I
knelt by the young man, whose arms were bloody from the wreck – asked and
searched the curious crowd that had gathered for someone who could translate
for me since the boy (who looked no older than 18) didn’t seem to understand
me, but no one stepped forward until later. He was lying on the shoulder of the
highway, head propped up on his motorcycle helmet, trying to get up when I got
there. I gently put my hand on his shoulder and told him he needed to just lie
still. He seemed to understand but continued to look terrified and confused.
And
then I started looking around, trying to piece together what had happened here,
and that’s when I looked up and saw a crumpled body in the middle of the second
lane on the highway.
Seeing
that the young man was pretty stable I got up and ran to the body in the road.
It was a young woman, she couldn’t have been older than 28. I knelt down next
to her to try to hear if she was breathing…I was preparing myself to do CPR
if necessary but was praying she was breathing….and I heard heavy, raspy
breathing, along with the sound that clearly told me there was fluid building
in her lungs. Whatever strength she had seemed to be devoted to breathing; she
had not moved or spoken at all since the crash happened.
I’ve
never seen any human in that condition before. No amount of movies, tv shows,
books, or stories could’ve prepared me for what I saw before me. She was
coughing out a pretty steady stream of blood, arms and legs bent at funny
angles with deep cuts all over them. Her legs were turning black with the bruises.
I looked at her, and something broke in my heart. A voice told me, This
woman is going to die. She is going to die. Part of me believed that voice,
but the bigger part of me fought back against it. So I sat there with her,
praying wordless prayers that I knew the Lord alone could understand. I was
overcome with love for this young woman who lay in a broken mess on the pavement
before me; pleading with the Lord for His mercy over her.
I was
frantically trying to think through all those textbook scenarios I’d read in
class, all the discussions in college courses that could even remotely apply to
this real life situation in front of me, irrationally trying to figure out a
way to save that woman’s life. It honestly felt like she was on the brink of
death…like she was slipping away right in front of my eyes. It didn’t even
cross my mind that this was a stranger. When I brushed the hair away from her
eyes and rested my hand on her back, she wasn’t a stranger to me. She was
someone I deeply cared about and someone who I longed to know the Lord. I told
her a few things I can’t remember as I leaned a little closer to her, and I
remember thinking as I said them, I don’t even think she can understand me,
let alone hear me, what am I saying?!? but said them to her anyway.
I
remember feeling my palm burning on the hot pavement as I sat there next to
her, waiting for the ambulance to come, and I remember being able to feel the
fluid in her lungs each time she took a breath while my hand was on her back.
My
prayers for her never stopped. At some point, a Malay woman came up and asked
me a couple questions, which I answered quickly and then asked her to tell the
young woman in Malay that help was coming, that she was going to be ok. She did
so. Shortly after this, an ambulance finally arrived, put her on a stretcher, and
drove away.
And
that was it. We took a long bus ride home which passed quickly as I pleaded for
this woman’s life – a woman whose name I never knew.
For days afterwards, I questioned myself. Could I have done more? Should I have
done something differently? Was there even a purpose in me being there? Is she even still alive? Did she make it? Is
she paralyzed or is she going to be able to walk again? Hundreds of more
questions filtered through my mind, keeping me awake.
And
here’s the conclusion that the Lord’s brought me to: He says He’s got a reason
for everything He does. It’s not a small coincidence that I randomly came
outside the building seconds after the wreck happened…no small coincidence that
it happened the one time we were even in the area. I know there was a reason for why He pushed me to run into the situation – why He wanted me to interact with those two young people on the street that day.
He
longs to use us to further His kingdom in any and every situation we’re faced
with. He longs to use US to bring hope and peace and truth to those dying
around us…physically, yes. But what about the emotionally dying? The
spiritually dying? The mentally dying?
I may
never know what happened to the woman. It’s probably safe to say that I’ll
never see her again in my lifetime. But God broke my heart for her – and I’ll
never be the same again. I believe that the choices we make echo beyond us, and
I continue to pray that God uses the whole situation to bring someone, even if
it’s one person, closer to Him. I have prayed about it and have felt a lot of peace that the Lord was glorified even there, on
the middle lane in some highway by the Snake Temple in Penang, Malaysia under
that relentlessly hot sun.
I’m learning to leave the results up to Him as I follow His lead on this incredible journey I’m on.
To GOD be the glory.
