I Testify

 This is going to be a longer post, just a warning. ;)

On a side note, I Testify is an awesome song by Nigerian gospel singer Ada, and was probably my theme song for a couple years.

This post is more background on me and testifying the goodness of God in my life. 

Firstly, God. I know not all of my readers will be Christian, I have no issues with that at all, in fact just the opposite, just be aware that I am Christian, God is my Life, and I will be posting a lot of Christian material. Especially seeing as He is the reason I started this blog in the first place. Also, I believe in Jesus, and that God speaks and works here on earth through the Holy Spirit.

He gave me the name for this blog several years ago. The Word and His Pen. He is the Word and I am His Pen. One of His many instruments here on earth that He uses to speak through. 

I was baptized in Tanzania, East Africa, when I was seven years old. One of my older friends had lead another friend of mine, my own age to Christ. My parents are missionaries, I was raised in the church but I was just seven years old and obviously didn't understand everything. But when I heard my friend talking about accepting Jesus, my heart leapt. I didn't really know why but I knew that I wanted to do that too. Holy Spirit. I remember my friend who had accepted Jesus that same day had been crying as she spoke to our other friend and made the decision. I was slightly confused, but our other friend told me she was alright, that some people cried when they made that decision. I felt like dancing and twirling and celebrating! So I did! I think that joy was a taste of what it's like in Heaven when someone accepts Jesus. (Luke 15:10)  I was so excited, even though I did not know the full depth of this decision. I didn't know that it meant I would be saved from eternal death. I just felt the Holy Spirit and said yes. 

Also, all the adults were having worship service and us kids were over on the side having our own worship service. It was a teenager who helped me make the decision to accept Jesus as the Savior of my life. So kids and teens! Let God use you!! Don't let anyone tell you that you are too young! (1 Timothy 4:12) God can and will use you to do amazing things! Let Him set the limits on how far He wants to take you. Let Him be in control, not you or anyone else, He will guide you well in His plans for you. (Jerimiah 29:11)

So that is the testimony of how He first saved my life, of how He saved my life for eternity.

Now, for the second testimony of how He saved my earthly life, undoubtedly not for the first time.

What were you doing December 10th 2018? Do you remember? 

Well for me it started out as a normal for the time day. We were in Sierra Leone, West Africa, dealing with packing to go back to America for a few months, otherwise known as furlough. My Dad, my sister and I headed out to one of the villages where a majority of our friends lived, Mom stayed home to pack. We got to see two groups of our friends and we were off to visit another group. Dad was at the church talking to one of the pastors he mentored while my sister and I went off to visit our friends. 

We crossed to the middle of the street and then I didn't want to stay waiting in the middle of the street for the car to pass. I thought I had enough time to make it, so I ignored my sister telling me to wait and I ran across the rest of the way. 

Then I only vaguely remember looking up and seeing one of my friends holding my crying sister. Then the next time I came to more clearly was in the back of a car racing to the hospital, and that's where I remember my cousin telling me that I had been hit by a car. It was then I heard God tell me, "The devil wanted to kill you but I said no." 

Several miracles happened that day. 

1. I'm still alive.

2. Nothing happened to my sister or anyone else. The car that hit me was full of people and none of them were injured.

3. I wasn't injured anymore than I was.

4. I was hit right in front of the house of my EMT trained cousin. A pretty convenient place for that to happen if you ask me. 

5. My cousin was home with his car that day. Our car wasn't working so we took public transport into the village. 

I praise God for all of these things and so many more about that day. His angels were definitely there and protecting us. 

Another thing I love about looking back at that day is remembering family. The Sierra Leonean culture is heavily based on community. (Just a cultural side note. This is true in many other cultures. Honor and respect are huge, so for me especially as a child I would address anyone older than me as auntie or uncle and many of the people my Dad worked with truly felt like my aunties and uncles. And I was their child, or sister. That's just how the culture is. So I grew up knowing that family isn't just your blood relatives but can be a circle so much bigger.) When I was hit by the car two of my uncles went to the hospital with my cousin and my Dad. My cousins family kept my sister with them and called my Mom to tell her what happened. Another uncle of mine was not happy with the taxi driver at all and almost beat him up. At the hospital one of the top nurses is one of my aunties and she told the other nurses to take very good care of me because I was her child. All throughout the day and the experience my family and community was there for me. 

Anyway, I couldn't feel my right arm or move it. My Uncle Johnny messaged my arm literally for hours at the hospital trying to get the oxygen level back where it was supposed to be. (And later we were told that what my uncle did not only helped the healing process but meant that I wouldn't have to deal with amputation.) In the second hospital we went to they correctly diagnosed me, got me stitched up and told my Mom that there was no hospital where they could treat this injury in this country or the surrounding ones. Europe or America would have hospitals that could deal with this injury. Turns out that America only has five of those. 

So when we finally got to one of those hospitals we figured out that my arm is paralyzed. I have a brachial plexus injury. The brachial plexus is a bundle of five nerves in the neck/shoulder area. When I was hit by the taxi three of those nerves pulled out of my spine, the remaining two were just damaged. So eventually I had a nerve transfer surgery where they took healthy nerves, that will grow back, from my legs and patched up the two connected nerves.  

This post is already quite long and I've only scratched the surface but I am working on writing out the whole thing to be a book but for now I'll sum up the rest of the two years as best I can in a list.

1. I've learned so many things. Things like, I know now that I prefer physical pain to emotional pain. I was hit by a car, nerve pain can be excruciating, and surgery pain was not easy, and yet I much prefer that to moving and goodbyes. And God is always in control. And it is good to be proven wrong about some things, I used to hate hospitals, but I had amazing experiences when I had my three surgeries, all of them were pretty great, so I was wrong about hospitals. America is growing on me, slowly but surely. God is showing me that just because things are happening beyond my control, does not in the slightest bit mean that they are beyond His control. He has got it all.

2. I've done so many new things! Gotten hit by a car. Ridden in an ambulance. Had three surgeries. Used my left hand only for over two years, still going strong! :p Started a blog! Lived in America for longer than nine months at a time, learned how to do everyday things with one hand, went to a seminar for third culture kids, and many more!

3. Injuries I received from being hit by a taxi. Road rash, bloody nose, blue and yellow paint imbedded in my forehead proof that I hit the hood with my forehead before hitting the ground, tire marks or something of the sort, all which faded within a few weeks. Concussion, wound from wiping out the side mirror with my right hand, and paralyzed right arm. The surgeon said that he had never seen that amount of nerve damage without there being additional more serious injuries. Also known as its a miracle I'm alive! God has a plan for me which is why I'm still here! 

4. Survival is possible for sure, but it's always best to thrive. Over two years after the fact my arm is still paralyzed, still on pain meds, I'm in a different country, in a community I've never lived in before, moving is always hard multiply it at least by ten when you move continents, family is different, culture is different, weather is much colder than I'm used to and life is not easy. It's taken me well over two hours to type out this post! One handed typing just takes longer. 

And yet, just like in the Psalms when David is pouring his anger and frustrations to the Lord more often then not at the last couple verses he remembers how good God is. I will admit to only wanting to survive. Especially when we moved, but God has shown me even when I am where I didn't want to be He still is in control, He still has amazing plans far beyond my comprehension, He is good, and He loves me. If I'm not thriving right now I'm at least on the way to it. Things that I loved to do before I was hit, writing and crocheting, I have taught myself how to do them one handed. God has guided me through every stage, and while I pray and hope for complete healing, the doctors said I'll never get my arm or hand back 100%, but I'm going to trust the One who made me before I trust every word that comes out of the mouths of those He allowed to patch me up a bit. So my arm isn't healed yet. Big deal, God has continued to provide everything I need to thrive right now. 

My goodness that was long! Over three hours... but my hand isn't too sore after all that typing, so yay!

I said already that I was going to be vulnerable in this blog. I have found that when artists write songs that are vulnerable I can relate to them more than other songs and sometimes they help me more. So hopefully some of the things that I write here will help those also going through hard times. 

Matthew 28:20 My favorite verse!