Thank you Tera Dick for sharing this beautiful story of the mercies the Lord provides to help us make it through hard trials.
Going to BYU became my academic goal when I was very young. I actually don’t remember at what age it became my primary motivation for most of the things I did in school, but even in elementary school I remember working hard for straight As so I could get into BYU (because you know how much those 4th grade report cards matter for college admission).
I’m not even sure why it became so important to me. Both of my parents went there, but they never shoved it down my throat. In fact, I can’t remember them talking much about it when I was young except in telling us about their courtship. Maybe it was their love story that enthralled my young girl heart and made me want the same thing.
Well, for whatever reason, it was my goal. It encouraged me through three years of middle school. Once I started High School I kicked my actions up a notch because now we were in the years that really counted. I regularly asked myself what more I could do to improve my chances of being admitted. I got involved in as many things as I could: cross country, track and field, choir (both the large mixed choir as well as the audition Chamber Singers), community service, leadership position, mock trial club, Seminary, school plays, work experiences, church youth group, etc. I took the ACT three times and kept all As in the hopes of a possible scholarship.
And don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t all WORK, WORK, WORK. In fact, all the activities I became involved with made my High School experience happy and full. I made great friends in places I otherwise wouldn’t have. I did hard things; sometimes successfully and sometimes not. I learned and grew and had fun.
The time came for applications to be filled and turned in. I felt pretty good. I had worked hard and my effort seemed to present itself impressive enough on paper (or so I hoped). And now I just waited.
The day that changed it all.
I can still remember the February morning. We met as a church youth group to head to the mountains for our annual snow trip. It was one of the most anticipated trips of the year. Snow, (which was a treat for us Southern Californians), teenage boys and girls together, a stop at In N’ Out for hamburgers on the way home… it was no wonder we all looked forward to it. My dad came along as a chaperone, so I sat in the front seat of the car next to him. As we drove higher in elevation more snow covered the mountains and sides of the road. It was a perfect day; sunny and just warm enough to keep our fingers and toes from turning into popsicles. We found the ideal spot and immediately kids started carting sleds, toboggans, and inner tubes up the hills.
I was ready for my first run of the day. I hopped on an inner tube behind my friend, Meghann. Because the sun was out, the snow had melted slightly on top which made it even more slick. We pulled our feet up and started down the hill. Almost immediately the tube turned around backward, so we had no idea where we were headed. It seemed like we were moving faster by the second until…BAM! We were stopped with a jolt by the trunk of a large tree. I was on the back of the tube, and because we had turned around backward, it was my spine that took the force of both my weight and my friend in front of me. I tried to get up, but realized something was wrong as I collapsed back to the ground. I noticed adults coming from all directions yelling for me to stay still. I honestly didn’t feel too worried until I saw the look on the face of my leaders and my dad.
To make a VERY long story short I took a ride on a stretcher in an ambulance down the mountain to the nearest hospital. After X-rays it was determined that I had shattered two of the vertebrae in my lower back. I was transferred to a pediatric hospital where I spent 10 days. I underwent back surgery in which they put rods and pins in my back along with bone from my hip leaving a line of staples down my spine. I received a blood transfusion and a custom “Wonder Woman” back brace was constructed for me. It went from my collar bone to down below my hips both in the front and back. Although everything was going as well as it could considering the circumstances, as I was getting ready to leave the hospital this is what I knew:
- I knew I would be out of school for 3 full months. I was a taking a fairly heavy load of classes including Honors English, AP Government and college Calculus. I wondered how I could possibly keep up.
- I knew I would be significantly constrained in my activities because of my physical limitations. I was required to wear the brace at ALL times (unless I was lying in my bed) for three full months. And, lying in my bed, I quickly realized, was something I was going to be doing A LOT of for the first month or two. Since the accident I had gotten up to walk just handful of times, and each and every step I took was deliberate and carefully concentrated on. I couldn’t even turn myself over in my bed. I knew the physical road to recovery would not be easy. After 3 months with the brace I would then be restricted to “walking only” for a full year and then gradually adding other activities into my routine for the following year. Track and field was out. The spring musical was out. The senior trip to Disneyland was out, and on and on.
Unanswered Questions
On top of the things I knew, I was also filled with questions. Would I really be able to do any activity I wanted after the two years of gradual recovery? Would there be any lasting physical limitations? Would I be able to stay on top of my studies? Could I participate in graduation activities? Would I graduate? Could I get a job during the summer to earn money for college? Would I be physically able to head to college on my own in the fall? Would this limit my ability to carry children one day?
I had had special experiences in the hospital that filled me with faith and hope, and yet questions about my future tugged at me. The day to go home had finally arrived. After a pretty uncomfortable 45 minute ride home we pulled into our driveway. My siblings and neighborhood friends came out to greet me. There was a feeling of excitement, happiness and relief and careful hugs all around. My brother came out of the house holding an envelope that was addressed to me. I wondered if it was a “Get Well” card from a friend until I saw the return address – from the BYU Admissions Office. I nervously opened it and read, “Dear Tera Dick. We are pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to the Fall Semester at BYU.”
Even though I couldn’t jump up and down and run around the yard waving my arms, I was feeling it all inside. I was overjoyed! But, it wasn’t just the excitement and relief of being accepted, of seeing my dream coming true. It was more than that. It was more than just an acceptance letter from a college. To me, it felt like a letter straight to me from my Heavenly Father. It could have read something like this:
To my daughter,
I love you. I know you. I know what you have been longing for. I know what you have been working for. Your efforts and hard work have not gone unnoticed. And this experience isn’t going to mess that up for you. You’ll still be able to do all the things you’ve been hoping for….But, I just need you to do this for me.”
Love,
Your Heavenly Father
Receiving that acceptance letter the very day I got home strengthened the experiences of faith and hope I had already had. It gave me courage and strength to press forward, knowing that God did in fact know me. He didn’t just know me, he knew what I had been wondering, what I had been questioning. He knew my hopes and desires and fears. He wanted to bless me with all those things I wanted. In that moment I also realized that He needed this of me.
Lessons Learned
For all of the reasons I didn’t know and still don’t know. But, I can look back now almost 20 years to the day of that experience and see some of the blessings that came about because of it. The lessons I learned (and there were many) have strengthened me in countless other experiences since then. I grew in ways I otherwise couldn’t have….or wouldn’t have. I can now see how my immediate family pulled together in unity and love in a way that would prepare us for a much greater trial that came four years later when my mom was diagnosed and eventually passed away from Cancer. I can see how our church community grew closer by serving together and how that would become a trademark of those people. People who would rally together for anyone in need (and they grew closer and more knit together in love because of it). I can see how neighbors were impacted by the faith and love demonstrated during that trial and how it led them on their own journey to the Savior. I can look back now and see just some of the ways that the Lord used that experience as an instrument to bless and strengthen and fortify.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
Sometimes, I think he literally takes us by the shoulders and gives us a little shove onto our path, but if we trust Him through the process He truly does direct our paths for good. He will guide us on a path of becoming someone better that we otherwise could be. He knows who we are. He knows our hopes and dreams, and if we let Him he can help us achieve those and more. I got to go to BYU just as I always dreamed, but he sent me there as a different person, someone who had in a small way been refined.
President Ezra Taft Benson, a prophet of God, once said, “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that he can make a lot more of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds… lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends and pour out peace.”
So, in trials and hardships that have come since then I have sometimes had to make myself look back and remember a broken back in my senior year of High School. And when the path that I have been trudging seems to be turning in a direction I wasn’t expecting or hoping, I think back to that admissions letter that reminds me that even though I might not understand why the path has turned, my Father does. That the Savior does, and that there is a purpose in the plan.
1 thought on “A broken back and a blessing.”
Excellent story! Thanks for sharing!
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