I didn’t want to wake up. I was warm and happy. I felt safe and protected. Someone nudged me and whispered to open my eyes. I shrugged it off and burrowed deeper into His arms. I liked it right where I was. He whispered, “Open your eyes. This is how it will be for now. It’s ok. You have to open your eyes now. It will all be ok. I promise.”
The stars were so bright. The inky black sky made them sparkle. I could see my breath form a cloud in the icy air. I blinked a few times. There was a stranger holding my hand. He yelled to his friend that I was awake. She came rushing over and they both started asking me question after question. I smiled. I wasn’t sure how it had happened, but I knew there had been a crash, I was hurt, but I was going to be ok. I needed these two good Samaritans to know the same Peace I had. No matter how grim it seemed or how bad I looked to them, God had opened my eyes. I was going to be ok…
As I lay on the road, asking my new friends their names & where they were from, a truck driver had stopped to help my husband. Junior couldn’t walk because of his broken ankle, so the truck driver pushed through the glass and metal to find my cell phone so Junior could call family. Junior got ahold of my mom and brother ~ who put it on Facebook, and immediately people all over the country and the world started praying for us ~ all while I was on my back on the side of Interstate 80 in the Nevada desert.
As I was placed in the helicopter, more people started praying as the news spread. I hummed Scripture songs the whole flight. Others fell to their knees in their homes as I was wheeled into the trauma center for scans to find the internal injuries they were sure were there. As others brought my name before God’s throne of matchless grace, the trauma doctor peered over my neck brace, looked into my eyes, and said, “You are a miracle! No internal bleeding! No head trauma!”
A sheet was pulled over my stomach as the surgeon told me not to look at it. In state after state, heads bowed and hushed tones whisphered my name to heaven. The surgeon looked confused and told me, “Your stomach is shredded, but no internal organs were cut. No surgery required. We can just staple you back together. I hope you know that you should not be here. You should not be ok. You are one lucky lady.”
Goodness and mercy followed me my whole hospital stay. I am healing and waiting at the airport to fly home to Chicago as I type. God looks to and fro throughout the earth and looks for ways to show Himself mighty and what a mighty miracle He gave us! All of the grace poured into what was broken, the peace that passed all understanding, the Joy that gave me strength for each mile. But the greatest of all of these is.
.. LOVE.
I didn’t need to hear beautiful poems or challenging short stories. I needed sincere, sweet, genuine words. LOVE is kind. I didn’t need someone who could explain the mystery of why this was happening with all their understanding & knowledge. I needed someone who figured out how they could help me and met my needs no matter the inconvenience to them. LOVE seeketh not her own. I didn’t need someone who’s faith was so strong they could come, lay hands on my abdomen, and heal me with no scars. I needed someone who would cry with me sometimes, trust with me that there was a purpose for this, push me to keep on through the pain, and point me to the big picture. LOVE beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things… I needed LOVE.
And, wow! Did He love on me!!! He sent me YOU! Thank you, each and every one of you! If you prayed for us, even just one prayer! If you sent me kind words, met a need we had, lifted our spirits, pushed us to keep believing ~ you have CHARITY. You don’t have to be gifted to have charity. You don’t have to be popular, you can love without ever being noticed. Charity is unassuming, in the shadows, unnoticed, background work, not flashy, hard, selfless, and unthanked. It will gain you no notoriety, no fame. But it is the most needed thing in this world and sadly, the most lacking.
There abides in this world those with strong, convicting, polarizing, attention-getting faith, unshakeable, soul-stirring, world- reknown hope, but in God’s book, the greatest of these is those who love.
Thank you to everyone who loved me through many different ways through this time in our lives. I may never get to say thank you properly or as you rightly deserve. Thank you for being my friends. Thank you for being people of charity.
In this world, YOU are the greatest of these…
I love you!
~ Jessica
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