August 16, 2011. I’ll never forget the most traumatic day of my life.
Participating as a small group leader on my high school’s spiritual retreat at the beginning of my junior year, I decided to get re-baptized and allow the Lord have complete control over my life.
The day after getting re-baptized I woke up dizzy, disoriented and feeling incredibly sick. I had always gotten sick fairly easy, but I knew something was different this time. I had never been in so much physical pain in my entire life.
After being rushed to the emergency room, the nurses took my temperature and it was 104 degrees. They took my blood pressure and it was dropping profusely. The doctor came in immediately after, where he told me he believed that I had septic shock.
When I was quickly brought into a trauma room, there was a substantial amount of nurses lining the walls with shock panels in their hands in case my heart decided to give up. IVs were inserted in six different areas of my body in order to receive the antibiotics I desperately needed.
My heart rate dropped to the equivalent of an infant's, my organs were failing and they had done about all they could. The doctors took my parents in the hall and told them that they had given me four large bags of antibiotics but it hadn’t been working. After that, they continued to explain to my parents they could only give me one more to prevent life support.
For being in the trauma room for six hours, I can't remember much. But I can remember the pain I felt, I can remember the look on my parent's faces, I can remember the only thing on my mind was talking to God and telling Him that I’ll understand if calling me home was His plan for me. I thought it was all too ironic for my body to be failing the day after getting re-baptized.
Out of all the nurses and doctors in this large room, I only remember one man specifically. An elderly man, who was holding my oxygen mask, wiping my head with a cold rag and praying over me while reciting bible verses.
Miraculously, the fifth bag of antibiotics worked and I got my second chance at life. Till this day, the doctor still doesn't know how or where I got septic shock, but I'm thankful for his quick diagnosis. Till this day, I don't know the name of that sweet man who prayed over me, but I think about his kind words all the time.
Since this incident, my outlook on life has dramatically changed. Now I love deeper, try harder and understand better. Now I am more thankful, humble and grounded. Now I won't take anything or anyone for granted, I will always realize how blessed I am. Now I lean on God for everything, because I know He can get me through anything.
Even though I couldn't understand why or how I got that sick, I can now understand that it was meant to make me stronger. I understand that instead of hardening my heart, this was meant to soften it. I understand that this was meant to make me see the beauty in the struggles life brings, and accept them without complaint. I understand that God now has an extremely unique plan for my rescued life.
Second chances don't just apply to lives saved. Whether you get a second chance at your dream job, with the person you love or at any other large aspect in your life... these opportunities are rare, and this is why I urge you to give everything you've got the first time around.
I still make mistakes, I am nowhere near perfect and I am just an average 21-year-old woman, but getting another chance to live this incredible life is the most beautiful gift I could have ever received. This traumatic experience has taught me more than I could imagine, and I know it was merely a bump in the road to a long and happy life.
I won’t waste my second chance, and if you're lucky enough to get one, I hope you don't either.
