The High Road
Just a few weeks before, I had made a personal commitment to God. I wanted to begin using my talents in church, but I was scared to get up in front of people. I prayed that people would see Jesus through me no matter what.
We were on our way home from a convention when a tornado warning came over the radio. Concerned about the two boys my in-laws were watching, I decided to call to see how they were doing.
My father-in-law answered the phone. “I was just calling to see how everything is going.” I began…â€
“Well, we’ve had an accident.”
Thinking it was a little bump on the head, a bruise on an arm or something of that nature, I half-heartedly asked, “Oh, yeah? What’s happened?”
He went on to explain that when they were going out to feed the animals, Josiah, our 3 year old, had been run over by their old farm pick-up. In an instant, his left arm, hip, and leg were in the way of the tires.
I was breathless. Absolutely speechless. The next hour to the hospital was the longest one of my life. Incredibly, Josiah hobbled away with a broken arm, a broken ankle, and a few bruises. No internal damage, no anticipated surgeries, just a few uncomfortable weeks off his feet.
After that long night in the hospital, we finally headed toward home. We decided to stop by my in-law’s house to pick up the last of the boys’ things they had left there. My husband Brian ran in and I stayed in the van with the children. My mother-in-law came out to see me. She had obviously been crying, and later I learned that she had been having nightmares about the accident. She had seen the whole thing and she couldn’t get that image out of her mind.
I told her that she needed to forgive herself. We certainly didn’t blame them for the accident. It could have happened at any time to any of us. I shared that we believe God has a purpose for everything. We’d forgiven her, so she needed to forgive herself.
The dark cloud that seemed to engulf her suddenly began to lift. In the midst of everything, I had overlooked
how devastating this was for her—to not only witness the accident, but to know she was the responsible party.
The next day, I got a phone call from my sister-in-law. She said her mom was relieved to know I’d forgiven her. “I appreciate you taking the high road of forgiveness,” she stated. “I honestly don’t know if I could do that if it were my child.”
It was at that moment I realized what God had done in me. He had answered my prayers and I hadn’t even noticed. He let others see Him through me.
—Tammi Brinkhoff
Missouri
