Foothills Family Member Bonnie Taylor tells her story during a recent Advent service at Foothills Church.
Hello, I was asked to talk about my testimony as it pertains to Joy.
I would like to start with the thought that having the hope in Jesus Christ is what really helps to have true Joy in the Lord. Joy is a wonderful gift from the Holy Spirit. In a world where we have suffering and hard times, it is good news to hear that joy is possible. In Nehemiah 8:10b it says “ Do not sorrow, for the Joy of the Lord is your strength.
Many of you know bits of my story of the last 16 months, but many do not.
We all saw the tree and knew what was about to happen.
On August 17th of 2018 I was camping at Big Lake with my extended family and friends: the Burns and Richardsons. This is a trip my family has been doing every year since I was 8 and is something we all look forward to. There are about 45 people in our party, and we hike, bike, swim, boat and eat big family meals together. It was this afternoon that Janci Burns, Sarah Richardson and I decided to go tubing before we made dinner. The tube was a couch style tube that you sat up in and it held all 3 of us. I was on the right side, Janci was in the middle and Sarah on the left. None of us like crazy fast rides, so Jason Burns was doing such a great job making sure we had the “ right amount” of thrill. I can honestly say I was laughing like I hadn’t laughed in awhile. Such JOY! During the ride the boat, got a little too close to shore. Jason corrected a little so that we would head back into the lake, but the momentum sent us arching to the right and closer to shore. This part of Big Lake is littered with large boulders and trees that have fallen into the water. We all saw the tree and knew what was about to happen. Our tube collided with the tree. Since I was on the right side, I made first contact and sustained more injuries than the others.
Let’s see what we can do with this.
I love that we were able to see how much God’s hand was in what was to follow. I have a very vivid memory of those few moments between impact and the chaos that was about to happen. I was laying near the shore looking up into the sky and God just smiled down and whispered, “ Let’s see what we can do with this.”
As I lay there, I assessed my situation. Can I wiggle my toes? Yep, not paralyzed. I had a searing pain in my right thigh and my chest hurt really bad. I assumed I had broken ribs. It was hard to breathe and nearly impossible to talk. I slowly reached up and grabbed a branch to try to keep from drifting into the boulders as the waves from other boats were coming in. Sarah came to my side and then stayed with me as long as she could.
The medics were concerned that my broken ribs might puncture my lungs.
The first boat that came to help had a nurse and a police officer in it. Isn’t God so good? They triaged the situation and then started to come up with a plan. Their boat had a swim deck, so they moved me onto the deck and stabilized my body as best they could, then drove very slowly to the camp across the lake where the ambulances were headed. Once in the ambulance, I drifted in and out of consciousness. The medics were concerned that my broken ribs might puncture my lungs. It was decided that I needed to be life flighted to St. Charles Hospital in Bend. Once the tests were complete and my injuries were totaled, it was determined that I had a shattered pelvis, a broken sacrum, a fractured L2 vertebrae, and 7 broken ribs.
God saved us with that submerged tree. Without it we would have collided with the boulders instead or crashed onto the shore on the other side of the cove and our story would be much different. I later found out that the tree was covered with dangerous branches. God made sure we hit it in the right spot. None of us had cuts from impact. Later when camp was cleaned up, they realized that what had popped the inner tube was a thick branch that punctured the tube right behind where my back was. Again, isn’t our God so good? My daughter Courtney made an ornament for our Christmas tree with part of the branch that they dug out of the tube so we can celebrate it. We are joyful for that tree and for our wonderful God.
The next week was a blur of physical therapy and pain meds.
The accident happened on a Friday afternoon. I had to wait till Monday morning for surgery where the doctors screwed pins into my hips and attached an external metal fixator to hold everything into place till the bones healed. The next week was a blur of physical therapy and pain meds. I had to learn how to get out of bed (at first the nurses would just spin me); I had to learn to stand up and pivot, then later to walk, which was really more of a hop. There were so many obstacles to overcome. Through it all I had my husband, friends, family and God by my side. The following Friday I was moved to Bend Transitional Care for almost 3 weeks so that I could learn enough skills to return home.
It was our first night at BTC (after a traumatic moving experience) that my husband Shawn and I were humbled and prayed to God thanking Him for letting us be his vessels to show others His love and goodness. Since then we have had many opportunities to talk and pray with people who tell us that the thing they most impacted by is our lack of anger at the situation and the joy that we have had through it all. We have only been able to respond this way because God is by our side and the Holy Spirit is within us.
I am a child of God!
Through my healing process, it felt like everything that defined me was taken away— my roles as mother, wife, friend, worker, and church helper. Through this, God reminded me that the most important “title” I have, did not and will not ever change. I am a child of God! I am so joyful for that reminder.
I had the external fixator on for 9 weeks. After it was removed, there were months of physical therapy and healing. My family and I have learned to be joyous through it all. The path that we are on is not always the path that we imagined, but it is always one we can find joy in with God by our side.