"4 years ago my life looked drastically different than it does today. You see, today marks 4 years since logically, I should have died when I crashed head-on into a tree coming home from church in Huddleston.
But 4 years ago, my God was not finished with me. The tree completely crashed my car right up until my seat! My life was changed, but it wasn’t taken! God’s purpose prevailed.
When I was in a coma the doctors said I might never walk, talk, eat, or even breathe on my own again. They wanted my mom to have me put in a home where they could take care of me around the clock, but she refused because she trusted God to heal me. Many of you prayed for me & God answered! I came out of that coma!
I learned to walk, talk, and even drive and do other unbelievable things again! With God’s help, I graduated high school on time and am now excelling in my junior year of college all with the help of my God! (I am actually not smart, if you know me well you probably know my life consists of 24/7 blonde moments.) Because through it all, God has never left my side for a minute! He gave me my voice back so I get to proclaim His wonderful story! Psalm 118:17 says, “I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.”
I was not always thankful God saved me from death, but now that I have seen just a glimpse of how He has used all the not-so-good things that have happened in my life to serve a purpose far greater than I could have ever hoped or imagined.
Ashley, TBI Survivor
Don’t get me wrong, being a TBI survivor is tough. People often don’t realize that it’s a lifelong battle. It isn’t an ‘I almost died once but now I’m fine’ kind of thing. I still fight physically, mentally, & emotionally every single day. But I do not fight alone.
Not a day has gone by that I have had to face this journey alone. The God who stopped the tree at my seat, who woke me up from a coma after almost a month, and who wowed the doctors by restoring me piece by piece, that same God has never left my side in the slow recovery process. Even when I couldn’t see it, He was working on my behalf. Even when I couldn’t feel Him, He had His loving arms around me. I am just so thankful today to have the privilege of being a small part of God’s master plan.
I was not always thankful God saved me from death, but now that I have seen just a glimpse of how He has used all the not-so-good things that have happened in my life to serve a purpose far greater than I could have ever hoped or imagined. All I can do is hang on and excitedly watch God continue to work! Because that’s the beautiful part, my story is far from over! God is still restoring me piece by piece! I still get to be a part of His amazing story!"
-Ashley, TBI Survivor
Jim
This is Jim (eye-patch),
Christabel met me at the BIAPA annual conference.
I relate to what you said: "I was not always thankful God saved me from death, but now that I have seen just a glimpse of how He has used all the not-so-good things that have happened in my life to serve a purpose far greater than I could have ever hoped or imagined."
Though I'm at the stage of not thankful that I survived the wreck. The wreck was the catalyst of horrible events that have occurred in my life and I'm not thankful, in fact I'm angry that I survived to have the existence I now have. In short, The wreck inflicted numerous injuries, my wife at the time began cheating on me with the guy she now lives with, and she divorced me and took custody of my 10 year old daughter. I couldn't fight for custody because I was wheelchair bound at the time of the divorce. Without giving you my whole story or wanting a pity-party, those are the very basics of what happened and I hate that I survived the wreck to have this life. I struggle with hating God for what he did/or allowed to happen/ or whatever you call that. I struggle believing in Him at all. I'm full of emotions and reading your post, your thoughts hit a chord with me. Every day I wake I wish I didn't. I wish I would've died in the wreck. I hate being alive. I don't know if I believe in God, but for now I'm hating Him, if he exists.
I wanted to get this out after reading your post. I'm sorry you went through your ordeal and got your brain injury. I'm sending you hugs