VIDEO — ‘God, I Need Your Help’: Man Recalls Praying in Roadside Ditch as Tornado Hit Oklahoma

A man and his wife had a terrifying experience on Saturday when a tornado ripped through Marietta, Oklahoma.

Jeff Frederickson and his wife, who live in Colleyville, Texas, were driving home from Minnesota after picking up his family’s 1971 Thunderbird and felt it was best to keep going while the storms pressed in on either side of them, NBC 5 reported Thursday.

When they drove into Marietta while hauling the classic car, the couple realized traffic was at a standstill. That was when the situation grew even darker as debris began hitting Frederickson’s truck.

“I said, ‘You go to your ditch; I’ll go to mine,’ and as I was saying that, the 18-wheeler starts hopping across the pavement,” he recalled, noting his wife was not able to make it to the ditch as the twister hit Interstate 35.

When he finally made it to a ditch, he had already been hurt severely. Thirteen of his ribs were broken and six of them shattered. In addition, he suffered a gash on the back of his head.

Frederickson said:

I wasn’t able to yell for my wife, so the first thing I did was I prayed to God. I said, “God, I need your help to get through this situation. Get me and my wife both through this situation.” I looked down, and my thumb was split in half. I could see my bone, and I said, “Dear Lord Jesus, don’t let me lose my thumb.”

Images posted online show Frederickson recovering in the hospital:

He lived to tell the tale, and his wife only suffered minor injuries during the incident.

Fox Weather reported the twister was classified as an EF4, and video footage shows the devastation it left behind in Marietta:

After the harrowing ordeal, Frederickson said, “The only thing I’ve gotten out of this that chokes me up is I probably shouldn’t be here right now. Several doctors said, ‘You’re lucky you’re alive,’ and I say, “It’s not luck; it’s God.'”

During the storms on Saturday, a nine-year-old boy came to the rescue when his parents were severely injured after a tornado near Marietta threw their truck into some trees, according to Breitbart News.