At camp we ask people to write letters to us to let us know about students who are here who have been through the worst of times and yet still seem to shine a light beyond the darkness of their circumstances. These are the some of the most meaningful times of my life.
Last week I got a letter about a girl named Rachael. The letter was from a youth leader explaining what happened to her and how as she lay on a hospital bed, unable to move, and with almost no hope of ever walking again, she stated that she knew God was going to use this somehow. He said she was the kind of student that every youth minister hoped to have in his group and talked about her vibrance and influence.
I knew she had been to Bigstuf the year before in a wheelchair and we had prayed for her as she sat in that chair out in the audience. This year,from the stage, i surprised Rachael and asked her in the middle of the session to come up to the stage. She walked up to the stage and i helped her come up the stairs and she began to tell her story. A car had run over her and crushed her spine and the doctors gave her a two percent chance of ever walking again. As she told her story, she stopped in the middle and looked at the audience and said….I JUST WALKED UP ON THIS STAGE AND I NEVER THOUGHT I’D BE ABLE TO DO THAT!!! She lost it for a second and so did i. Heck, i am crying just typing this story. Rachael is one of the many students whose story has impacted lives in a huge way. some of the stories are like Rachaels and they display God’s love and grace as He healed. Many of them are stories of hope and light and life in the middle of God healing the soul and not the body.
I stand in awe and often in tears as God uses so many teenagers like Rachael and Jessie, and others whom i hope to write about, to show us who God is even in the midst of pain and unanswered questions.
I would love for you to hear this story in Rachael’s own words, so be looking for a video coming up soon so you can see and hear the heart of this inspiring young lady.