My Life Story
My life story is about God’s presence
Published on: 23 April 2025 - Bible Society
Following an interview with Bible Society’s Project Storytelling Manager, Hazel Southam, the following article was published on the Bible Society website and distributed widely on social media.
My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible
‘It was 1979 and I was on a church trip away. We were climbing and hiking, and spiritually it was good too. The day before we were due to come home, the car came off the road. I ended up down a ravine, in a stream with part of the car on top of me.
‘My back was broken at vertebrae 11 and 12 and my spinal cord was severed. There was no chance of a miracle recovery. They rushed me to hospital as my ribs had punctured my lungs.
‘I really felt that I wasn’t going to survive. But in that moment, a voice saying Matthew 28.20 came to my mind: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” I felt that the Holy Spirit had given me that.
‘I hadn’t the breath to speak, but the word “Jesus” was my prayer. I could say his name.
‘I had a desperate prayer in my head begging the Lord not to take me. I wasn’t afraid of where I might be going, but I was only 23 and I wanted to survive.
‘That verse became how I responded to things. There were ups and downs [in hospital]. Sometimes I was so consumed with pain that all I could do was bring this verse to mind. I knew that I hadn’t been abandoned. It became a strength for me.
‘I’m 68 now and in a wheelchair, but my life story isn’t about unanswered prayer. My life story is about God’s “with-ness”, his presence. I don’t always feel it, but it gives me a confidence that he is with me and that’s true every day.
‘I went on to be a hospital chaplain and, having retired, I still mentor chaplains now. I had empathy with the people who I visited in hospital. There’s an unspoken empathy because I am a wheelchair user. I never need to say that I was once in hospital; people recognise that I’ve been through it too. It was a joy to be on the spinal unit, because I knew what these guys were going through and they knew that I knew.’
