A Walking Miracle
By Grace Alice Mentzel
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| Grace Mentzel |
On March 24, 1999 I had freak accident in which my own car ran over me. I had picked up my neighbor to go work at the Community Service in Canyonville, Oregon. I stopped at the Senior Residence to pick up another lady. As she was getting into the car, I saw another lady coming out with an arm load of quilt tops. I got out and went to put them in the car. As I was doing this I saw my car start to back down the incline. Thinking of the ladies in the car, I thought, "I've got to stop that car!" Remembering how a friend had saved her little boy, I thought I would run in back of the car and when it came by I would jump in and stop it. I stopped the car all right. It ran over me.
The manager of the residence came out and drove the car off of me. There was member of our church standing there. He said, "Grace Alice is that you? I must have looked pretty bad. I had a bad cut on my head. I said, "Yes, it's me and I'll be all right." Then I passed out. I didn't know when the ambulance came.
I was taken to Roseburg about 25 miles away. I supposed they just put me in another ambulance to go to Eugene about 70 more miles, but I was told they x-rayed me and two or three doctors examined me, and then they sent me to Eugene where they had more facilities.
For four days they did not believe it was possible for this 84 year-old lady to live. My left shoulder was broken in two places. Six ribs were broken in multiple places. My left lung was punctured. My left hip was driven up out of the socket, my pelvis was broken in several places, and I had cuts and bruises allover my body. Some of the cuts took three months to heal. I was told it took two nurses two hours to clean out the sand and gravel. They kept me under the first week and I was on a respirator. Then for five weeks I had a tracheotomy until after they set my hip.
Soon after I began to come to, it came to me, "You will be healed." It was very discouraging because when I opened my eyes everything was blurry, and this lasted until just before I left the hospital.
I told myself I must not get discouraged because God had impressed me that I would be healed.
I passed the time singing to myself and quoting scripture. (I am so glad my mother had made me memorize scripture). The two verses that helped me most were, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths." Proverbs 3: 5-6 and "Fear thou not for I am with thee, be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness" Isaiah 40:10.
After five weeks the doctor decided I was strong enough to go through the operation to fix my hip—a total hip replacement. Then they told me that in nine days I would have to go to a nursing home until I would be able to come back and go through rehabilitation to learn to walk again. I did not want to go to a nursing home, so I prayed that I would not have to.
On the eighth day the doctor came in and told me I was doing so well they had decided to let me try the rehabilitation but that it would be very, very hard for me. I am happy to say that all they ever did was praise me for how we was doing.
I left the hospital two months to the day from when I entered. I was not able to take care of myself yet so I went to stay with my sister for two and one-half more months. The last day that the nurse came to dress my sores, she sat down for a few minutes. I had told her I was a Seventh-day Adventist Christian and had been a vegetarian for 60 years. She said she really believed it was because of my lifestyle that I had gotten along so well. I was able to go home in less than five months after the accident, and in six weeks more I was back driving.
I know there were many, many people praying for me. Not only in Seventh-day Adventist churches, but several denominations. God does still answer prayer. Praise His Name!
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