EMPOWERING LIVES WITH PURPOSE:
After a near-fatal drowning accident, Amanda Jackman with her then two-year-old son Walter, picked up Voice of Truth magazine while in intensive care at the hospital. Amanda shares some of the ways she is able to give God the glory for Walter surviving through it all, even now, over 2 years later!
Here is a recent post Amanda shared on FB.
POST FROM AMANDA JACKMAN:
Story time:
You may remember me telling part of this story, and it continues…
When Walter was in the hospital after his drowning accident I ran home for some things before his extubation. The accident was September 5, 2021, he was intubated until the 11th. I grabbed some gift cards for dinner that were gifted to us, some of our mail, and my Voice of Truth magazine received in the mail that day. This magazine I became a subscriber to when my friend, Jessica Prukner, became a writer for it.
So I took the magazine into Walter’s hospital room in the PICU. He was still with 24/7 nurse care and there wasn’t much I could do to help him until he was extubated. Every time I received my magazine the first thing I would do is look up Jessica’s article in the table of contents. In the Jessica’s column, was the very verse I was declaring over Walter’s life at the end of the driveway (waiting for the ambulance) where I cried out pleading with God to bring him back to life and to restore him fully.
Isaiah 43:2, “When your pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.”
Sitting in Walter’s hospital room, I sobbed silently. In this moment I knew God would restore him. I knew the miracle I begged God for, the miracle I promised I would shout from the rooftops and allow others to pray for and watch God move so brilliantly, I knew it was coming to pass. In this moment, God showed me that He heard my cries. It was the exact verse in the Bible that I prayed and cried over and over and it was right there in front of me.
Fast forward a few months, I was able to have an interview with Kimberly Hobbs, the founder of Women World Leaders and the Voice of Truth magazine. I shared my testimony with her in a podcast and she felt led to ask me to write our story in a book they were publishing as a contributing author. That further led me to be able to write my column Reheated Coffee in the very magazine God used to show me kindness and grace and love in the worst moments of my life.
From the September of 2021 issue of that magazine Lynne Hudson (who lives in Australia and is featured in the New York Museum of Art) made the cover art. It was visually stunning and I have this magazine kept in a safe and special place
But this story gets just a little better. This week I came home from a wedding and my husband asked me if I was going to open the package that had been on our porch for 2 days (did not know it was there). I had a conversation about Walter’s accident that night and I was just having one of those hard days that comes along and I was really just pushing through.
Curiosity got me and I opened the package before I even saw the card and sobbed the moment I saw it. Lynne’s stunning artwork on an incredibly soft fleece blanket. I wouldn’t have needed to open the card, I knew who it was from.
Kimberly Hobbs is one of the kindest souls I have ever met in my life. Her ability to show Jesus, her heart is unlike anything I’ve ever known or seen. This was one of the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever been given. She is one of those leaders that just dreams big and she goes where God says to go. She loves when God tells her to love. And in so many places in my life she has given me so much life and encouragement.
You’ll find that while I was trying to take a photo, Walter laid down for a brief moment before he got up and into the next thing.
Sometimes God breaks you. But the faith that breaking can produce brings you closer to a Father who loves you. This pivotal moment in my life changed everything. I would never relive that day in a million years, but what has come in our lives because of that day is truly a God story I couldn’t have imagined.
James 1:12
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”