On the morning of April 10, 2010, eleven-year-old Nadia Bloom hopped on her bike, and sped off toward the wooded area at the end of her subdivision to take some pictures of nature. But she didn’t return.
“After twenty minutes, thirty minutes, I stepped outside the door waiting for her to circle around and tell her to come in,” says her mother Tanya Bloom. “When she didn’t do that, that’s when I got in the car to go look for her.”
Tanya was especially concerned because the area around the family’s home in Seminole County, Florida, is rife with alligators and other predators. “I knew there’d only be two places she could go,” Tanya says. “There is a little play place and there is a pond. So I drove toward the pond first and I saw her bike in the cul-de-sac, and her bike was parked neatly right by the pond, with her helmet on the handlebars.”
Tanya went looking for her daughter in the dense thicket near the pond. When she couldn’t find her, she called 9-1-1. Within hours, local and state authorities set up a massive search operation. “It’s a surreal moment. You’re feeling like ‘This isn’t happening. I can’t believe this is happening,’ and ‘Where is she?’”
Soon, night began to fall and still no sign of Nadia. “Everything that you believe about God is going to be tested. And you have to make a decision. Is He who He says He is? We chose to believe that, no matter what.”
As word spread throughout the community, the Bloom’s pastor gathered people to pray. “It was a very open, honest night of people just calling on God and just saying, ‘Please God, intervene. This is beyond our control, and we really need you.’”
The search continued for several days, and Nadia’s story gained national attention. Nadia’s father, Jeff Bloom, says his hope started to fade. “As time went on, the other alternatives to her being found start to become more of a reality. And you start trying to come to terms with those other events happening.”
All the while, townspeople continued their outpouring of prayers and support.
Jeff adds, “One of the prayers that I prayed-and it was almost constant–was that, whatever happened, God would be glorified through these events.”
Four days passed and still, search and rescue teams came up empty handed. Then, there was a lead. But it didn’t come from a search party or helicopter. James King, a member of the Blooms’ church, says God told him where to look for Nadia. “It was a still small voice,” James says. “But He led me, in different cases telling me, ‘Yes, go this way,’ or ‘Don’t go that way.’”
That afternoon, James made the call to 9-1-1 with news that the Bloom family and the town of Winter Springs had been waiting four days to hear. “To go from that depth of emotion to that exhilaration in a span of a few seconds is unbelievable,” Jeff Bloom says. “I ran into the bedroom and I almost broke down the door to tell Tanya and the whole house erupted. It was awesome.”
The people in the Blooms’ neighborhood threw Nadia a welcome home party. Jeff Bloom says his prayer that God would be glorified was answered. “There were people around the world that sent us letters and called and sent emails praying for Nadia. I had emails from people who did not have faith, and they would say, ‘I don’t believe, but this is as close to a miracle as I’ve ever seen.’”
Some of the details of the ordeal are already starting to fade for Nadia, but she’ll never forget that there is a God who still does miracles today. “It’s very miraculous, Nadia says. “I remember when I was little, I questioned if God was really there for us, but He does that, I mean really.”
“No matter how scary it is,” her father adds, “you have to keep your trust in Him.”