The year was 1994 and Christmas was speedily approaching. We were expecting relatives from Hungary, my husband’s aunt and uncle, to join us that holiday season and I knew it would be a busy time. There was much to do to prepare.
My husband and I had a vacation property in Florida which we owned with my mother-in-law, whom my young daughters affectionately called Baba. She suggested that I and my two girls, Kayla and Lisa, aged three years and thirteen months, join her for a trip down to the sunny state for a getaway before our guests would arrive. I loved the idea.
On December 22nd, after enjoying a wonderful two weeks in the Florida sun, we began our trip home, my mother-in-law taking the first shift. While driving through the night, the conditions proved rather treacherous. Rain pounded down on the windshield, blurring our vision. When I close my eyes I can still hear the sound of the windshield wipers furiously swatting at the unyielding rain. My young children, unperturbed, slept silently in the back seat, their breathing rhythmic and peaceful.
When we reached West Virginia, my mother-in-law pulled into a rest station. The date was now December 23rd, the sun was just coming up and the rain had finally given way to glorious sunshine. It was my turn to take the wheel and lead us home. A sense of gratitude filled my heart as I silently thanked God for his angels protecting us through the night. Pulling onto the I-95 with the sun blazing in the azure sky before us, I noticed bright orange pylons on either side of the highway. Turning to my mother-in-law, I asked, “Do you think there’s road construction up ahead?”
“It looks like the construction is finished and they haven’t cleared away the pylons yet,” she reassured.
I wasn’t able to confirm her declaration due to a large transport truck directly in front of us, rolling along at a sluggish speed. I decided it would be prudent to pull into the passing lane and get in front of this slow, lumbering vehicle. There were two reasons I chose to do this, I would be able to see if there was in fact construction, plus I would be able to make some headway to our final destination, home.
Turning on my signal light to give those behind me notice of my intention to move to the next lane, I gently guided the steering wheel to the left and into the passing lane, accelerated, hoping to pass the semi-truck quickly. Only then did I notice on-coming cars rushing towards me.
“Lorraine!” my mother-in-law yelled.
There was no time to process the horrible reality of vehicles heading straight towards us with no obvious way of escape.
What the orange pylons had not revealed to us, and what we later learned, was that there had been ongoing construction for a year on that stretch of highway. The southbound highway had been closed down and the northbound passing lane was now being used as the southbound highway. While I was following that truck, I did not see one car traveling southbound on the adjacent lane. I simply assumed it was the passing lane for northbound traffic. If I had seen at least one southbound vehicle, I would never have pulled out to pass.
In that terrifying moment, I screamed and jerked the wheel, causing the car to swerve severely to the right. Since I had accelerated, I was traveling at a high rate of speed. When I pulled hard on the steering wheel, I lost control of the car. Desperate, I turned the steering wheel to the left, narrowly missing the right side guard rail.
At that point, I heard a loud buzzing sound in my ears as my eyes focused on the car hurtling towards us. Time seemed to slow down, like the still frames of a film, picture after picture deliberately imprinted in my mind. I remember clearly looking into the face of the woman in the car rushing towards me. She was hanging onto her steering wheel, her face filled with terror, causing the hair at the nape of my neck to stand up. I have heard it said, that a person knows when they are about to die. I believe that beautiful young woman knew she was about to meet our divine Creator. I had an instant knowing that she was about to leave this earth.
But, the thoughts that rushed through my mind were more practical for my immediate future. I knew that we were going to have an accident, it would seriously delay our trip, we may need to find lodging while we figure things out and a slew of other nonsensical musings.
Our two vehicles collided violently, the greatest impact on both drivers’ sides. The blunt force caused both vehicles to go airborne. The other vehicle flipped and landed on its roof. When my car settled, it was badly smashed but still standing on its wheels. The horrific crash shattered all of the car windows like confetti raining down on us and the battery flew past me into the backseat, narrowly missing my head.
My youngest daughter’s (Lisa, my thirteen-month-old) faulty car seat exploded and plastic flew in every direction as we were tossed with brute force against our seat belts. Children’s screams and horrified cries filled my ears along with the hissing sound of broken pipes releasing smoke into the mangled car.
In 1994 there were no airbags installed in vehicles. During impact, my face forcefully tore into the steering wheel, causing a great deal of damage. I remember seeing blood and knew I was hurt. I felt my face and realized I’d lost many teeth. In my dazed state, I began to look and search for my teeth with no success. I was later surprised how calm my mother-in-law stayed because I looked horrendous, which I was soon to discover.
As we took inventory, we realized that all of us were alive, an absolute miracle with the force of the impact.
Kayla, my three-year-old, said, “Mommy, I have to go pee.
I had recently potty trained her and she was being a good little girl, telling me that it was time for a pee break.
My mother-in-law said, “Kayla, just go pee, honey.”
Kayla said, “Mommy, did you hear what Baba said?”
I turned around to Kayla and responded, “That’s okay. Go ahead and pee.”
My daughter took one look at me and started screaming. That’s when I realized that my face had been seriously altered and damaged.
After a few minutes, hours, I’m really not sure because all I could focus on was the loud cries of my babies. I tried in vain to reach my children to comfort them but it was no use. The metal of the car had enveloped me and held my leg firmly in place. I was pinned and could not get to my babies.
I remember that as we waited for the paramedics, cars would stop, people would come over to our vehicle, look at me, at us, and then turn and walk away. Not one person offered to help or pray for us. That seemed so bizarre to me.
Sirens began to fill the air, drowning out my young children’s terrified cries. The firefighters and rescue team finally came and the workers were very kind, assuring us that we would be okay. They took my children and Mother-in-law out of the car.
I remember Baba saying, “Please take my daughter-in-law and the children first. The engine could ignite and explode any minute. Please take them first.”
There was smoke still billowing from my vehicle and my mother-in-law was obviously scared that I and my daughter’s would perish. Despite her pleas, the emergency workers removed her and my children first. They were not trapped and they were easy to remove from the danger.
The rescue team worked for two hours to cut me out of the wreckage and free me. Masterfully and frantically, they wielded the Jaws of Life as though attempting to save their own mother, brother, sister or loved one.
As I sat waiting to be freed, I began to grow very weak, my breathing became increasingly shallower and I knew death was imminent. My eyes were drawn to the sky, growing blacker and blacker with the smoke, billowing from my vehicle, as I contemplated what was about to happen to me.
I had been a deaconess in the church back home and coached people on how to live a wonderful spirit-filled life. I knew that death was nothing to fear but rather was a celebration where angelic beings rejoiced. I began to envision this but before my thought was complete a harsh dark voice spoke with authority.
“There is no God, and you are going to go to the ground and maggots will eat your body.”
Horrified, weak and desperate I cried out, “God! If you are there and you are real, please help me!”
Suddenly, my body tore open as easily as splitting a peanut shell and a brilliant white gown covered my entire being.
A voice, so powerful it drowns out every other possible sound, called out, “Take my hand and I will show you heaven.”
The light was so blinding that I could not see. In obedience, I reached up with longing for that guiding hand. The moment I took hold of the hand, I was lifted out of my battered, torn body and transported to another dimension of life. As our spirits soared upwards, I was enveloped with a sense of peace I had never ever before known.
And then, the life review began. I was shown various things I had done in life that caused me to veer from my purpose. This was not done in spoken words but rather our souls communicated as though there was a knowing. Words were not necessary and we had been liberated from them in this realm. With each scene my sorrow deepened and I was filled with regret for the error of my ways.
Each time, I was met with an unconditional love that passes all understanding. There are no words in the human language that can accurately capture the unconditional love that enveloped every single fiber of my being. After this came a cleansing shower of pure forgiveness.
Once this was completed, we began to travel upward through what seemed like a grey tunnel within the sky and, as I took in my surroundings, I could see the scene of the accident below. I saw myself sitting in the car with the workers spread out and surrounding the vehicle. I saw the victim in the other car upside down and the endless traffic. Within a split second this all flashed before me.
The voice instructed, “Don’t look back.”
As we travelled a little farther, we once again came to a stop. This time, from the side of the brilliant white gown I was wearing came a photograph of my husband. Realization flooded my mind, my name was Lorraine, I was married, I had two young children and we had been in an accident.
Simultaneously I heard the voice ask, “Do you want to continue or do you want to go back?”
I knew instantly that I was not ready to leave my young children. They needed me. Immediately we began to descend back towards the car and that unconditional love filled me once again.
“I am holding your hand, don’t let go,” the loving voice commanded.
All at once, I was thrust into my body with an accompanying swooshing noise and my eyes popped open. Dazed and looking around, I heard the cheers and screams of the rescue workers.
“We got her! She’s with us!”
During the time I was in the car with the rescue team working to free me, I felt no pain. After I came back into my body, the emergency workers cut the roof off my vehicle. They told me they were going to lift me out and it was going to hurt. The pain I felt during this procedure was excruciating, exceedingly worse than child birth.
Later I learned that the young woman in the other car had indeed passed away. She was twenty-seven years old, a single mom with a ten-year-old daughter. This woman was living with her parents and I can only imagine the sorrow and grief they have dealt with since. I have thought about that family so often and felt a great deal of guilt. I have written many letters to this young woman as a form of therapy, but I never mailed any of them. God has forgiven me for my mistake in causing that accident. Accidents are exactly that – accidents. I didn’t wake up that morning and decide to destroy that woman’s life, nor did I plan to injure my body so severely.
There was a lot of fallout from my accident. Trauma such as this does damage in other areas as well. Life was very difficult at first, I spent months in hospital, first in the U.S. and then in Canada, months of healing and rehab, walking through a criminal charge of vehicular homicide and everything that came with that. Eventually those charges were dropped. All of this trauma changed my character and my husband struggled with the new me. Unfortunately my marriage did not survive the drastic changes I went through.
Twenty-nine years have passed since that fateful December day. I have endured fifty-six surgeries to reconstruct my face and body. My femur had fifty-four breaks, my pelvis was shattered, many teeth missing, my upper jaw bone was destroyed, my right eye socket bone was broken and my eye sunk down into my face, my left foot was hanging on by only tendons, plus so many other injuries. The various doctors and nurses that have worked hard to put me back together will be forever in my gratitude.
I type these words with pure thankfulness in my heart. I am grateful that dying is nothing to fear. My survival gave me a purpose in living. God is never changing despite the difficulties life can bring. He calls each one of us to take hold of His hand and to not let go. No matter what our journeys’ are like, we have a companion that longs to hold our hands and help us each step of the way. For that, I am truly grateful.
Lorraine Kane
*****
Once we get to Heaven and God shows us a reel of our life, we will discover how many times we were rescued, protected or redirected by supernatural means. What a divine privilege it is that, during our time on earth, God gives us snapshots into the supernatural realm, unusual happenings that announce that Heaven is present and involved in our lives.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
Psalm 91:11
If you would like to share a personal story of supernatural protection or angelic activity in your history, please reach out. Private message me on Facebook messenger or through my email – collreim@gmail.com – and I will explain the details. I would love to share your testimony on my email newsletter story edition and on my blog as an encouragement to others. As it says in Hebrews 3:13 – Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’.
