I'm just trusting God to guide me through this, so the we can all learn whatever He is wanting us to learn.

First, I will start off explaining about my disease. The name of it is Osteogenesis Imperfecta, OI for short. It means imperfect bones from the beginning. It's a brittle bone disease, and my bones break very easily. I have to be careful, and the people around me do too. There is no complete safeguard, though, because I have fractured ribs by coughing, and once I fractured my arm picking up the phone to answer it. My fractures seem to happen more when the temperature fluctuates from high to low in a short span of time. Fractures can take anywhere from a week to several weeks to completely heal. In most cases, two weeks is enough time unless it's a more serious break.

Now that you have a little background on my disability, maybe you can see more easily the miracle in the story I'm going tell you. Exactly twelve years ago today, I had an accident that at the very most should have cost me my life and at the very least broken every bone in my body. I was eleven years old and in the sixth grade. We were going to have an assembly at the high school that afternoon. A band was coming to play for us. I remember thinking that it was going to be so cool. I was very excited about it. We had to go to math class for fifteen minutes before we could leave for the high school. It was one of my least favorite classes, of course. The classroom was upstairs, and so mom carried me upstairs like she did everyday. She walked into the classroom, and somehow her purse got caught on the chalkboard ledge. It jerked her back, and I was propelled backwards. I lifted up off her shoulder, did a flip in the air, and landed facedown on the floor. Mom told me that everyone stopped what they were doing, and the room was completely still. My eyes rolled back in my head, and she thought I was dead. She said that she knelt down on the floor beside me and started praying out loud in front of everybody for God to help me. I regained consciousness, and I didn't even know what had happened. I didn't even realize that I had passed out. I remember crying and telling mom I was scared. Mom put her hands under the front of me and picked me up that way. She told me later that my body was stiff as a board, and it had helped her carry me so much easier. They put me on something they used as a stretcher, and two of my teachers carried me downstairs that way. A friend of ours let us use her van, and they put me in the back seat of it. We picked up my dad at work and headed to Champaign to the emergency room. I was scared to death because I had a bad experience in the emergency room when I was younger. I remember singing the song Jesus Is The One Who Loves Me over and over to myself. It was the only thing I had to hold onto that prevented me from letting my fear overtake me. My parents took me by my doctor's office because they knew I trusted him, and maybe they thought he could convince me not to be scared about going to the emergency room. He came out to the van with one of his nurses who I knew very well because she has a son with OI. I was crying and saying I didn't want to go to the emergency room. He told my parents to bring me in, and he would check me out himself. I can't even tell you how relieved I was. It ended up that I had fractured both my legs and my right arm, and I had a slight concussion.

God was so good to me that day. He was there every step of the way making things go as smoothly as possible. The thing that I think of the most about that day is that if I had died, I wouldn't have been ready. I was raised in church all of my life, and I loved Jesus with all my heart, but I was stubborn. I had repented of my sins at a young age, but I refused to be baptized. I was scared to death of having my face under water. I still don't like water in my face. The thought of having my body dunked underwater even for a second didn't appeal to me at all. The accident happened March 6, and I was baptized in April after my body had healed. Then, that summer I went to junior camp for the first time. God filled me with Holy Ghost two days after my twelfth birthday, and I spoke in tongues for the first time. It was the most incredible experience of my life. Every time He refills me, I can't help thinking back to that night and what I had to go through to get there.

It might sound crazy, but I'm thankful that accident happened. When you're a child you don't realize how fragile life is, and sometimes as adults we forget too. I know that God didn't cause my accident to happen, but I believe He allowed it for a reason. I'm kind of in awe thinking that I'm here telling you about this on the twelfth anniversary of that day. God has done so much for me in these past twelve years, and I am thankful for everyday He has given me. For as long as I can remember, my Grandma Beverly has always said, "Jesus is your very best Friend." When I was a little girl, I would say, "I know, Grandma." Looking back on my life, I know how right she was. He is always there when I need Him, and He's faithful even when I don't always do the right thing. I don't deserve to have Him for my best friend, but I am so glad He loves me.

Some of you young people out there might be the age I was then, just beginning my teenage years. Others of you are in the middle of them. There are going to be so many things pulling you in different directions. All I can tell you is that nothing compares with living for the Lord. You can't live off of your parents' or anyone else's salvation. It says in Joshua 24:15 "….choose you this day whom ye will serve…" Do you know what the best part of having the Holy Ghost is? It's that I know the Jesus isn't just out there somewhere, but He's in my heart and soul. He lives in me. That means He is with me everywhere I go and whatever I do. If you let God take control of every part of your life, then you will know that everything is going to work out for the best in your life. I'll repeat one more time what my grandma said to me. Jesus is your very best Friend. Hold onto Him because He's holding onto you. He loves you.

Thank you,
Danielle

Danielle also leads a Bible Study in the

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