by Lyn Bond
Lyn was hit by a car and endured serious injuries. Through God’s strength she was able to forgive.
On July 23, 2002 I woke up in the intensive care unit of Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois. I didn’t know where I was or how I got there. My right arm was immobilized. It was attached to a binder that held that arm and my ribs in place. My left arm was strapped down with an intravenous drip. The last thing I could remember was sitting in a meeting at the Jews for Jesus office where I work.
My nose prickled, and I had no way of scratching it. I prayed, “Lord, my nose itches, please help.” Just then our daughter Bethany, a university student home for the summer, arrived in the room. She scratched my nose when I told her my problem. Then I asked if she would please wash my face because there was “sleep in my eyelid” and I couldn’t open my eye. Bethany said, “Mom, I’ll be happy to wash your face, but your eye is swollen shut, and I don’t think it will help.” That’s when she explained what had happened. Alan, my husband, saw the whole thing and filled me in on the details later.
I had come home from the Jews for Jesus office, changed clothes, and went with Alan for a walk. He waited on the curb of Madison and Niles Center Road in Skokie, while I crossed from west to east to mail some letters. I was three-quarters of the way across the street when a northbound car hit me in the crosswalk on my right side. The impact sent me flying into the air, and I came down hard on the hood of the car that hit me. When the driver finally hit the brakes, I fell off the car onto the pavement. Later, a doctor said that if I had hit the pavement without landing on the car first, it would have been the end for me.
For those who have witnessed my healing process over the years from the time of the accident, it is obvious that God amazingly healed me from so many painful, physical ailments—bleeding on the brain, a concussion, nerve damage, broken bones, an encapsulated hematoma, and other bruises. I’ve even become fond of saying, “for better or worse, I’m still me.” But, here is what God did that is much less obvious than all the ways he healed my body. God enabled me to forgive Mr. C. (I do know his name, I’m just not supposed to use it for legal reasons. So I’ll call him Mr. C.)
When I finally comprehended why I was in the hospital, it was easy, maybe even normal, to blame Mr. C. for all my pain and suffering and the fact that my wonderful work routine at Jews for Jesus was destroyed. And yet, I knew it was important to forgive him, because God had already forgiven me many, many times in my life, since I was six years old. But even though I knew this, I was weak in my desire to forgive Mr. C. I had such intense anger in my heart toward him. So I prayed, “Lord, please help me have the right attitude about this.” It wasn’t difficult for me to pray for Mr. C., but I was weak in my ability to pray for him with kindness and love. I was so angry with him for all the losses he had caused me.
It was no use trying to hide from God my anger toward Mr. C. and my struggle to forgive him. God created us with emotions, and it’s useless trying to hide them from Him. He knows our thoughts, and they’re important to Him. I Samuel 16:7 says:
“God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (NASB).
I wanted to have a clean heart and upright spirit to be pleasing to God. So I asked God to change my heart so I could forgive Mr. C. So I prayed for him. I prayed for myself too, that I would want to forgive him. Whenever I had an angry thought toward Mr. C., I held it captive in Messiah, and I asked God to change my heart.
“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty in God for the tearing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Messiah” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NHM).
In less than two weeks after my accident, God had changed my heart toward Mr. C. There’s no way I could have changed my heart towards this person who had caused me such pain. Only God could have changed my heart, and He did.
I experienced numerous miracles at God’s hand through the years of my ordeal. He spontaneously healed me from bleeding on the brain. Then, a year later, while my leg was still broken, he healed me from a bone infection that two different doctors were very worried about. Then he helped me endure countless, painful procedures and four surgeries. But the BIG miracle for me was that God changed my heart and filled me with His strength so I could forgive Mr. C.
Even today, I still have residual effects from my accident that affect my health and continue to cause me discomfort and pain. But I use these sufferings as reminders to pray for Mr. C’s salvation with kindness and love in my heart. I am deeply grateful that God replaced that intense anger in my heart with His kindness and love. I am able to be thankful for what he did in my life through this entire trial—spiritually, physically, and even emotionally. Where I was weak, God made me strong, and he’s not done with me yet!
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To learn more about Lyn,
visit her Jews for Jesus web page at
https://jewsforjesus.org/staff-page/?firstname=Lyn&lastname=Bond
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