From Tragedy to Triumph … My Testimony

Being able to write this testimony and this book is a miracle only by the grace of our Lord. On Saturday morning December 6, 2003 my youngest daughter and I were leaving to go and pick up my son who had spent the night before with his Dad. We live about 60 miles from where my son was. Our church family was having an outing for the boys in the youth group and my son was invited.

We left our house on what seemed to be a glorious day. It was the typical, sun shining, birds singing and cool breeze blowing kind of day. It was clear and absolutely gorgeous outside. We lived in a rural part of the state of Louisiana in a very small town called Iota. As we proceeded down the familiar road we had traveled many times in the past five years nothing seemed different. We had a new car. My oldest daughter who was in the military at this time gifted me with the car on my 40th birthday in July of the same year. I was so excited and very blessed because I had never had a new car. The car was small but very roomy. And it was just a blessing. As we approached the familiar intersection that we’ve passed a million times in the last five years something this day would occur that would be life changing and life rearranging. I now have a greater respect for the saying, ‘life as we knew it was over and a new life has begun.’

One moment in time we were driving and the next moment we woke up in a rice field. We had been involved in an automobile accident. Not just a fender bender, but a traumatic accident that changed our lives forever. I was told later by my daughter (Megan) that a vehicle crossing the intersection ran the stop sign and broadsided our vehicle at 65 miles per hour. We were driving a very small Ford Focus and the other vehicle was an SUV and was as strong as a tank. After impact our car spun around three times, took a leap into the air and went air born, then took a nose dive full force into the embankment of a twelve foot ditch and finally it came to rest in a rice field located on the opposite side from where we had been traveling.

I was trapped inside from the force of the impact. There right side of the vehicle now rested against the steering wheel. I could not move my right arm or anything from my shoulder down to my right knee. The door of the car was crushed against my body. What transpired in the next hours would be nothing but miraculous! My daughter Megan was driving and was thrown from the vehicle. She was belted in and still she was thrown. She flew three hundred feet. This journey took her across the rice field; the she proceeded to roll across the road way and finally ended when she landed face down in the ditch on the opposite side of the roadway we were traveling on. I am recalling for you the recollection of events as they transpired as they were spoken to me.

Only by the grace of God was my daughter able to crawl up out of the ditch, cross the road and then completely across the field, heading backwards in time, so it seemed towards what was left of me and the car. She showed no panic and immediately began praying and bound the spirit of death and commanded in the Name of Jesus the spirit of life to return into my body and then she smacked me in the right cheek with all her might. I was dazed and confused. My tongue was resting on my chest, blood was pouring from a head injury from where I had hit the windshield and cracked my forehead. I had no idea what had happened. I felt no pain; I remember asking God if I were dead. I remembered that Jesus is sensitive to grief and pain. I knew that if God is God anywhere He has to be God in this accident even in the face of death. I knew Jesus was my only hope and then John 11:25 came flooding into my Spirit, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me though he may die he shall live. And whomever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” I felt the Holy Spirit was telling me, if I believe I would see the Glory of God. In an instant I felt everything. I had never experienced pain in all my forty years of living like that. My mind raced and I imagined how Jesus felt on that cross. I recalled the words He spoke and remembered He said He had taken all our pain upon Himself that day and I thanked God for taking that pain. Instantly, all pain subsided and I could feel this peace come over my whole body and spirit.

As I laid there trapped inside the car the paramedics and the first response team began to arrive on the scene. The first team assessed my daughter and immediately called for Life Flight to transport her to the nearest hospital which was twelve miles away. She was lying on the ground in tremendous pain and I recall hearing them say she had broken her back in two places and her physical reactions were like people who have injured their spinal cord. I immediately went into a deep intercessory prayer. I prayed like I had never prayed before. I took authority over those words spoken over my child and commanded in the name of Jesus for them to fall to the ground and never take root and for satan to release her because he had no right to her because she was a child of God.

I commanded every part of her body to come in line with the Word of God and be made whole. I had no idea what my condition was my focus and greatest concern was on my daughter. As I lay there in the car waiting for them to cut me out with the Jaws of Life, scripture upon scripture came flooding into my spirit. I knew when the enemy comes in like a flood God will raise up a standard against him and I claimed that. I called upon Psalm 18:1-3, “I love you, O lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.” I knew God was with me. I knew I was coming out of this victoriously. Not somehow but triumphantly I was going to make it through.

As the first response team cut through the mangled car I had no idea what the extent of my injuries were. I did know that I could feel my right leg all the way from my upper thigh to my foot. However, I knew something was wrong with my left leg because I had no feeling from my upper thigh all the way down to my foot. I somehow knew it was attached because I could feel the existence of a shoe but the physical feeling just wasn’t there. I pounded my right foot to get leverage on the car floor board but when I attempted to do that on the left side I got nothing. This began to scare me however; God had placed at my side someone whom I knew for a very long time. He was a police officer in our little town and he just so happened to be off duty on this day. Mike stayed by my side the whole time the rescue team worked to get me out of the car. I questioned him as to why I could not feel anything in my left foot. He got up from where he was kneeling down by my daughter’s side of the car and looked down at the floor board on my side. What he told me really did not surprise me so I wasn’t shaken by his words. He said for me not to pound my left foot down on the floor board any more because it was broken.

I listened and agreed and then took authority over broken bones in the foot. What I was to learn about my foot later really came as a shock and blew my mind. They finally got me out of the car after three hours of being trapped and transferred me into the ambulance and once again God placed someone at the scene that I knew well. Pastor Enoch Delaphouse was there and I remember him asking me what I wanted him to do. All I could tell him was pray! “Pray Mr. Enoch just please pray.” While in the ambulance I did not recall much except that everything was gray. It appeared that a great big gray cloud hovered just directly above me. In fact I could almost break a piece of that cloud off and hold it. If I wanted to see clearly what was going on in the present I had to look down beneath the cloud. It really was amazing, but I had this sense of peace. A peace I was accustomed to. But today that peace seemed magnified.
The paramedics were scurrying around frantically trying to stabilize my condition and I wasn’t even aware of what my condition was. I had great peace, I felt wonderful, and I was riding in the back of the bumpy ambulance. I wondered why the paramedics were so worried. I had no idea. I just had this sweet and comfortable peace.

When I arrived at the first hospital everyone was racing everywhere. They were calling for what seemed to be a million x-rays and blood and fluids and only God knows what else. My greatest concern was my child. She had arrived there about three hours before me. That was really surprising. It felt like five minutes, but I was told three hours. It took two hours to get me out of the car and on the way to treatment. Later I was told by the state trooper that it was an hour before he arrived at the scene because the person that called this accident in reported it as a fatality. I was amazed.

As the hospital technicians administered their test I was told things that I really could not believe. It was here that the extent of my injuries would be revealed and how blessed I was feeling in spite of their words. I had two broken ribs the first two right below the sternum, a concussion caused from my forehead smashing the windshield which had caused a bleed into my brain, burns and lacerations to my face and neck from the seat belt during our flight in mid air, multiple massive bruises all over my body, my kidneys were crushed, my liver was lacerated almost in half and my spleen had exploded. And if this wasn’t enough my left femur was fractured and my left foot was severed from my body and was hanging on by two inches of skin. There were eight pieces of my foot missing and I had no visible sign of my left ankle. The only evidence of an ankle being there was bone dust. I had bled many pints of blood into my abdomen and also out of my body and my prognosis was bleak.

As I lay there on the stretcher finally, I heard my daughter’s voice. I was so excited. She was fine! She was telling me what my foot looked like and I was rebuking her words! I’ve had the pleasure of hearing her voice every day for nineteen years but on that particular day it was not only a blessing but also soothing to my inner man. I remember hearing the doctor calling for them to prepare the operating room. I questioned him “why” and his answer was met with one of the strongest rebukes I had ever issued.

He stated the operating room was being prepared for amputation. I turned and looked at him and said in the name of Jesus I don’t think so. I rebuke that and I am not receiving that curse. He told me, Ma’am, your foot is in pieces, in fact eight pieces are missing and it is no longer attached to your body. I told him, “Can you fix it?” He said, “no.” Amputation was what he recommended. Well I said you can put the pieces into a bag and send me where they can repair this foot. I watch ‘Lifeline’ and I know there has to be a doctor that can reconstruct even this. He went on to say, “There are many pieces of your foot missing and you have no left ankle”; amputation is the only way to repair.” I said sternly, “God will grow the bones”, and that was all I had to say to him. The words of Mark 11:24 came flooding into my spirit, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

I believed that God would grow new pieces for my foot or even give me a new one and that was what I was standing on. I told that doctor that we serve and awesome and mighty living God and I knew what He is capable of. What was not accomplishable with man God would and could do! So they bagged me up and sent me and my daughter packing into another ambulance and headed for a larger town with greater trauma and medical facilities.

I was amazed that my daughter who had flown in Air Med to the hospital with a broken back had just climbed into this ambulance and was at my side. She was bruised and very sore but completely whole! I had no doubt our Lord had heard my prayers for her and according to the words of life spoken in Psalm 72:12-14, “He will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in His sight.” He healed her.

The Longest Second Ride

As we traveled twenty six more miles headed towards Lafayette Louisiana which was a much larger city with greater trauma facilities I could still feel this peace around me. A peace that seemed like I was not here on earth, but elevated above what was taking place. The paramedic that road in the back with me happen to remember me from high school. I had no idea at that time who he was but he assured me that he knew me. He never once indicated how dire and extremely serious my condition was. My daughter continued to be a source of joy and laughter. Her jokes about the condition of my clothing and the look of my hair took the edge off the criticalness of what I had gone through. It seemed like this twenty six mile ride was taking forever. I knew where the source of my comfort was. Psalm 119:50 says, “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.”

I knew God was in control. God has ordained that His Word, made powerful by the Spirit, will bring comfort, hope and strength to His faithful as we experience trouble and sorrow. Because God’s Word is living and active, it has the power to revive and restore us who abide in it and in God. When in trouble, turn to the Lord and His Word and wait for His Spirit to impart His life and peace to you. I felt as though I was transported on a cloud. In Psalm 34:7&17, it says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them. The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them.” I knew God had appointed His angels to protect and rescue us from spiritual and physical harm. This promise of divine intervention is reserved for everyone who trust in God.

The paramedics continued to concern themselves with my pain and blood pressure. I actually felt no pain. And even though my blood pressure was extremely low I felt wonderful. Upon arriving in Lafayette, the trauma center had been alerted. When they wheeled me into triage the nurses and doctors were amazed that someone in my present condition had even lasted this long.

While we were at the accident sight a very dear woman from our home church was alerted in the Spiritual realm to pray and intercede for me. I was not able to speak to this woman, but her brother was on the First Response team that cut me out of the car. He immediately called his sister Charmaine, who is a number one intercessor, close personal prayer partner and friend of mine. Even before I arrived at the first hospital she had been in deep intercessory prayer. My daughter had called my Pastor, Joe Gall of the Haven Church and he and Wanda a great intercessory prayer leader met us at the hospital. I was really blessed to be a part of such a wonderful group of Holy Spirit filled intercessors. The church, though few in number, was able to make great waves in the Spiritual realm with their deep and unending intercessory prayer. His wife, Pastor Sue Gall was on prayer alert at their home.

By the time I arrived at the second hospital it seemed like the whole world knew what was going on except me. My daughter placed a call to my Spiritual Mother, Pastor Mary Ann Cole of New Testament Outreach Ministries. Pastor Cole, whose mighty ministry lies in Spiritual Warfare, then alerted all the prayer warriors from her ministry as well as some prayer warriors from the other surrounding ministries. If you ever need prayer these people are the ones that need to be standing in the gap for you. I knew the prayer covering was intense because I had such a great peace about the whole situation. I was and am a firm believer in the power of prayer. I was always taught that prayer was not preparation for the battle, it was the battle. I really don’t think these people were aware of just exactly how critical the situation was, but I know God was on the scene.

The doctors decided that the first order of business would be to get my blood pressure stabilized and to prepare the operating room so they could piece back together the pieces of my left foot and my calf bone. I would later learn that this fracture was caused from the tremendous force from the impact on the front of the car when it took the nose dive into the side of the ditch. It was a multiple compound fracture that exited out of the skin. I was told by the doctor that she did not know if she could save my foot. I was also alerted that she did not even think I would survive the operation. I had no idea what she meant I just knew that I was not going to die.

Back Together …. So I Thought

When I awoke from the surgery I really don’t remember what I said or did. I was not aware of anything, nor did I recognize anyone who was with me. The ventilator tube prevented me from talking and I remember an excessive thirst. I made it through the first night and then in the morning December 7, 2003 I was reminded of God’s promise in, 1 Peter 3:17-18, “It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body and made alive by the Spirit.” Even though my physical body felt like I was dead, I knew that my Spirit was alive and kicking (so to speak).

Suddenly, my blood pressure began to drop drastically once again. By this time my whole family was there. My church family, close relatives and life long friends. The doctors alerted the operating room that I was coming down again. All symptoms pointed to a major internal bleed from somewhere. They alerted my Dad that I was not going to make it. I was literally dying. They told him to contact everyone that was not there and let them know. My son was with his Dad in a near by city. They told him over the phone that his Mother was in a very serious car accident and my injuries were so severe that I was not expected to make it through the surgery. I praise God that they spoke to my ex-husband who was now a powerful man of God and he took those words and shot them back in the devil’s face and basically told him where to go with them.

My Dad contacted the Red Cross in order to get an urgent message to my daughter Olivia who was in the military and stationed 2500 miles from us. I praise God to this day that this particular call never made it through. It seemed like everyone I’ve ever known was at the hospital. I remember some, but most of the people I thought were there weren’t physically there but spiritually there. The whole situation was amazing to me. The doctor told me he held no hope of my coming through the operation. I remember asking him why he thought like that. He replied, “Because your blood pressure is 70/30, and you have surgery ahead of you”, and for some reason I was bleeding out every pint of blood they put in me and they had no idea where it was going. I looked at him and asked him if he knew his business. He replied, “He was the best in the business.” So I told him just as boldly as I could, “Then get to your business I am not going to die...I died yesterday.” I said I loved you to all my family and friends and miraculously four and one half hours later I was back in ICU. Back on the ventilator and back on the critical list. During the surgery the doctor discovered that my spleen had burst, and my liver was lacerated quite extensively almost in half to be exact. I was given many more pints of blood and they removed what was left of my spleen and repaired my liver.

I hated that ventilator. I can remember trying my best once I was more alert to pull that thing out of my throat. Four days after the second surgery I pleaded silently with God to help me get this thing out of my body. I can remember petitioning and pleading with Him for what seemed like days. Once, when my son and daughter were visiting with me I tried to pull the line out. The nurses scolded me but I was determined to be released from that bondage. I lay there silently for four days unable to speak or write and I had had enough. I motioned for them to get the doctor and get this thing out! When you breathe normally you take quicker breaths than the ventilator was allowing so during the lapse in breaths it feels like you are suffocating.

The doctor came in and decided since I was breathing on my own that they could take the line out. I was never so grateful. When they removed the line that held my throat bound I felt as though I had gone through deliverance. The first thing I remember saying was, “It’s about time!” They were amazed at how well I could speak. I told them it was because I had been having a long argument with God about this thing. Although I was still dazed, confused and drugged on pain medicine I really felt wonderful. I had a two foot long scar and 175 staples on my abdomen and my foot was bandaged extensively. I had cuts on my forehead and neck and I was bruised everywhere. What really upset me was that the hospital staff did not even clean me. I laid there with dried blood and dried mud everywhere. I was later told they were not going to bother cleaning me and let the funeral home do that job. I told them, the devil is a liar. Now you can clean me.

With all my vital signs stable and my pain under control they decided after fours days in ICU to move me to the critical care floor. The transition went fine. My bed was comfortable and I had no problems rolling from side to side. The staff of this hospital were amazed that I had made it through what seemed like a death sentence. I know there were people out there that were upset that I had pulled through. However, the one being that was really mad was satan. He really thought he had me this time. Psalm 70:2-3 says, “May those who seek my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, Aha! Aha! Turn back because of their shame.”

Before wheeling me into surgery the doctor spoke to my Pastor, my friend Wanda and my daughter Megan and basically told them the same thing she told me. I was so very thankful that those words were commanded to fall to the ground and never take root. They took authority over the situation in the name of Jesus and commanded Satan to loose his hold on me.

The surgery to repair my foot took six and one half hours; I was given eight pints of blood and put on the critical list. What was left of my left foot and shin bone was now a mess of metal plates, rods, hinges and screws. My shin bone was sawed down to fit my new ankle and the torn muscle, ligaments, tendons and tissue were reattached. Due to the construction of the hardware, adjustments were needed. I was transported to ICU and put on life support systems. My condition was listed as extremely critical. I was given less than a 50/50 ‘chance’ of survival. I praise God that ‘chance’ is not in His vocabulary!

After 2 months in the hospital and another 10 months of not being able to walk I am here today, complete through Christ, with 12 pounds of titanium in my left foot and leg, and scars that tell the testimony of 'Who's' I am I am able to give God the glory everyday of my life! Only by His grace was I redeemed from the curse of an early death because Jesus holds the keys of death, hell and the grave! I can still hear Him saying to satan, "Not now devil, this one is mine." Watch for this miracle testimony to be available in print with my next book, "From Tragedy to Triumph" 'The Accident'.........These days I spend my time encouraging those in these situations as well as other situations to reach for His hand and look up not down because we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through Christ our Lord and the Lifter of our heads!


Blessings,
Cecile Jo