Extraordinary Grace
I am always inspired by people who persevere.
One snowy December night back in 1959, Sally Cheyney was driving to a Young Life club. She was a club leader. It was snowing hard on that dark road and Sally’s car skidded and slammed into a tree. The impact was hard, Sally was thrown, and the vertebrae in her neck were crushed. She broke her neck. And this was one Young Life leader who would not make it to club that night. Instead, the ambulance rushed her to Bryn Mawr Hospital. And even while she was recuperating in the hospital – and remember, to break your neck back in the 1950s, that was scary. You didn’t have much of a chance of surviving. But that’s not what bothered Sally back then. Her heart was set on ministering to the many young people who kept flocking to her hospital bedside. Sally was a vibrant leader in Young Life, and she enjoyed building relationships with high school kids so that she could tell them about Jesus. And these high schoolers kept pouring in, coming to the hospital to encourage their leader, their friend. But by the time they left her room, they were the ones who left transformed.
While Sally was still in the hospital, struggling to regain use of her body, she wrote this beautiful poem about her broken neck. And listen to these lines and be fascinated by her faith in Christ. She wrote:
Lord who fashioned vertebrae
Thank you for breaking mine I pray;
For you’re the God of no mistake
I cannot question the course you take.
Lord, take my heart and break it too;
It must be filled with love for you.
I thank you that your Son was broken –
Expression of LOVE, your greatest token!
For Lord we only hit a tree,
But you were nailed to one for me;
O Lord I know you had a reason
For all this at the Christmas season.
And so dear Lord as here I lie,
I pray that more of self may die;
O Lord who fashioned vertebrae
May someone trust you new today!
I can barely read that without tears welling. ’Cause here I am in my own wheelchair, and I know I could not have written that when I first broke my neck. And hey, if you know someone who has broken his neck or broken her back, download this poem today at joniradio.org. God gave Sally Cheyney extraordinary grace in that hospital, and even beyond it. For that car accident did not change things. Although Sally had to learn to live with disability, she persevered, she kept trusting in God, and continued to have a great impact on many young people. In fact, one of the young girls she led to Christ, a high schooler named Patsy – Patsy is a friend, a donor friend of our ministry – and she was the one who sent me that powerful poem just a few weeks ago. And it was Patsy who reminded me that when I spoke years ago at Geneva College in Pennsylvania, it was Sally Cheyney who had invited me. She was Dean of Women at Geneva College. Oh, my goodness. So, as you can see, a broken neck did not stop her. And when Patsy wrote me and sent that poem, she told me that Sally Cheyney is now 88 years old, and is still as vibrant and trusting in the Lord Jesus as ever she was many decades ago. So, Sally, are you listening today? Well, you epitomize, you exemplify what this ministry Joni and Friends is all about. Sharing hope through every hardship. Your life is all about hope. It was hope from the day you broke your neck. And you are still telling the story of hope. And oh, my goodness, has it touched our lives today. Sally, the Lord who fashioned your vertebrae is still using your life to tell the Gospel today. I’m Joni Eareckson Tada.
© Joni and Friends
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Finding God in Hidden Places
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