Thankful To Be Alive

It is a Happy Thanksgiving! For all of us and for myself, there is much to be thankful for. Among many things,  I am thankful to be alive.

On August 14th, I was in a terrible car accident. A 17 year old male passed out from dehydration, crossed over into my lane, and hit me head on. As you can see from this picture, I was crushed, but by the grace of God, found alive.

The firemen that came to rescue me said, they thought I was going to be dead. With seeing my head of hair hanging outside of what was left of the window. A man came up, said hi, I said hi back, then said, "get my hair out of my mouth!"
My long thick hair had a lot of glass in it and was over my face, leaving my face without a scratch from all of the glass that broke in the vehicle. God Is good. I may never cut my hair again.

I broke both femurs in my legs , shattered my right knee into 20 pieces. I broke my radius and ulna in both forearms, broke my right humerus, and my scapula in my shoulder, multiple fractures in my feet and hand, an open tibia laceration, 2 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, small fractures in my spine, and had to receive a total of 14 units of blood.  After many surgeries in the first 2 weeks. I now have 6 titanium plates, 1 titanium rod, and over 60 titanium screws holding my broken bones together.
I spent 3 weeks at Parkland Hospital. I only have memory of a few things that happened there because of all of the trauma.
The first thing would be the Saturday after my accident, when the boy who hit me and his family came up to the hospital to visit me. I remember him crying, apologizing. Then I said "I forgive you. That's what Jesus would do."
The next thing I remember is reciting Psalm 23 any time I was in the worst pain.
After those 3 weeks at parkland, I then spent 3 weeks at Baylor Rehab. Now it's been 8 weeks at home filled with home health, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.

I wish I could say these things are easy, but that just isn't the case.
Workouts everyday are taxing. My body is working constantly on healing itself, therefore it is tired all the time. The pain at some points has been more than I thought could exist. I can't describe the pain felt at parkland hospital, but at Baylor Rehab I had pains in my leg for weeks that felt like someone was digging a whole in my leg with razor blades. It was at points like this that the Word of the Lord was my only answer, through people reading scripture to me, and singing songs of the Lord as well.

Now the struggle is still painful, but a lot of that pain is emotional. Feeling as though I have lost a year of my life, not being able to teach right out of college like others my age, meet someone special, live on my own, put my clothes and shoes on by myself, go to the bathroom on my own. Make my right arm straight. To Walk. Oh to walk.

In my life, the story of Joseph has always been one I am drawn to. What man meant for destruction, God meant for Joseph's good and our Fathers good. That Joseph would trust Him, and Gods name would be made known through his life being used by Him.

"Psalm 23:4  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me."

"Romans 8:28 and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose."
...For MY GOOD in ALL circumstances. Including this one.

God has sustained me through being reminded of Joseph's story, and through the rest of His Living and perfect Word in the Bible. Through the people of this church and the Bride of Christ in other places, sending cards, gifts, and Facebook messages, all with words of encouragement that God is with me.
But most of all, The Lord sustains me when I think about what Jesus did on the cross. Thinking about His body broken for me, His blood poured out for me, and the pain that He was in. All because He loved us and so that one day we might come to know Him.

"Philippians 1:21 For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 

My small suffering of pain and dying to myself daily for the sake of Jesus name to be made known through me, this is my greatest gain, and knowing Jesus more than I did before this accident.

Please be in prayer for me, that I would suffer the physical and emotional pain well. Use this time wisely and for His glory. Continually humble myself in asking for help, and to do so with kindness, that the healing process would continue well, and that I would continue to be humbled by what Jesus did on the cross, and all of us would make The name of Jesus known to all that we know because of our thankfulness that He chose to save us for His glory.