My mother was well in her eighties, when she was hit by a car and thrown about thirty-five feet in the air. She had been careful to walk within the crosswalk, while the walk-light was green. However, the driver of the car had not been so observant, or he would have seen the red light, and my mother in the crosswalk, and he would have stopped.

A friend of hers, who witnessed the accident, called to let me know that she had been hit by a car and airlifted by helicopter to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California. She couldn’t tell me mom’s condition, just that I needed to get to the hospital immediately. 

My heart was racing as the doctor in the emergency room walked me back to see her. He began telling me that a twenty-one year old could not have survived the accident, but my mother did not have a broken bone in her body. Her knee was badly bruised, and she had a cracked rib. He was concerned that she might have head trauma, and had been doing tests to see if that was the case.

As I was entering the room and saw her lying on a gurney, she immediately smiled at me, and said, “Oh Sharon, it is just like God said, “‘We are fearfully and wonderfully made.’” She was praising God, and referring to Psalms 139:14, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.”

I looked at the doctor and said, “There is no head trauma”, and there wasn’t any. They released mom from the hospital a few hours later.

Mom endured pain in her knee for the rest of her life of almost ninety-nine years. The injury was not her fault. However, she definitely experienced the antiquing of life; the bruising and scar remained, but in the midst of this painful experience and many others, she gave honor and tribute to her maker. As life antiqued her, it did not distract her from her ultimate purpose, giving praise to her maker, redeemer, and friend, the LORD God Almighty.

I pray that as life antiques me, I too will give glory to God, my maker, redeemer, and friend, rather than focusing on the bumps, scars, and bruises.

Psa. 139:14   “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.”