Shortly after building our first home, I was involved in a freak accident that resulted in my entire body catching fire. I wasn’t sure what the full extent of my injuries were, but from what I could see, it was bad. My mom and dad lived next door, and Daddy was home that day. When he saw me, he immediately put me in the car and rushed me to the hospital. This was before cell phones, and no one knew I had been burned except for me and my dad. On the way to the hospital, I remembered a lady from my childhood who caught on fire from getting too close to a wood burning heater. It resulted in her death. I knew I was badly burned, and at that moment, I didn’t know if I would live or die. Suddenly, a peace came over me, and it was almost as if I heard an audible voice say, “Everything will be okay.”
A string of miracles was about to unfold. When Daddy pulled up to the door of the emergency room, a nurse was standing outside holding a clipboard with my name on it, indicating I had been severely burned. The doctors and staff were prepared and waiting for me. When I said no one knew I was burned except me and my dad, obviously, God knew. Somehow, He got word to the hospital, and they were waiting for me.
Parts of my body had suffered third degree burns. The flesh from my left arm had melted into an ugly glob around the fingers of my left hand. The left arm had sustained the most damage, and it was not a pleasant sight. In the process of removing the melted flesh, they finally got down to my wedding ring. The doctor said he would have to cut it off. I told him he could not cut it off. He said it would be very painful if he pulled it off. I told him, “That ring signifies a promise I made to Marlene, and it will not be broken.” He was right; it hurt when he pulled it off, but I felt good that the ring was still intact. They applied an antibacterial ointment on the arm and then a dressing on top of that. After doing all they could do, I was admitted to the hospital.
The next morning, the doctor and several people came to see how I was doing. I told him I was doing okay, all things considered, but it felt like the dressing was sticking to my arm and was a little uncomfortable. He told me it was impossible for the dressing to stick to my arm because there was no skin for it to stick to. I told him it sure felt like it was sticking to me. Maybe to humor me, maybe because the dressing needed to be changed anyway, he had the nurses remove the dressing. When they did, all their eyes got really big. You see, overnight, God had put new skin on that arm.
The doctor told me the day before that extensive skin grafting would be needed and that I may never have full use of that hand again. He talked about physical therapy to regain as much use of the hand as possible because the damage was so severe. Well, after God healed me, no skin grafts were necessary, and neither was physical therapy. I am predominately right-handed, but after my miracle, my left hand was stronger than my right hand. Since there was no need to stay in the hospital, they sent me home.
Marlene and I worked with the young people at the Nicholson Church during that time. Prior to my burn, we had scheduled to take the youth bowling. Now that God had healed me, there was no reason not to go, so we did. I noticed a lady at the bowling alley who kept staring at me. You could tell she was puzzled by something. I immediately recognized her. Finally, curiosity got the better of her, and she came over and said, “I feel like I know you.” I said, “We met a few days ago at the entrance to the emergency room. I am the person who was burned.” She looked at me, and tears began to stream down her face. She said, “That is not possible.” I said, “It’s not possible with man, but it is possible with God.” (There’s One More)
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