Designed to Mend

When I was newly married, just 21 years old, I was involved in a single car accident that left me pretty banged up and with a concussion. It was New Years Day, 1991, at dusk. I was tooling along the same road I had driven hundreds of times. I knew the recent thaw would cause some spillage of melted snow into the road, but this specific one was a surprise of hard ice that made my little car flip twice and land upright in the ditch. Thankfully, the first person to come upon me was the sheriffs deputy. I remember very little of the moments between hitting that iceberg and coming to, in the hospital ER. I had a gash across my forehead that was down to the skull and required stitches, a dislocated shoulder, and my nose was crushed. 

It could have been so much worse,  but that accident affected the rest of my life in a few ways—a permanent, noticeable scar, and my nose required a couple of surgeries. I’ve suffered with sinus issues ever since. I was very apprehensive to even be in a car for a month or so after that, and was off work for almost two months—some PTSD there, no doubt. My attitude changed, as well—I wasn’t nearly as confident and it took a long time to feel “right” again. 

We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get back to who we were, before this horrible thing happened:  before the accident, before the divorce, before the financial crisis, before the death of the one we miss so much. When these trials happen, we are not wise to what the possible reasons were, and usually there is no way we could have prevented it—we aren’t omniscient. Would it be easier to contend with if we just take a step back, review the “before”, look at the “now”, and figure out a way to make those horrible pieces of grief and hurt blend into a new normal? Are you and I willing to put the anger and questions on the shelf long enough to allow time, circumstances, the Creator, to form us into what we were always meant to be?  Body, mind, and spirit alike, we are formed to collaborate and heal.

Are we willing to do those hard things to achieve peace with ourselves and what has happened?  There is always a first step—maybe it’s as simple as realizing there IS a problem, and you don’t want to live like this anymore. 

Reach out to us—research—pray—seek medical help. Be your own advocate. You ARE worth a better life!

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