Guardian Of My Way: The Accident

In June 1974 I received my diploma in interior decorating. If I thought the decorating course I had just completed was challenging; finding stable employment proved an even greater difficulty. By February of 1975 I had held two positions with two companies only to be laid off due to these two firms going out of business.

Thus when I was offered a position as a “custom decorator” for J.C. Penney Company, I latched onto it tightly agreeing to cover two stores in the San Fernando Valley (California). Within a few weeks I had so many appointments, I was working close to ten hour days, five days a week, and often Saturdays. Plus I usually went into one of these stores for a few hours after church on Sunday, just to pick up any leads and to spend a little time talking with any potential clients.

Then disaster struck in June of that year. On my return from a client’s home to the store I was involved in an auto accident which resulted in a serious back injury. The injuries were so serious that after six months of weekly treatments my doctor advised I would be seventy-five percent permanently disabled.

The truth about my ability, was that I was very limited. I could not drive the car very far, looking up or down caused extreme lightheadedness, I couldn’t sit or stand for very long. Combing my hair was an ordeal. Going to the beauty shop to have my hair done, was out of the question, as I couldn’t tolerate sitting that long. Picking up my two year old niece was impossible, kneeling to pray likewise. I couldn’t reach an item on any shelf in the kitchen over my head, or below my knees. The cervical brace I wore day and night was dreadfully uncomfortable.

Thus at twenty-seven this was not news I had hope to hear. I prayed constantly for God to simply heal me; to fix my back so I could be good as new. I knew He could do this but it didn’t happen. It wasn’t that the Almighty couldn’t do this, or that I lacked faith sufficient to be healed in this fashion. But God had a different plan. He allowed me to be incapable of doing all the normal activities I was accustomed of doing to draw me closer to Him. And this would be just the beginning of a life long lesson of trusting and obeying Him in all things. He was preparing me for a wonderful journey, which I couldn’t possibly foresee.

To add to my physical discomforts my church friends must have been related to the friends of that patient Bible character Job, because they reacted in the same manner: assuming I had done something horribly wrong to have such a bad thing happen to me. Surely God was punishing me for some “hidden sin”.

Upon the first anniversary of my accident I decided if the Lord wanted me to remain disabled, I had better, by His grace, make some alterations. I began praying for His leading in what He wanted me to do next, seeing how returning to my former job as an interior decorator was a closed door.

Within six months an opportunity was laid before me to teach interior decorating at a local adult education school. Teach? Did God really expect me to teach? Me, who quivered through a five minute testimony. Surely God couldn’t expect me to teach!

I was soon to learn, that His grace is sufficient in all things, and He never asks you to do more than what you are capable of doing – He always provides.

And provide He did! Despite the number of barriers which stood before me in meeting the qualifications required by the adult education school for me to teach, these were amazingly removed. The biggest one was qualifying for a teaching credential.
My decorating degree was a certificate of completion from a correspondence school.

State of California teaching credentials, for most teaching assignments required, a bachelor of arts or science degree. How was I going to qualify? Still I felt the Lord urging me forward in this matter. To my surprise, I qualified by my employment experience having worked both for a retail store and a design studio. Plus as my grade point average for the decorating course was quite high these were combined to provide me with a temporary teaching credential.

The temporary credential was issued on the condition that I complete six courses in education within a two year period. Another barrier, as these classes were held quite a distance from my home – further than what my doctor felt I could drive. The Lord provided a means for me to take these classes. There was concern I would not be able to tolerate sitting in class for an entire day over six consecutive week ends. Once in the class, I found the instructors of every course I had to take, to be attentive and considerate of my need to change positions after every hour or so, and frequent breaks were given.

For about four years I taught beginning, advance decorating, business interiors and a class in antiques. I did a lot of guest speaking during these four years. My teaching employments extended to parks and recreation classes, and privately. And an independent privately owned school specializing in special interest classes for adults.

It was with this independent school that I had the opportunity to stand against the involvement with occult classes. My refusal to participate in the decorations for an occult faire resulted in my termination from this school. Strangely while I felt a keen disappointment at loosing my teaching contract, I also felt a sense of rejoicing that the Lord had provided a way for me to share my Christian beliefs with a lady I had become endeared to – the school’s administrator. I sensed from her strong opposition that she had very little knowledge of the Bible or the way to salvation.

How amazing the Lord directed my path into teaching; something I thought I could not do. But this was to be only the start of “jobs” the Lord would ask me to do, which I felt I did not possess the ability or talent.

My ability to teach decorating, opened a door to teach an elective class at a private Christian high school. My students were seventh and eighth graders. Mostly young ladies mingled with a few boys who definitely had an interest in color and design. The year was 1989. By this time I had learned to deal with my back paining me to some degree each day. This meant relying on the Lord totally.

It was the summer of 1989 that the limited knowledge I had gained from a nursing course twenty years before would come into play. Mom was diagnosed with lung and brain cancer. Dad and I were thrown into a twenty-four-seven work week, from mid June to when in mid August mom went to be with the Lord.

I now became my father’s caregiver. During the next ten years, I struggled to balance a full time job with assuming mom’s responsibilities. Dad assist with taking care of our two shelties, and often started dinner for me. At the start of summer in 1999 Dad was rushed to the hospital with congestive heart failure. The day following his admittance into the hospital he had by-pass surgery.

Two weeks later when he was released from the hospital I was admonished that someone would have to be with Dad for the next six to ten weeks. I had just started a home-based clerical business, and had several clients I had scheduled to handle their clerical needs while the regular employees were on vacations. These appointments were immediately cancelled.

For the next ten weeks I was never away from dad any further than a room’s distance. I contemplated how I would re-start my clerical service at the end of the ten week time period. This never happened. Dad suffered a mile stroke, which damaged the optic nerve in his eye, leaving him with a serious vision impairment. Dad couldn’t see to drive or take his medications. As my sisters lived in other States, I knew I would have to be the one to take care of Dad. This meant closing my business down.

Truthfully I wondered how we were going to make it without my income. I tried to think of how I could work and care for Dad too. Again God’s instructions came clearly to me: “take care of your Dad,” I seemed to hear as I read the following scripture:

Give the people these instructions, too, so that no one may be open to blame, if
anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:7-8 NIV

Becoming increasingly concerned about the finances, I also found my worrying was causing me to find doing the tasks of taking care of dad, the house, and the yard to be increasingly difficult. During this time period the daily pain I had adjusted to with my back, had increased. I felt worn to a frazzle! It seemed there was no one to help. No one in my church seemed available. In utter desperation I cried out to the Lord, He answered through His Word:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?…So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagan run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6: 25 + 31-33 NIV

God was telling me not to worry, He would take care of me, just to trust Him. I admit it took me some time to simply let go of all the concerns I had and to let Him take control.

Becoming unemployed to care twenty-four-seven for dad has been one of the most demanding jobs I have ever done – and am still doing. It is more than a scriptural responsibility, it is a privilege and an honor – one in which the blessings continue to flow. I often find myself wondering how the Lord is going to provide for us month after month. But by His grace we have learned to economize, and to be content with what has been provided for us. Truly the Lord has been (and is) the Guardian of my way.

The Christian life is a wonderful banquet; one that the Devil would have loved to have caused me to miss, by convincing me, “you can’t do this…you can’t do that!” “You have a serious back condition which pains you every day, you don’t need to do anything for the Lord or others.” However it did not, nor does it, seem acceptable to me to be cheated out of this banquet.

If you have something holding you back from living the way God wants you to live, I ask you: “Why are you only nibbling at that banquet? The Lord want you to fill your plate!”