Today

Today.  Defined in Websters Dictionary as : on or for this day.  




When I woke up today it was as all others, recently.  I didn't sleep well, and waking up is a chore.  But this day before I could turn my alarm off I was startled by a text from one of my friends.  

"Are you up? Are you awake? Did you see it yet?!"  

I knew exactly what she meant but I hadn't seen it yet.  "She" is Taylor Baucom, a photo journalist that came into our lives two years ago, seemingly by chance but actually by God's providence.  "It" was a photo story she did that was published online for Time Magazine.  The story was about my daughter, Gena.




This "today" has ended.  The kids are in bed.  The house is quiet.  So I finally have time to tell you why My heart is in awe...to tell you the story of this today.




The making of this today started almost 11 years ago on October 22, 2003.  My husband and I kissed our two girls good-bye, (2 and 6 yrs. old), and headed to a conference in N.C. from Upstate NY. We arrived, settled into our hotel and went for a walk to survey the city.  Our cell phone rang.  My brother was on the other line.  "Mom and the girls have been in a car accident.  Everyone is alive, but we don't know much more."




We flew back home knowing little of their condition.  The pediatric hallway and waiting room were lined with friends and family with forced smiles of assurance and shaky words of love as we passed.  




We entered the curtained-off space where the doctors and nurses swarmed around her.  She was lifeless, paralyzed from a spinal cord injury.  That today began a journey of todays that were none like we had ever known.    




I wrote in my journal two days later, "This is so overwhelming...The possibility of what may come is unimaginable.  I can't process it."  And for several years, I didn't process it.  I lived like a programmed robot and kept moving.  




I tried to remind myself of the Biblical promises daily.  I held onto them with blistered, bleeding knuckles.  I believed that some day I would see the goodness of God (Psalm 27:13-14).   I clung to the promise that our days our numbered and scripted before our birth (Psalm 139:16).  I dreamt of the day our sorrow would be gone and our tragedy would be used to comfort others who were suffering (II Cor. 1:4-7). 




There were many encouraging words over the years.  A few special people filled us with much needed love and prayers that fueled our souls.  One particular woman said something to me that I have never forgotten.  What she said would shape that today and start a journey towards this today.  




After weeping at church one day soon after the accident, she came up to me and said, "some day you will soar with wings as an eagle (Isaiah 40:31)."  I sucked the breath back into my lungs, smiled and thought, "I sure hope so."




Fast forward 10 + years.  We have had our share of difficult days but we can say with confidence that God has been faithful to us!  Though He has sustained and blessed us, I have still been waiting for that day in 2003 to bring a today where I see my daughter in her wheelchair and my heart "soars".




Today is that day.  My spirit takes a deep breath in, and smiles.  Today, our story was published and is now all over the world.  Today our story blesses, encourages, and comforts thousands.  Today the world gets to see our pain and struggle and find hope for theirs.   Today I see those Biblical promises come alive.  My heart soars.




Please read my daughter's story beautifully crafted by Taylor.  You will see how Taylor's entrance into our lives was not chance but a divine pairing.   The poem was written by Gena.  




This today may you be blessed, encouraged and comforted.  May you have hope for your future todays.  




May your heart soar with us.






Click the link below to see this story:

‘Raising My Head High’: A 16-Year-Old With Quadriplegia Goes to Her Prom