Scripture Meme

Just been 'tagged' by Simon (http://bromleyboy.blogspot.com/) to share a passage of scripture that I inhabit, keep returning to, feel haunted by ...

Simon's was from Jeremiah and, coincidentally, so is mine! Same chapter, even. Just four verses on: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29.11)

In the summer of 1990, at the end of the first year of a teacher training course, I wrapped my Morris Marina around a tree and came off worst. I suffered a broken neck, severe head injuries, and a shattered right femur. I was in a coma for ten days.

My church, as soon as they heard the news, set up a 24 hour prayer-vigil, and (mysteriously?) my neck turned out not to be broken after all. One vague memory I have from that summer is finding a neck brace in my bedside locker and asking what it was for! However, the head injuries were still very serious - there was a real risk of brain damage (I'll let you draw your own conclusions on that one) - and my leg was a mess.

After three months in hospital I was discharged in a wheelchair, with metal plates in my leg, and a definite feeling that God had 'saved my life'.

I continued the B.Ed. course, but the following summer began to suffer considerable pain with the leg again. It swelled up, and I was admitted to hospital again - this time with septicaemia. The bone had become infected, and was giving me blood poisoning. I underwent a number of operations that summer - first to remove the metalwork, and then to try to identify and remove the seat of the infection. It seems that a fragment of bone had not reconnected with the blood supply and rotted deep inside the femur. But the surgery had no effect than to provide the infection with a route to the outside, and I was left with a painful sore, oozing smelly green pus. It had to be dressed twice a day, even after I left hospital, and I was taking whole handfuls of antibiotics.

This condition continued for a long, long time. It didn't do much for my dating prospects! And it didn't do much for my relationship with God, either. I began to ask why, if God had saved my life, healed my broken neck and head injuries, etc., I was left with this ongoing and disgusting problem.

That's when the verse from Jeremiah began to be very important to me. I did trust that God had a plan, and that somehow through all this he was working in me and changing me for something. It wasn't always easy to hold onto that, and I went through some really low times. But I kept coming back to that verse.

In 1994 I was referred to a specialist surgeon in London. I underwent some fairly major surgery - I was teaching my now, and took a whole term off work - to remove as much of the infected bone a possible. The operation was not a success.

Six months later I went under the knife again. This time the surgeon literally hollowed out the femur, scraping as much infected stuff out as he possibly could. Then, instead of stitching me back up at the end, he left the wound open, packed it with antiseptic beads (which had to be removed a couple a day using a pair of pliers!) and soaked the whole area with antibiotics. The end result, though, was that the infection looked worse than ever.

So I asked to see my surgeon to ask what was going on. He admitted that the operation had not been a success, and said that we needed to start considering amputation. If I had felt low in the previous few years, I was now at rock bottom.

However, my uncle - an Anglican vicar, and at the time director of the Acorn Healing Trust - came to visit me in hospital. He served me communion at my bedside. He then anointed my head with oil for healing. Finally, he anointed my hands with oil for service, saying, 'God hasn't finished with you yet.'

Visiting time over, the surgeon came back to see me, and to change the antibiotics with which I was being treated.

24 hours later the infection had cleared up. 48 hours later I was discharged from hospital. Within the week I had spoke to my minister about training for the Baptist ministry. It really was as dramatic as that.

And, looking back, I wouldn't want to change anything that happened. No it wasn't pleasant - but God was using my suffering and God was changing me. I have now been a Baptist minister for eight years, and that would never have happened without all I have just described.

Jeremiah 29.11 is an important part of my testimony, and still a very special verse for me. Thanks, Simon, for giving me the chance to share this, and to remind myself ...