I Should Have Died 20 Years Ago: The Gift of Time & Life's Lessons
Tamara K. Anderson shares 7 lessons learned on the 20 year anniversary of what should have been a fatal car accident.
On February 11, 2001, my husband and I were in what should have been a fatal car accident. I am so thankful I survived and have been blessed with 20 more years of life.
Life Lessons From The Past 20 Years
The Cycle of Love and Service
Humility and Saying "Thy Will Be Done"/Trust God Completely
Life Continues on After Death
There is Power in Prayer
Don't fear the future--Trust God wants you to Grow!
Cherish Each Day as a gift!
Count Your Blessings and Praise God.
I also weave in several favorite verses from Psalm 118.
5 I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me.
6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
29 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Other Episodes About The Car Accident
https://www.tamarakanderson.com/podcasts/podcast-intro-and-my-story-of-hope
https://www.tamarakanderson.com/podcasts/gratitude-after-a-car-accident
#tamarakanderson #storiesofhopeinhardtimes #podcast #hope #God #hardtimes #accident #lifelessons #prayer #humility #trustGod #gratitude #praise #eachdayisagift
Transcript Of Today's Episode
0:03
I should have died 20 years ago. I really should have. I was in a car accident that was awful enough, it should have taken my life. But I didn't die. And so guess what? This year I celebrate the 20 year anniversary of my celebration of life that God has given me 20 more years to live and learn and grow. And I'm going to share with you some of the lessons I've learned in these last 20 years that have helped me grow and become a better person. Stay tuned.
0:38
Welcome to Stories of Hope in Hard Times, the show that explores how people endure and even thrive in difficult times. All with God's help. I'm your host Tamara K. Anderson. Join me on a journey to find inspiring stories of hope and wisdom learned in life's hardest moments.
1:04
Welcome to another episode of Tamara's Takeaways on the Stories of Hope in Hard Times podcast. I'm your host Tamara K. Anderson and today I want you to join with me in a celebration of life! And the reason for that is because tomorrow on February 11, 2021, I celebrate a 20 year anniversary of the day I should have died. And for me, this is a monumental anniversary. Because I for the last several days, I have been really pondering and thinking, what has happened in the last 20 years of my life. And why it is such a blessing to me to be grateful at this time that I have had 20 years of life when I should have died.
1:59
So back in 2001, my husband and I were involved in a really bad car accident. And I've talked about that on this podcast before. And I was hospitalized for the next 10 days with punctured lung, blood pooling around my liver, they were worried about my heart. I really should have died because we hit a parked car going 70 miles an hour down a freeway in California and long story. But I'm really, really thankful that our lives were spared.
2:33
And what followed was a long time of physical recovery, I had a collarbone that was a compound break. That means that the bones didn't heal straight, they were kind of offset and they didn't want to put those together because with a surgery because they didn't want to damage my lung, which was already having a really hard time reinflating.
2:58
And so I spent a lot of time in the hospital pondering and thinking, first of all, gratitude that I didn't die, but gratitude that I didn't leave that Justin I didn't leave our two boys orphans that day. And so I've just been reflecting back on the blessings of the last 20 years they haven't been without hardship. I have learned so so much in the last 20 years about God and faith and reliance on Him. I've had so many incredible journeys.
3:31
Some of the blessings that I've seen in the last 20 years, I've been able to experience a move from California to Arkansas, Arkansas, to Texas and Texas to Utah. We've been able to meet and love so many people in each of those locations, that I just feel such a connection to even now just thinking about them because they have served me and I have been able to serve them. And so that is probably one of the lessons I'd love to say, that I've learned so much is that when you serve others, you learn to love them. And when they serve you, they learn to love you. And so this cycle of service is just a powerful lesson that I've learned in my life.
4:15
Another lesson I learned shortly after the accident, and I've had to learn several times since that I'm so thankful for. I'd like to quote to you from my journal that this is just probably week or so after the accident. I said, "Through this past week, I've seen my level of humility grow. And I could measure it by how willing I was to say, 'Thy will be done.'"
4:42
That's a really profound insight into where I was at the time. I was having a really hard time getting my lung to stay reinflated. I had a chest tube in, and I knew God was powerful and that He could heal it and I wanted that to happen. But Me demanding it, Being really prideful and telling God you've got to heal my lung wasn't the right approach. And so finally, I realized that I had to kind of humble myself and be able to say, "God, Thy will be done." And that signified that I was a little more humble and willing to bow to His will, which is so, so hard, especially when you're dealing with a physical condition that could take your life like I was, at that time, if my lung didn't stay reinflated, they were going to have to do surgery and open my chest up and try to fix my lung. And I didn't want to have that happen. But I finally realized that God was in control. And it was ultimately ultimately up to Him whether that surgery happened or not, or if I lived or died, it was all in His hands. And sometimes that's really hard to do.
6:00
I know, I learned the lesson again, when Nathan was diagnosed with autism that I knew God could heal him. And I really, really wanted that to happen. But unlike with my lung where it was healed, and it was God's will to heal my lung, Nathan was not healed from his autism. And I had to learn that sometimes submitting to God's will means going through hard things, and having any child that who has a disability and can't communicate with me verbally.
6:35
And so I've learned a lot about humility and submitting to God's will, but at the same time, I think I've grown to have a deeper relationship with God. And I've learned to trust Him more completely, I can see how these hard hard experiences in my life have strengthened my relationship with God, that my level of trust in Him has grown, even though my life hasn't turned out the way I hoped and thought it would. But that is a huge other lesson that I learned about God--is being humble and saying Thy will be done is hard. But ultimately, when we leave things in God's hands, things work out in the end--maybe not how we envisioned, but they worked out in the end.
7:26
Shortly after the accident, my husband's grandmother passed away. And, and that was a sobering experience as well. So we've dealt with death, we've dealt with life changing experiences. And I'm, I'm thankful to know, one of the other lessons I've learned is that life continues on after we die. One of the comments in my journals shortly after this was, I commented on seeing grandma's body in the casket and saying "she is not there." You can tell just by looking at the casket that she's not there. And the soul is what's missing. And that's who we truly are inside that we keep living after we die. And God is in control of life and death.
8:15
There is a really neat verse that I wanted to share with you guys today in Psalm 118. And there's several amazing verses in this Psalm that are just beautiful. And I'm going to start in verse five. David says, "I called upon the Lord in my distress, and the Lord answered me."
8:41
I have felt and been the recipient of prayers. I know the power of prayer. I know that especially after the accident, my husband and I had people praying for us in California, we were living in a different part of California where my husband's parents lived, in Arizona, where my family lived, in the place we're moving to in Arkansas, they were praying for us. We had friends all over the country and all over the world praying for us. And I really feel that prayer can heal and help when it is according to God's will.
9:22
Not only do I believe in the power of prayer as far as many people praying, but I believe in the power of prayer and I came to know the power prayer of one person praying. And that was really seen when Nathan was diagnosed with autism and I was grieving and asking God to heal Nathan and and give me back my normal family. And His answer to me was, "Tamara. This is normal for you." And I tell that story in detail in my book, "Normal for Me."
9:53
But I learned that God not only hears the prayers of the masses, but he also hears the prayers of an individual--especially when you're grieving and sad that sometimes those answers come is very personal, powerful moments and witnesses that God really does hear you. And He may not be telling you what you want to hear, but He is hearing you and He does answer. And sometimes it's with that wisdom that we need right then. And so I'm thankful to know that God answers prayers, that was another huge lesson that I learned.
10:28
Psalm 118:6, "The Lord is on my side, I will not fear." When God is on your side, and you're on his side, you don't have to fear the future. So many things in the future, can scare us. And often that keeps us stuck. But I found that with God, we can give that fear to Him and he can help us overcome it and grow. And I think that's one of the other things that I've often asked myself, why did God spare me? Why, why did I live after that car accident?
11:11
And I look back on these last 20 years. And if there was one word I could use, it would be "growth." I have grown as a person. I'd like to think I've grown in more compassionate ways, in my trust in God, I've gone through some really, really hard times, physically, emotionally, spiritually. And I feel He's walked with me through all of that. And so growth has been the biggest pattern in the last 20 years. I'm thankful I've had 20 more years to grow and to discover more about who I am and the talents I have.
11:49
But sometimes, for growth to happen, you have to trust God, and give Him the fears. Like when I started this podcast, I was scared to death to start podcasting, and yet it has been become one of the greatest blessings of my life. And so as I've turned that fear over to God and let faith, replace it instead of fear, and yes, I had so many quotes up on my vision board to remind me to have faith and not fear. That is another key component, don't fear, trust in God.
12:24
The verse that I really, really wanted to share with you in Psalm chapter 118, is verse 24. And here's what it says, "This is the day which the LORD hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." There is nothing like an experience where you should have died to make you realize the fragileness of life and your own mortality. Here we are in the midst of a pandemic. And and so many people are facing that fear that if they get it, they could die.
13:00
And so, the one thought that just resounds over and over in my mind is that each day is a gift. Like it said, "this is the day which the LORD hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." So my question that I want to pose to you today is: Are you rejoicing in the days God gives you? Are you finding joy in them? And if you're not, can you change that perspective?
13:35
I found that in the hardest moments of my life, on the days that have been the most dark, most dreary, there have been blessings that I could still see and notice. I could notice the sun still shining and it gave me hope. The beautiful world around me was a testimony of God's love for me.
14:01
And so perhaps that is where this last verse that I wanted to share with you comes into play, verses 28 and 29, "Thou art my God, I will praise thee. Thou art My god, I will exalt thee. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good for his mercy and earth forever. So that is the key praise and thanks. When we can turn our mental attitude from a 'woe is me,' here's all the things that are wrong, to just switching and counting our blessings instead of everything that's wrong.
14:37
Sure, you can write in a journal about things that are going wrong. I think it's important that we record life as it happens. But don't forget to give equal weight, to the joys--to the things that you can be thankful for. Because that can help turn your mourning into joy, your sadness into praise.
14:58
And so that is my message to you today. Join with me this week in a celebration of life. Join with me in a celebration that you have one more day, perhaps you've had a close to death experience, and perhaps you haven't. But either way, maybe you can learn a little bit from my experience.
15:19
Maybe you too can learn from the seven lessons that I've shared with you first, that the cycle of service is a cycle of love. Serve others, love others, let them serve you let them love you. Second thing we talked about: being humble and letting God's will be done, and learning to trust Him completely. The third lesson we talked about, is that life goes on after we die, and you can trust that and know that. Fourth lesson there is power in prayer. Fifth lesson, don't fear the future. Trust that God wants you to grow. Sixth lesson: Remember that each day is a gift. And seventh lesson. Rejoice and be glad in it, count those blessings and praise God through it.
16:09
And have a celebration of life every day, have a celebration of praise that I learned something today or I grew this way today. Maybe you can look and find the joys like I've invited you and rejoice in those things.
16:30
And if you're struggling right now, pray and get God to help you and get help from others as well. Because God sends angels to help.
16:42
Alright guys, that is my celebration of life episode today. I hope you have an awesome day, and hope on.
16:51
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's show. If you like what you heard, subscribe so you can get your weekly dose of powerful stories of hope. I know there are many of you out there who are going through a hard time, and I hope you found useful things that you can apply to your own life in today's podcast. If you'd like to access the show notes of today's show, please visit my website storiesofhopepodcast.com. There you will find a summary of today's show, the transcript and one of my favorite takeaways. You know, if someone kept coming to mind during today's episode, perhaps that means that you should share this episode with them. Maybe there was a story shared or quote or a scripture verse that they really really need to hear. So go ahead and share this podcast. May God bless you, especially if you are struggling with hope to carry on and with the strength to keep going when things get tough. Remember to walk with Christ and He will help you bear the burden. And above all else, remember God loves you!