An Accident Nearly Took My Life But Grace Saved Me
Written By Xueying, Malaysia, originally in Traditional Chinese
On 20 August 2011, eight days after my 26th birthday, I was nearly killed in a car accident.
That Saturday morning, I was driving around the outskirts of my hometown, Ipoh, Malaysia, with a colleague. Suddenly, another car coming from the opposite direction veered into our lane and collided with us head-on, wrecking our car.
The driver, an elderly man, suffered minor injuries and was discharged shortly. My colleague and I, on the other hand, were critically injured. Both of us had to undergo surgery immediately. Tragically, my colleague passed away that very night. I remained unconscious, with multiple tubes inserted into my neck and wrist. A metal implant was also inserted into my right arm.
When my parents heard about the accident, they rushed to the hospital. When they saw the state I was in, they broke down. Every day after that, they would go to the temple to pray for my recovery. During that time, my relatives, friends and colleagues also visited me.
A week after the accident, I was transferred from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to the general ward as there was insufficient space in the ICU. Two months later, I was discharged; I was still unconscious.
For the first two months, I remained in a coma and was fed through a feeding tube. Pastors and church members streamed in to visit me. They held my hands and prayed fervently for me.
By the grace of God, I regained consciousness two months later. That, however, was just the beginning of a long and challenging journey. Due to injuries to my brain, my cognitive ability was severely impaired. Although friends and relatives tried to talk to me, I was unable to respond.
I had regressed to infant behavior. I had to re-learn simple things, like drinking water. My father removed my feeding tube and my mother tried to feed me with a milk bottle, coaxing me like a baby and saying repeatedly, “Come, swallow, swallow . . .” Apparently, it took me a minute just to swallow one mouthful.
Because the nerves on my left brain were so severely damaged, my mobility was restricted. I was lying on my back all the time, and it took me a lot of effort just to sit up.
Several months later, I started to walk again, supported by a pair of crutches. I will never forget the tremendous difficulty this took—I had to take a break every one or two steps, since it was too tiring to move my body. Each day, I could manage only a few hundred steps.
It was utterly exhausting. Back then, I didn’t know that I could rely on God, until a church friend passed me a Bible one day. She said to me, “Xueying, try reading the Bible when you are able to read. You can find answers to all your life questions and doubts in the Bible—true answers.”
As a child, I used to attend Sunday school; I loved singing worship songs. In university, I also attended church. However, although I knew who Jesus was, I never bothered to develop a personal relationship with Him. The only times I prayed were before exams or before the exams results were announced.
But the accident made me wonder about God’s purposes. I needed to know why I had to go through so much suffering in my life and why my loved ones had to suffer along with me. As such, while learning how to walk, I started to read the Bible.
I remember the first time I read the Bible vividly. I was casually flipping through the Bible and stumbled on this verse: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Instantly, my heart was lifted. This teaching by Jesus reinvigorated me and filled me with hope—God loves me and I am His new creation! From then on, I would tell myself whenever I felt like giving up, “Don’t cry, don’t be discouraged. God will lead the way, just follow Him in faith.”
In the five and a half years following my accident, I barely touched any form of technology—this despite the fact that I was working as an electrical engineer before my accident. Instead, I would read the Bible voraciously every day, spending time to reflect on how to follow God’s word.
During my recovery, I had five major falls—each caused unbearable pain. The fifth time, I lost my balance in my own bedroom and landed heavily. The scab on my left wrist scraped against the wall and blood started to flow profusely. The pain was excruciating and I sat on the floor because I was unable to get up from the floor on my own. I closed my eyes tightly and cried out to God, “Please help me Father, I’m in a lot of pain!”
At that moment, a song that I had learned more than 21 years ago came to my mind: “Although I’m weak, God is strong”. This immediately strengthened and comforted me. I reached out to grab some tissue to wipe the blood off my wrist, and told myself not to be afraid and to wait for my parents to come and help me. Ten minutes later, my father walked past my room and saw me sitting on the floor. “Why are you sitting on the floor, does your head hurt?” he asked. I could see the look of pain on his face when his eyes landed on the blood-soaked tissue on the floor beside me.
As he helped me up, I assured him by telling him my head did not hurt—it was just my left wrist that hurt. I added, “Wow papa, you can lift me up so quickly! You’re so strong!”
As I look back on this accident, I thank God for using it to change me inside out. He has saved me from being the pessimist I used to be, and rescued me from my dark thoughts. Now, I follow Him in the light and give thanks for everything I have in life. I’ve since learned that though there will always be difficulties in this life, with God I can overcome them all.
To a person who has gone through a near death experience, I have come to see that being able to live each day is nothing short of a miracle. And having experienced God’s saving grace, I see how it is the gospel that gives us the hope of living.
Coming from a village in Malaysia where most villagers are not Christians, I am especially aware that it is the grace of God that has enabled me to get to know Him. Therefore, I am making it a priority in my life to learn more about Him and tell others about God so that many people can get to know Him as their Lord and Savior. God’s word from Galatians 6:9 reminds me to spread the gospel zealously. My parents for instance, are not Christians, but have been opened to learning more about God. It warms my heart when I see how interested they are to hear the Bible stories.
A year ago on Christmas Eve, I testified about God’s goodness in church in the presence of my parents. I shared about God’s saving grace in my life and how He changed me. I compared my experience to the process of the metamorphosis of a pupa that faces difficulty when it breaks out of the cocoon. When it does, however, it emerges as a beautiful butterfly.
More recently, I have managed to ditch the crutches and make it up to the second floor of my church to attend service on my own feet. Praise be to God!
It is my prayer that I will continue to be found faithful sharing the gospel of Jesus, so that His word can light the way for others, just as it has for me.
“We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.”—Hebrews 3:14
very powerful testimony
Amen your testimony is life changing it show God is still a miracle worker currently my mom is in the hospital very sick but I have been praying and trusting God for a miracle for her life as well
Yes, I once had a near death experience about 50yrs.ago when I was driving home from work in my parents old LTD station wagon with the wood paneling on it , lol. The car swhirled on to the shoulder, I got scared and must of pressed on the gas as I was turning the wheel to get back on the road.It went flying across the road, over the other lane to the other shoulder ( luckily, no one was coming in the other direction ), down through a ditch, back up a little hill, heading straight towards a big tree. Just at that moment, I looked up at that tree and I saw an image of Jesus in a white robe, standing there in the tree leaves. Suddenly, something turned the wheel to the right, so I wouldn’t hit the tree at full force and the car stopped and landed in the ditch. I was very stunned to what just happened , sitting in the car all shook up. But thanks to God, I came out of it with only a big bruise on my knee. Parents car got totaled, tho, lol. But, what was amazing and mind blowing, a few weeks after the accident, I was shopping at K-Mart and as I was strolling down one of the isles where they used to have a bunch of framed pictures, a voice in my head said, turn to the right and as I looked there was a framed picture of Jesus in a white robe , standing up in a tree. Just like the vision I saw, as the car was heading for the tree, it was God that turned the wheel to keep me safe! I can’t believe it was the same exact vision and yes, I bought the picture and have it with me, to this day.
An incident in my life…
Life puts before us many questions but all our questions do not have the correct answers. Nobody is aware of the secret and sting of death. God gave me a new life from this tragic incident (of death) in my life that I want to share with you all.
It was on 18th March 2013 that this fatal incident took place. Patrick my brother and I had left for Mumbai by bus at 7 pm. After a couple of hours, around 9 pm the bus stopped for dinner break. We had our food and while on the journey we spoke about many things, besides the good time we will have and shopping that we would be doing. Since I was also not feeling well my brother was a bit worried and now and then would ask if I am feeling better. Thus carrying on talking for some time we fell asleep.
Early morning at around 3, 19th March 2013, suddenly, there was a loud sound, when I awoke and saw my brother he was terrified, and with fright in his eyes he did the sign of the cross and our bus fell from top to bottom. There was no sound for a long time from anyone. Inside the bus there was total darkness. I called out to my brother, there was no response. I could hear a few cries and footsteps. Where did the bus fall? What is happening? I had no clue!!! I couldn’t move or get out of the position as I was completely trapped and smashed.
For quite a while nobody came to rescue us. After several hours a crane came to remove us out. The more the crane tried to turn the bus, the more I was getting pressed and smashed. This happened several times. Since I could not tolerate the pain anymore and in my anguish I called and cried out to ‘JESUS’ “I am not able to bear this pain and suffering, so please take me”.
Just at that moment I heard the word ‘GOD’ 3 times. The bus was completely smashed, and they finally got my body out from the mangled metal and I saw the LIGHT.
They were removing everyone. When they came to remove me, they couldn’t remove me out as I was completely trapped. They had to break open the left side of the bus to release my left side of the body. My right side also was stuck in the metal, couldn’t move at all but finally managed to. As I was being taken I saw my brother, but I couldn’t do anything as I was very serious. I could just request the people to take him too.
They took me first to a small hospital to give the immediate treatment. Later I was taken to a well-known hospital where I was put in the I.C.U. Villagers, friends, company proprietor and my younger brother Daniel came to see me in Khed. Daniel was stunned to see me in this state. When I asked about Patrick, they would say that we have taken him to another hospital.
Later they took me from Khed to G.M.C. in an ambulance. I was kept under a week of observation and then they started the treatment on me. The doctor told that the 4 ribs on my right side were fractured. Two bones on my left hand were broken. A fracture on my right shoulder. Three nerves were damaged. There was no movement in my left hand. My face was disfigured. Fluid had accumulated in my lungs.
After 2 days my mother came to see me. She kissed me and consoled me with her hands. I asked her about my brother Patrick, she said he was in the I.C.U at Mapusa Hospital and in a serious condition. I even prayed to Jesus at that moment to take away my life and save his. But I was not aware that my dear brother died on that very same day. My mother gave me a lot of moral strength.
On the 27th of March 2013, on the day when my brother was being laid to rest in the cemetery, I had to undergo a surgery of my left hand. I had to go through a lot of pain. When I was going through these pains, I remembered the pain JESUS had to go through. There was no part of my body that was left without pain.
The doctor had even said that, I will be in the hospital for several months. But Jesus kept his healing hands on me and I was discharged within 20 days. Within a month my left hand started showing signs of improvement and movement. My face was getting it back it shape and became alright within 2 months. For 6 months I underwent physiotherapy in the hospital for my face and hands. If anyone has to see me now, will never ever realize the agony and pain and suffering I underwent. This I owe it all to my Lord and Saviour Jesus and to Him I give glory and praise.