If you follow my blog pretty regularly, you’ve probably
noticed that I haven’t posted in a while. In fact, the last post that I wrote
was on Friday, January 17th. Just before going to bed that night, I wrote a
story about a little dog that I encountered on the hiking trails behind the
Garni House. I wrote about how this dog taught me a lesson about trusting in God
even when we have to face hardships, distractions, and obstacles—even when the
circumstances of life get really tough. (Just scroll down to my last post if
you want to read the whole thing.)
As I sat in my room writing that post, I never would have
imagined that the very next morning my housemates and I were about to face
one of the greatest challenges and tests of faith that we have ever before
experienced. On Saturday morning, my dear friend, housemate, and fellow English
teacher at BFA, Laura, was seriously injured in an accident at an indoor rock
climbing facility. She fell from the wall and landed on her back causing a
severe injury to her spine. I was with her during the accident as were several
of my other housemates. We called the EMT and Laura was rushed to the hospital
in Basel for emergency back surgery.
When the doctors first saw the x-rays,
they were basically convinced that Laura would never walk again. As I’m sure
you can imagine, this was some pretty difficult news for all of us to hear. At
that moment, everything seemed so hopeless. It became so easy to question where
God was in the whole situation. How could a loving God have let something like
this happen?
Just like the sun is still shining
behind the clouds on a cloudy day, God was still with us, even through the
seeming darkness. As we waited and cried and prayed and wondered what would
happen next, evidence of God’s love, grace, and truth began to shine into our
lives like beams of hope. The surgery went well, very well in fact. The doctors
were so impressed by the post-surgery x-ray that they changed from their
earlier conclusions—walking was no longer out of the realm of the possible (not
by any means, likely or easy…but at least they were acknowledging the
possibility). What amazing evidence that God was already beginning to work healing
in Laura’s body!
Another way that God’s light began to
shine was through Laura herself. Her outstanding courage, sincere faith,
positive spirit, and ever-present sense of humor have not dwindled during this
past month of hardship and trials. That doesn’t mean that Laura never feels exhausted
or discouraged, of course she does—we all do at times. But, I have never seen this
exhaustion or discouragement get in the way of Laura’s faith in God. Instead, I
have watched as Laura strives to be a light to the people around her, first to the
nurses and doctors at the hospital and now to the patients, nurses, therapists,
and doctors at the rehabilitation center. I praise God for the attitude of hope
and courage that he has put within her. I know that she would want no credit to
herself, but God has truly been shining through her in some pretty spectacular
ways! :)
The fact that Laura has been able to
stay in Basel for rehabilitation has also been a blessing. Her parents were
able to come and stay with her—first both her mom and dad at the hospital, and
then later just her mom at the rehabilitation center. They have both left now
to go back to the States, but what a blessing it was for Laura to have them
here with her for the first few weeks.
As you probably gathered from the
previous paragraph, Laura has “graduated” from the hospital and is now staying
at a rehabilitation center in Basel. The center is very nice with a place for
aqua therapy and even a “petting zoo,” (I don’t know what else to call it…a menagerie,
perhaps?) complete with horses, donkeys, pigs, parrots, bunnies, dogs, cats, and
other furry friends.
Laura
has physical therapy every day at the center to help her learn how to use her
“walking muscles” again. Though therapy is extremely exhausting, Laura has been
able to make some pretty exciting progress. She was able to stand with leg
support and was even able to take a few steps with the help of some parallel
bars and three assisting physical therapists! Please join me in continuing to
pray for Laura’s strength and healing. She still has a long way to go, but I am
so excited to see how God has been working already. If you would like to follow
the steps of Laura’s journey of recovery, she has a blog at http://posthope.org/laurasjourney.
I love reading her updates since I am not able to go visit her everyday in
Basel.
However, last Saturday, I did have the opportunity to visit
Laura with all of the Garni girls. It was a wonderful time of being together
and celebrating Laura’s birthday. Here is a picture of all of use together.
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| Celebrating with Laura on her birthday |
I have more updates to come, especially about the new
classes that I am now teaching at BFA, so be sure to check back for my next
post. :)
