Wow!

A girl I know from Tennessee, Jennifer, forwarded this to me in an email. For those of you who know me, Shea Payne is my friend Paige's brother. How crazy is that? For those of you who don't know, Paige is one of my best friends ever. I met her here in Fredericksburg, and we were stuck at the hip. Because of her husband Joe, (still love ya Joe), she had to move to Fayetteville, NC. I just thought it was such a small world when I got this email. Amazing.
PS - Jennifer didn't know that this was Paige's brother. Just sending out a postive email. THanks Jennifer!

From Tragedy to Testimony
Photo credit: Kingsport Times-News
This is from the father of a Kingsport crash victim. Ricky Reed is a Kingsport re altor. Shea Payne is a Kingsport firefighter. Steve & Sherry Jeffers are faithful prayer warriors. All are members of Higher Ground Baptist Church. Ricky's daughter, Rachel Reed, 21, was involved in a serious accident on I-26 between Stone Drive and Bays Mountain at 5:40 pm on Friday, Feb 8.
Sherry and I spoke with Ricky just a few minutes ago and he asked that we pass his note along. The events described below just prove again that we serve an Awesome God!!
Steve
From: Ricky Reed
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2008 12:01 PM
To: Steve Jeffers
Subject: Re: FW: Friday's Here - Sunday's On The Way!!
Hi Steve,
I know you send out prayer requests and updates to a lot of people, and I always appreciate it, and it keeps me informed of what's going on with many of our friends and neighbors. I wanted to give you an update on Rachel, who I know you remember (who could forget Rachel Reed??). You might not have heard, but she was in a serious car accident Friday evening. She was on her way to a Young Life meeting, and was traveling towards Stone Drive on I-26. Another car was traveling from Stone Drive towards Bays Mountain on I-26, and the driver was weaving in and out of traffic at a really high rate of speed. (some witnesses say 90 mph, some 120). He lost control after crossing the long bridge and went airborne at the median just past the bridge, and Rachel was on the other side of the highway. She evidently in a split second saw him coming at her, and turned her wheel to the right, which kept the other car from t-boning or hitting her head on. The engine of her car ended up in her passenger's seat, but she was wearing her seat belt and her air bag went off just as it should. Shea Payne just happened to be one of the first to get there, and he helped to cut her out of the car. I and Rachel's mom were gone looking for Rachel when she hadn't shown up for her Young Life meeting....I was on one end of I-26 and saw the wreck from a distance, and Rachel's mom was on the other end of I-26, and we both just knew that Rachel had to be in that wreck. I parked my car in the median, and started running from Stone Drive, and Linda parked her car and was running down the hill towards the wreck. We both arrived at the wrecked car at almost the same time, and when I saw the car, I knew it was Rachel's, and that there was no way she could have survived. But thanks be to our awesome God that He had Shea Payne right there in the middle, (Shea realized when he saw me who the girl he had just sent to the hospital was!!). I asked him if Rachel had survived, and he told me "Yes, she was alive, and she was talking" I still couldn't believe it, and asked him twice more......of course Linda couldn't believe she had lived through it either, and Shea reassured us both she was alive and at the hospital. Shea later told me that when he came up on the wreck, he thought to himself there was no way anyone could have survived, but then he hears Rachel talking!!! Rachel has to be one of the sweetest, kindest example of a Christian you'll find, and anyone that knows her will tell you the same (not because she's our daughter, but God just blessed us with her and we just happened to be the fortunate parents) Shea also said that a nurse from Wellmont had gotten to the site before he had, and she had evidently assessed what was going on, and was already giving directives as to what was needed. A Wellmont chaplain was also there! To see how God placed everybody at that spot at the time, and how he arranged Rachel's protection, is nothing short of a miracle. It is truly that - A MIRACLE!
Rachel had a broken femer, which required a steel rod to be placed in her leg, five broken ribs, five fractured vertebra, a broken wrist, facial cuts, and a whole lot of bruises. She's been taken off the ventilator and had no problem breathing on her own yesterday around 2. She's been alert, knows what's going on, tells me and her mom where she hurts, to hold her hand, to rub her foot, everything a precious child would only ask mom or dad to do. She is being weaned from her pain medication today, and will be started to work towards getting her up out of bed and on her feet. The care from all the doctors and nurses at Wellmont has been outstanding, and I wish I knew everyone's name, but I'm still in a blur at this time, and will have to try and get all that later, but we are so thankful for them.
We know that she has a long road ahead of her of rehab and healing, but we are thankful to God for all that He has done, for His protection, His care, His watch over His special little girl, and for keeping her mom and dad sane through all of this.
The outpouring of love and compassion from all of our friends and family, from all of Rachel's friends, I could name a list of probably two hundred people we have seen or talked to in the last forty eight hours, and it wouldn't even begin to thank everybody enough. For the prayers, the prayer chains, the churches, the local Pastors........thank you Lord Jesus for it all!!!
Our baby is gonna make it!!
We love you all,
Ricky Reed, Linda Reed, and Rachel
Please keep the Reed family in your prayers and remember that God works in mysterious ways!