Home ¢ Gracia Lee is a writer at Salt&Light, an independent, non-profit Christian news and devotional website with a passion for kingdom unity, and a vision of inspiring faith to arise in the marketplace. / Photos courtesy of Rachel Teo
God made sure
I lacked no good thing Still, her recovery was not an easy one. With her body wrecked by the accident, it was impossible for her to even do simple tasks like walking, writing and dressing herself. She dropped out of university to focus on recuperating and spent a full year going in and out of the hospital for a variety of consultations and surgeries. As a result of her brain injury, she also struggled to control her own body. For example, she would sometimes suddenly burst out laughing or crying for no reason. These difficulties were compounded by the emotional pain of watching her friends moving on with “normal” life without her.
Rachel Teo her life irrevocably altered after meeting with a horrific accident in 2011. But God was at work putting new purpose into her future
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Rachel (right, in white) was excelling in her first semester of university before the accident happened
he last thing Rachel Teo remembered was making her way to meet a friend. Then everything went black.
When she opened her eyes, the 21-year-old found herself in an unfamiliar room, with her body in casts and bandages. This is a hospital, she was told. You’ve been in a coma for two months. She had been hit by a van while crossing the road. Her arms, legs and ribs were broken. Her jaw was crushed. A long scar—from a brain surgery done while she was in a coma—ran across her shaven head.
“Imagine at the age of 21, all my friends are back in school, going out, dating, feeling happy, and what am I doing? My days are busy with being in the hospital meeting my neurosurgeon, my orthopaedic, going for surgeries,” she said.
She also struggled to think straight. Later, she was told that she had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury that would be permanent.
Keeping the faith
Then a first-year psychology student who had just received gleaming results for her first semester, Teo found her life now irrevocably altered.
While others were singing praises during worship, she recalled hurling vulgarities at the God she had come to know in her days at Hwa Chong Institution. “Why did you let this happen? You are God Almighty. Why didn’t you stop the van? I just want to be a simple person and go through a normal life. Why did you let me go through all this?” she railed.
“I lost many things because of the accident,” said Teo, now 31. Without missing a beat she added: “But God always made sure I lacked no good thing (Ps 34:10).”
Choking up with emotion, Teo remembered asking God: “Why didn’t you just let me die?”
METHODIST MESSAGE FEBRUARY 2021
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