“I don’t believe in luck,” he said. “God had done His Will, he had saved my life.”

Eldon Cooper, a farmer in Clarkridge, Ark., was pinned inside his water-filled tractor cab for more than three hours and nearly drowned.  He says God, not luck is why he is still alive today.

Cooper was preparing to meet his wife at Bible study and before leaving, decided to examine an earthen dam on his property. He wanted to make sure it was holding because of the rain. When his tractor got to the edge, that’s when things began to take a turn for the worst.

“I started backing up to head home, something I have done 150 times, probably,” Cooper told AgDaily. “Well, for some reason my tire got too close to the edge, and the edge on the pond side gave way, dropping the rear of the tractor about 18 inches or so toward the pond. It stopped before going over the edge, as I dropped the bucket to the ground.”

Not too long after, the tractor tipped over into the pond and his cab started to fill with water. The mud and the big machine compounded the situation. Cooper was scared for his life. He only had a small pocket of air and knew it was only a matter of time before it ran out.  In that moment, he thought he would asphyxiate on his own air and that the trailer cab would become his tomb, Cooper said.

Then, he started praying.

“I needed that peace that passes all understanding, so I asked for it,” Copper said. “You know what; that peace came over me almost immediately. I stopped panicking, and I stopped trying to breathe so hard because I couldn’t get a full breath. But I stopped panicking, and my mind cleared and I could think.”

He began praying for his family and his kids, that God would protect them and be with them whatever the outcome may be.

“I prayed for His Will to be done. I prayed that somehow, some way, something good would come of this situation and God would be glorified.”

As he fell unconscious, God still kept Him safe.

“When I went unconscious I should have went limp and dropped down back into the water,” he said. “God literally had to hold me back up into that air pocket,” Cooper said.

When rescuers arrived, they assumed he was dead but he was barely alive. He was in 49-degree water for three and half hours, according to AgDaily. Cooper was immediately transported to the hospital where he woke up. He couldn’t believe he was still alive and that nurses were talking to him.

“I was like, ‘What are you all doing’” Cooper said. “It startled them. I wasn’t supposed to wake up.”

Cooper continues to thank God for protecting him. He shares his experience with others to express the power of God to make the miraculous happen. All things are possible with Him.

“People have said I was really lucky; that I should buy lottery tickets,” Cooper said. “Let me tell you this was not luck…Had God not intervened, I wouldn’t be here.”