Encountering God After the Worst Day of My Life

by Marty Harris

The day was Tuesday, April 1st, 1975. I went to work on the second shift at a local hospital where I worked as a nursing supervisor. My husband called me at 7:00pm and said that he was going to take the children to a local hockey game. At about 8:30, my beeper was going crazy with pages from the ER. This was multiple injuries or a disaster of some sort and they needed more staff to help with the patients. When I went to the ER, I saw my son Tim (age 7) on a gurney and he was crying. I tried not to panic, but I knew that my family had been in a serious car accident. I was told that my husband and Mark (age 5) were in critical condition. Tim and Angela (age 2) had injuries, but were able to recover physically, at least. I asked the clerk to call my parish priest and ask him to come and administer the sacraments.

My husband went to surgery to treat his injuries, but he died on the table. Mark also went to surgery and then to ICU. He was on a ventilator and in a coma with a severe traumatic brain injury. Angela and Tim were admitted for treatment of their injuries. No doubt, this was the worst day of my life! To make matters worse, we had a spring snow storm dropping 15-18 inches that made the next 4 days even more difficult. I was overwhelmed, anxious and terrified. The next 4 days were and are a blur to me. Thank God for family who took charge of decisions and planning for the funeral.

At the cemetery, after the funeral, I was standing in the snow, shivering and crying. When was this nightmare going to end? And then.... this amazing and unbelievable feeling of calm and peace came over me. It was like a warm fleece had been put on me. I felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted off of my shoulders. It is so difficult to put into words what I was feeling. I knew then that the Holy Spirit was with me and intervening. I felt encouraged and hopeful that my family would be okay and I could manage with the help of God.

My family has done well except for emotional healing, but that has improved over the years.

Thank you to the living God always and forever. I am so grateful.