Pardon any photos that might be too graphic. A year ago today my sister Rachel was on her way to Easter weekend services at church in Minnesota when an approaching car crossed the center line and hit her head-on.
When fire department personnel and paramedics arrived, it took an hour for them to extract her and her passenger (friend Brian) with the hopes that at least one of them – hopefully both – would survive. Honestly, it was touch and go. The med flight from the accident scene to the Twin Cities included some emergency blood transfusions just to keep Rach alive.
Brian had a fractured pelvis and a shorter, but still painful, hospitalization and recovery. For my sister, there were literally months of time in the ICU at Regions Hospital where we all took turns visiting – and you, my prayer warriors, were with me on those journeys. Thank you!
Three months after the accident, Rachel could finally return home. But it was during that time that my mom had her own home accident and ended up in a nursing home, then hospital, then passed away. We waited until Rachel was able to attend a funeral – months later – and that's where that top photo is from. All of us together – and our wardrobes giving a nod to Mom's love of flowers.
Today, Rachel is not out of the woods. She's fighting an infection from some of her new internal hardware. And, once that's clear, needs to have major surgery on that left leg that didn't heal at the correct angle.
What I've learned from this is that we can never take even the tiniest of moment of our lives for granted. Never take your family, your friends, your job, your health, your home, the air you breathe for granted. Life can change in the blink of an eye!
I also learned that when I reach out to friends and family – even strangers, there is an army of prayer warriors just waiting to support us, whether they've met my sister or not.
We so appreciate all of you for not only praying during the immediate crisis, but continually asking "How is your sister?" It means the world to all of us. And God is definitely listening.
In turn, I pray none of you have to go through anything remotely as stressful and painful as this. Treasure each minute of each day!