Personal Testimony - Dark Clouds, Stormy Clouds, At Last, Sunshine
By Elide Richard
My name is Elide Richard and I will
be sharing my testimony today. About two and a half years ago God saved my
life; I was lost spiritually, I was down-and-out financially, and the pressure
of being a college student was certainly getting to me. I once had a friend who
told me, “In life you are either in a storm, leaving a storm or on your way to a
storm”; I was in the midst of my storm. Towards the latter part of August 2015
I was experiencing difficulty in life that I’m sure you all could relate to, it
seemed nothing was working in my favor. Looking back on that time of my life, it’s
easy to connect the dots, but if you had asked me during that time, I wouldn’t
want to admit it; however, I knew I didn't have the best relationship with God. In
fact, He was usually always my last resort in the time of need. In my mind, my relationship with Christ was not where it needed to be so I foolishly resisted the call He repeatedly had given me, I hadn’t really cultivated that relationship with
Christ, and as a result, I didn’t have any sense of direction. But, there was one thing that I
understood, I was really in need of Christ. It came to a point where I could no
longer ignore that missing void in my life.
“In life you are either in a storm, leaving a storm or on your way to a storm”
So here is my story. The last week
of August as the storm clouds over my life began to thicken; it occurred to me
that financially I was in a shambles; I was literally at my breaking point. I
remember one day as I was driving to work I called out to the Lord asking for His help because I didn't know what else to do. Suddenly I felt like the Spirit
spoke to me instantly and told me that I was robbing God. And it occurred to me
that I could not remember the last time I paid tithes since I began my new job;
I fell into a cycle that most Christians easily get trapped in. Paying tithes
was not a necessity in my life, it became more of an afterthought more times
than not. I kind of just paid whenever I felt like I had enough to pay. That in itself was a clear indication of the lack of communication that me
and my Lord had at the time. That was my downfall, I didn't have faith that God
would always provide no matter how big or small my income was. I remember
promising myself that the very first thing I would do is take out my tithes
once I got paid, I also told myself no matter what bills I had I would no
longer put it over God, because my Lord would always be greater. So Friday came
around and I went to the bank to withdraw my tithes along with some money for
other expenses. To my amazement as I checked my balance at the ATM it struck me
to see my paycheck had nearly double in amount. This miracle was nearly impossible,
as I knew that it couldn’t be overtime pay or bonuses because my job didn't allow overtime
and we rarely got bonuses. I COULD’NT BELIEVE IT, I was in complete shock! I was
with a close friend of mine and asked her to take a look just in case my eyes
were playing tricks on me. In an instant it clicked, God hadn’t given up on me
and He was showing me in a big way that I’m still his child and he reminded me
that He would be with me through any difficult moments that I would come across
in my life. Sabbath came and I gave back everything that was due to God, and I
remember praying that Sabbath that God may help to change my life around
because I was not living right. Little did I know that things in my life were
about to change dramatically so much so that it helped build the foundation of
my Christian Journey.
My sister's birthday was the
following week and a few friends of ours gathered together to go out to eat at
a restaurant near the beach to celebrate her big day. Getting ready that
night for my sister’s birthday nothing was going right but I was determined to
go no matter what, even though there were big red flags indicating that I needed
to stay home because trouble was near. We all met up at the home of my
sister’s friend and we left together. When we got to the beach we couldn't get in
anywhere that night because my friend and my cousin were under 21 and they
wouldn't let us in. My sister thought it was getting late and there was no
point in forcing things so we went back to her friend’s house. On our way back
I slept the whole ride home due to the fact that I worked a really long shift
that day and it was really tired. By the time we got back to her house I felt
rejuvenated and energized and thought to myself do I really wouldn't want a
perfectly good night to go to waste. I looked at my friend and my cousin and I
could tell we all were thinking the same thing, so we all got in my car and
left. We went to this hangout lounge that we would go to occasionally, but when
we got there we just sat in my car and we didn't know if we wanted to go in
anymore, for some strange reason the mood just didn’t feel right anymore and so
we sat in the car for about half an hour debating if we should go in or not and
we decided not to so we left. Usually when it's late I have my cousin drive
just because there are times when it's late I get a little tired, but for some
strange reason I couldn't bring myself to ask her to drive for me, so I just
decided to drive. The drive back home was really quiet which almost rarely
happens because as the young ladies that we are we usually have something to
talk about. But I said to myself we all had a long day we are all probably just
tired so we just drove back in silence. My friend usually sleeps over when we
are coming in late from anywhere but that night I decided to take her home so I
rerouted and headed towards her place. After I dropped her off it was just my
cousin and I in the car, it was a pretty quiet drive back home but I didn't
mind it. As I was driving all I can remember was that I started to drive a
little slower…and then everything went blank from there. I felt my car going
out of control and hitting everything that was near it, then the car finally
came to a stop on top of a sidewalk, I quickly looked around to see what car
hit me so hard that my car spin out of control like it did. When I looked around
there was no sign of any car. Then I came to realization that I had fallen
asleep at the wheel, went over a median, hit a tree and lost control. My cousin
was screaming asking what happened, our emotions were heightened, blood was
everywhere and we were hurt. I can remember saying how sorry I was because it
was my fault.
The first thing we tried to do was
get out of the car. My cousin got out the car safely, while I was trying to get
out of the car what I saw in front of me was what was going to change my life
forever. I looked down because I
couldn't move, both my legs had been broken, all I saw was flesh and bones.
I remembered just calling out to Jesus for help, the bottom of my feet began to
burn as the car overheated and I was afraid of what could have happened next. I
had asked my cousin to help pull me out of the car when a lady and a man came
out of nowhere asking me if I needed help, the man quickly called 911. When the
lady saw my legs she stopped my cousin and told her I should stay in the car
because if I moved my legs, the situation could get worse, it was as if God sent them to our rescue. I thought to myself “could
it get any worse than this”, she held my hand which was filled with blood and
tried to keep me calm until the ambulance came. They finally came, they used
the Jaws of Life to help me out the car and then quickly rushed me to the
hospital. When I arrived at the hospital my legs were in such bad condition that
they put me to sleep until the surgeon came in to operate on me. Two days later
I woke up in the ICU confused. The first thing I looked at were my legs hoping
it was a bad dream. Since I was under anesthesia for so long I didn't know I was
in the hospital for two days so I called a nurse in and told her I need to call
my parents to let them know what happened. She told me not to worry “your
parents already know, you've been here for about two days now”.
[Actual Crash Photo ]
As I waited for my family to arrive
I kept thinking to myself this happened on purpose, the devil tried to take me
out that night and he failed because God is greater and He had greater plans
for me. God wanted to use me and he made that clear to me. When my parents
arrived I cried so hard apologizing and they told me everything was okay that
my life is more important than whatever happened. Later on that day they told
me that while I was under anesthesia they had a difficult decision to make; the
doctors wanted to amputate my legs. The doctor told my family that my legs were
severely damaged and I had developed an infection, which consumed nearly 15% of
my leg. My parents explained what the doctor said, if it got any more serious
they would have to have a difficult conversation about whether or not to
amputate my leg. But the man of faith that I know that my dad is, he told them NO
right away, he said there had to be another alternative. The doctor walked away
and said they would see what they could do.
My dad called a couple of people
from our church and told them what happened, they quickly came over and prayed
over me that whole night. Later on that morning we would witness the presence
of God as he sent another surgeon to speak to my father, as he walked in the
room observing the situation you noticed a different demeanor in this man, as
he opened his mouth to ask which one of the many people in the room with me
that night was my father you could see the purpose on his face. The aura in the
room immediately changed, as he began to speak to my father a feeling the faith
settled down upon me. He told my dad we will be able to save her legs but that
It will take awhile before I could get back on my feet and that he will try his
best to see what he could do. Friends and family filled up the ER praying for
me that night and God saved me. The next morning I was fully alert and awake, I
felt like a whole new person like all the stress and weight had been lifted off
of my shoulders even in the condition that I was in and hearing what I had to
go through. At that moment I knew God wanted to use me as his personal servant
he wanted me to walk out of darkness and into the light. God sent so many
people to comfort me and help me and I was so grateful, and he also sent
financial help to aid with the well of bills that seemed to be piling up. Suddenly
it was all taken care of I had family and friends, all pouring out help for me.
For a moment, in possibly one of the toughest conditions a person could be in I
felt the most at peace I’ve been in a while. It served to show me that God
would always provide. I gained something greater than that, I gained my
happiness again and I hadn't been happy for a long time.
"And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain." (2 Samuel 23:4)
The following months would be
challenging, but through it all my faith, my faith, sustained me and the
foundation of my relationship with Christ had been put in place. I spent three
months in a wheelchair but I was determined to walk again through God’s
strength. I endured four surgeries before they put me in a leg brace. My first
time standing after three months was very challenging but I was determined to
get on my feet again. They finally put me on a walker before sending me back to
rehab and everyday I got up and walked around the rehab center even if I wasn’t
doing therapy. The doctors told me I would have been in the wheelchair for
another 6 months to another year or so. However, I was determined to get on my
feet and never got back in that wheelchair. I used the walker as my support for
a few months and then started walking on my own. After undergoing eight
surgeries I am blessed to say that I am still alive and well and best of all, I
am walking again and I am walking in the path with Christ.
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