind of got in the back.

[Emily Jones]

One of the firemen dropped a sharp rock into Rachel's open window and shouted to her to use it to break the passenger side window.

[Rachel Mitchell]

I had no idea how difficult it was to break a window. And then as soon as the window broke, it hit my thighs, and just all this blood went everywhere. And my kids were just hysterical because it was, like, just leaking down the back of the car because the water was going that way. And I was just like, it's okay. We're okay.

[Emily Jones]

Rachel slid her bloody thighs into the water. As the blood slowly diluted, her kids calmed down again. With her children settled, Rachel turned her attention back to the firefighter, waiting to see what he needed her to do next.

[Rachel Mitchell]

And what I had to do was they needed to drop the tow rope to me through the one side, and then I had to get it through the other side and throw it over. And when they dropped it, it went down the river. And so I had to pull this thing back into the car, which was, like, so difficult. I just. It was so heavy, and I just didn't think I was going to get it in. And so eventually I got to the end of it. I pulled it in, and I flinged it around, and they were able to, like, stabilize the vehicle from the shore.

[Emily Jones]

Brian, the news reporter, recorded everything. He knew someone needed to document this incredible moment.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

I've gotten plenty of shots in my Career. And I've missed plenty of shots in my career. There are times where you don't stop that camera because here we are at the edge. Something's going to happen.

[Emily Jones]

As onlookers watched with bated breath, a firefighter dropped down from the ladder.

[Rachel Mitchell]

So they had rigged something up so where I could harness them in. So I had my youngest, and I thought, we always go age order for everything. So my little guy, Camden, I strapped him up, and the gentleman who had him, he took him. And they pulled the ladder back because the ladder was extended.

[Emily Jones]

And now the onlookers weren't just watching anymore as they saw the boy hang precariously from the ladder. Many joined in to help the firefighters.

[Rachel Mitchell]

And then they pulled him back. And then they had people pulling. They had, like, teams of people pulley system. It was pretty wild. And then he got over to the other side, and then it started raining. So they stopped. They had to wait. And my next youngest was just hysterical.

[Emily Jones]

Four hours had already passed, and Rachel was no longer shivering. Her muscles were too fatigued, a sign of severe hypothermia. Time was of the essence. From the shore, onlookers began praying that the rain would stop and the mother and children would be rescued. As fast as the rain dropped from the sky, prayer after prayer was going up. It was almost like an umbrella of prayer was being cast over the river. And suddenly the rain stopped. The rescue effort resumed. Brian's camera still rolling, prayers still being offered from the shore, Mark and his buddies looking on in wonder. Rachel's lips had turned blue, and the firefighters knew she was in grave danger from the freezing water. They urged her to go next. But Rachel's mother, Hart, wouldn't even consider leaving her children behind.

[Rachel Mitchell]

The firefighter mentioned. He's like, hey, we need to get you out of this car. And I said, you're fat chance. You're taking all my kids first. You will not take me out of this car until every single one of my kids is across the river.

[Emily Jones]

One by one, Rachel watched as her three children were lifted onto the shore. She remained calm and steady despite all the chaos surrounding her. Despite the crashing of the waves, she stood solid as a rock. It wasn't until her last child, Cody, finally reached the bank that the dam that had held back her emotions broke.

[Rachel Mitchell]

I was so calm until his feet hit the ground. And like, it was in that moment that, like, it all just everything kind of hit me. And I was just, like, hysterical at that point because, okay, now my kids are safe, everything's good. But like, it all just, bam. Just like rush. It was like I had to. I don't know. And then the firefighter that came back, he's like, you've gone this far. He's like, you can't lose it now.

[Emily Jones]

Rachel let the tears come as she braced herself to be taken out of this van, what had been her prison for now five hours. She was almost free. As soon as Rachel's feet hit the ground, the whole crowd of people, including emergency responders, the kayakers, the rock climbers, and the news reporter, took a collective sigh of relief. In fact, they began cheering and clapping. Here's actual footage of that moment caught by Brian, the news reporter. It was over. It was a moment of both triumph and enjoy, man.

[Rachel Mitchell]

By the time I got back over to the ambulance, all my kids were in there having just the best time, especially my little ones, because the nicest lady, she was feeding them snacks that they had. And so my boys were just having the time of their life at that point.

[Emily Jones]

As Rachel sat in the ambulance with her children, she saw a familiar face appear between the doors.

[Rachel Mitchell]

My now husband, him and his son were behind us, and he had no idea this whole time what was going on. He was stuck in the canyon. They were, like, stopped. He figured that we made it up to Bear Lake. And he was kind of walking around and they had had it blocked off. And then he listened to the law enforcement folks talking, and he was like, yeah, he's a black minivan. It was a mom and her and her four kids. And he's like, oh, my God, that's my girlfriend. I gotta go. I gotta go up there. And so they ended up letting him through. And then right as they got me in the ambulance, here he is at the doors, like, oh, my God, like, what is going on? And so they immediately transport us all. We stay in the same ambulance, all of us together, and they take us to the hospital and they treat me for hypothermia and my daughter and her gash. And she was pretty cold. And I remember big old blankets they had all over us. And my kids are just living it up with all the nurses that especially my boys, they are just wooing everybody.

[Emily Jones]

As the canyon road was reopened, Brian, the news reporter, drove back to town. He was certain he had the story of the day. His cheap camera battery had held up the entire time, and he had recorded everything he could tell. A story of community, of people coming together for a noble cause, of hope, of faith, of a mother, mother's love, and a miraculous rescue. But it wasn't meant to be.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

There's no cell service in that canyon. And so I'm driving down, and I'm pretty confident I have every news outlets.

[Rachel Mitchell]

Including ap, I'm pretty confident I have their lead story for the day.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

And so I got back into cell.

[Emily Jones]

Service, and I'm calling them up and.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

Like, they're not taking my call.

[Emily Jones]

Brian was eager to honor the heroes he had witnessed that day. But it was 2020 a year when the world was consumed by turmoil. And while national headlines were important, they left little space for local miracles. This one, remarkable as it was, quietly faded into the background, never making headlines. Still, Brian says he is grateful he was able to witness the incredible rescue that day and grateful he could be there to document it. I did not save anyone's life.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

I had nothing to do with. And that's how I want to be. I don't want to influence any one way or the other.

[Emily Jones]

I want to be an impartial observer.

[Rachel Mitchell]

So, yeah, I was not an asset.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

To anyone that day. But I think the sharing is important.

[Emily Jones]

We agree that the sharing is important. Rachel considers herself more spiritual than religious, but she feels this definitely had to be some kind of miracle. Miracle.

[Rachel Mitchell]

There were so many things. My car should have been upside down. You know, whatever rock I was on, like, I would love to go see that rock. I want to know where I was lodged. You know, the weird calm, you know, able to get my kids to sit there and talk. You know, we're sitting in the middle of a raging river, having a conversation, a lot of weird stuff. I can't explain it. I'm grateful, though. That's the only thing. That's the only way I can describe it. I'm absolutely grateful for everybody that helped.

[Emily Jones]

After she was rescued, Rachel spoke with Brian, the news reporter. In this short news clip, she said something that perfectly summarizes just how far she'd go to protect her children.

[Rachel Mitchell]

Keeps going through my head. Is there screams and thinking, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? I thought to myself, I'm gonna die before I let my kids die. So this might be it for me, but it's not going to be it for them.

[Emily Jones]

There is something so powerful about a mother's love and something else. The kayaker Mark shared with us truly emphasizes what a miracle this is. In fact, he told us something that before this retelling of their story, Rachel wasn't even aware of herself. Mark stayed and observed the cleanup crew remove Rachel's van from the river. We asked him if it was difficult to get the van off the rock, and his response surprised us.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

But once everybody was out, they basically just took that tow strap that was attached to the roof of the car and just started pulling it and were able to just kind of drag it out of the river as it rolled over and over. Once the vehicle was out of the river, there was no rock or anything in the way that actually stopped it. I don't know what made the vehicle. I don't know what stopped it.

[Emily Jones]

Mark had years of experience, knew rivers intimately. He understood the forces that shaped rapids and what caused them. Yet as he stared at the rushing water with no sign of a rock large enough to stop a vehicle beneath the surface, he knew he'd witnessed a miracle.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

There was no rock. So when you look at the pictures in the video, there was nothing there. That whole section is flowing free water.

[Emily Jones]

Whatever stopped the car, it truly is miraculous that it never continued downstream, never once budged. For us, there are too many what ifs to not call this a miracle. What if Rachel's van had landed in any other way and had rolled? What if it hadn't stopped in the river facing upstream? What if it had continued down into the larger Class 4 rapids? What if she hadn't rolled the window down right away? What if she hadn't felt a feeling of cold calmness? If there hadn't been kayakers downstream or a stranger with a CB radio in the exact spot where cell service failed, if there hadn't been rock climbers with repelling rope, if the inventive and heroic firefighters hadn't been able to reach Rachel and her kids, if there hadn't been a crowd praying for the rain to stop. Every what if could have ended the story differently. Too many things had to go exactly right for this mother and her children to survive, and every one of them did. Most of the onlookers, including Brian and Mark, would agree. Rachel left the river that day with her children in her arms, not because the odds were in their favor, but because grace was.

[Holly Worthington]

What a miraculous story.

[Rachel Mitchell]

I know.

[Emily Jones]

So many miracles.

[Holly Worthington]

So many miracles. And it is such a blessing that their van stayed put for all those hours until they could be rescued.

[Emily Jones]

I know. I know. You can see in the video how fast the water is. And we thought it was a miracle just that they stayed on the rock the whole time. And then at the end to learn there is no rock.

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah, it sounds like there was no rock.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah.

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah, I know. I was so shocked when Mark told us that. Because Mark knows rivers and currents and how to spot rocks in the water. Like he said, there was a smaller rock that was kind of off to the side of where the van was, and a current that came off of that that kind of created a little bit of a hole maybe where the van was at.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah.

[Holly Worthington]

But he said if there had been a rock there, there would be like kind of a V current that came off of that rock. And he said when they pulled the van out, there was nothing like that there. He said the river just ran smooth in that spot, which is crazy to think about.

[Rachel Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Holly Worthington]

And either way, whether there was a rock or not, it's just. It's still miraculous.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah. Well. And when the tow truck pulled the van out of the river, there were a bunch of people standing on shore who said that all of a sudden, this van is now moving around freely. Yeah. In fact, the current was so powerful, it rolled the van, flipped it over. I mean, just crazy.

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah. It moved so easily. And can you imagine if it. If there had been people in that van when it rolled like that?

[Emily Jones]

Terrifying. Well, and I think such a big part of this miracle, too, is that there were so many people on the shore praying for them. Like the woman that. I read her post on Facebook, she was one of those people. She was saying that she prayed for the rain to stop, and she saw that prayer answered. It's just amazing how many people saw their prayers answered that day.

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah, definitely an answer to prayer. And so many people saw God's hand at work when all of these experts just showed up and worked together to save this family.

[Emily Jones]

I know you think about these first responders who are so well trained, but you can never prepare for every situation they come up. And we have a sound bite from one of the firefighters who was actually.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

There that day upon arrival, knowing that I didn't have enough manpower. One of the cool things is we just had some people come down canyon that actually were kayakers and certified in swift water rescue as well. So they were able to take their kayaks across, which we didn't have, across the river to secure a line on the other side. Our initial attempt to secure a line on the other side failed. And that's when I asked those guys to use. Use their kayaks to get across the river, and they did it flawlessly. After that, I employed bystanders because we just didn't have enough manpower with what we had, the operation we had.

[Holly Worthington]

It is so cool that there were so many people that came together that day, but also what's amazing about it is that it was a one way, each way type of road and the traffic was terrible. Like, it was really hard for first responders to get up this canyon to begin with. So that made these bystanders even more crucial to this rescue.

[Rachel Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Emily Jones]

So many good people. And this firefighter also had a message for all the people who helped with the rescue that day.

[Mark Nelson / Brian Champagne / Firefighter (various rescue personnel)]

I just want to say, as far as the people that were here to help us today, a sincere thank you from Logan City Fire Department for your help today. And you know, this. This rescue operation was a huge success and largely because. Because of your help. So thank you very much. I appreciate it.

[Holly Worthington]

I love that.

[Emily Jones]

I do, too.

[Holly Worthington]

And I also really loved Brian the news reporter's perspective. That's something else. I was thinking about that.

[Rachel Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Holly Worthington]

He said he had his own little personal miracles happen that day. Like, one of the things for him was that he'd been training for a 5k, so he was able to run all the way up there, up the canyon.

[Emily Jones]

Exactly three miles.

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah, exactly. And he even felt like his camera and his camera battery holding up. He said he had just like an older camera battery, that he was surprised it held up so that he could shoot all the footage of this. And it's amazing the video he got.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah, his footage was incredible. It had to have been so disappointing after witnessing this incredible miracle. I know the goodness of humanity to then go back to town and to not have this story really make the headlines. But it made me wonder, like, how often does this happen?

[Holly Worthington]

Right.

[Emily Jones]

There are these incredible stories and we don't hear about them because they are covered up by something else, you know?

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah. It's so true. And when we say that we believe there are more miracles than murders, this is part of why we say that. Because so often these stories just get underreported because the terrible tragedies or the cruel crimes, you know, they just kind of overshadow stories like this, which is kind of sad. But we are happy to report on these stories.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah. That's why you have the miracle files. We will continue looking for these amazing stories of God's miracles because God is so good and there are so many out there.

[Holly Worthington]

He's so good all the time. No matter what, he is so good. And we want to thank Rachel, Mark, and Brian for sharing your stories with us. We are so grateful for the positive outcome that you had.

[Emily Jones]

Yes. And please, if you enjoy this podcast, share it with a friend. Subscribe. Make sure you leave us a review and we'll see you next time.

[Holly Worthington]

Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle to share, contact [e-mail] or find us on Facebook.

[Emily Jones]

We're now releasing multiple episodes each month, so subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well.

[Holly Worthington]

Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles. And don't forget to look for his light in your own lives.