In The Midst
by Kristi Griffin
, Wednesday, five o’clock.
For most people in
Jackson this time
marks the end of a hard
workday, but for me it
was only halfway to
what would lead to the
longest day of my life.
Eric, my husband, was
going to meet me at the
land where we were
building our new house.
I was driving to
Mother’s to pick up our
four-year old daughter,
Ericka, as she was at
that age when she
loved to help with
everything. After
picking Ericka up from
Mother’s we drove off to
“The Land” as we called
it.
Eric and I were one of
four couples, all
friends, who came
together and bought
around a hundred acres
of undeveloped woods to
build our homes. At this
time we were in the
process of building
our new house.
Halfway listening to
Ericka’s stories about
her day I began to
doubt whether “The Land”
was where God wanted us
to stay. There
had been two brush fires
recently, both coming
within twenty yards
of the house. Was God
telling us to move? I
questioned this to a
co-worker, but her reply
was that God had His
hand of protection
upon us. If He didn’t
then the house would’ve
been consumed by the
brush fires.
As we turned into the
gravel driveway I could
see my husband Eric
and Corey were there.
Corey, our 11-year old
son, was playing with
a friend. I guess he
needed a break, as we
were at the house site
daily for the past six
months.
This particular January
evening Eric, Ericka,
and I were on the
second floor doing our
normal clean-up duties.
Ericka decided to
sweep with the wide push
broom while Eric
vacuumed the dust...his
chore today. (Eric did
whichever Ericka decided
not to do at the
moment.)
I was about five feet
away in the balcony area
picking up scrap
2x4 remnants. As I bent
over to grab another
piece I heard a
“ping” echo below us, as
the Shop Vac was not
running. Fear
gripped me as the
thought hit that the
only thing that noise
could
have been was a broom
handle hitting the
concrete slab twelve
feet
below. Call it a mom’s
intuition.
After rushing to the end
of the balcony I saw
Ericka... lying
unconscious on the
floor! Screaming, I flew
down the stairs. As I
turned the corner Eric
was by her side. He
vaulted over the
balcony to help our
baby. Several attempts
were made to try and
wake her, but nothing
happened.
Finally, she opened her
eyes though they were
both fixed in an
upper left position. My
thoughts were ‘this is
the first sign of
head trauma!’ Her neck
had no control, as a
newborn. Fear mounted
as I could not speak but
grabbed Ericka from Eric
and held her
close to me. He ran to
get the car as I rocked
her in my arms.
The ride to the hospital
seemed like an eternity
for us though it
was only 20 miles away.
Eric tried to call on
the cell phone for
an escort but it was
almost nine p.m. and
they could not find us.
He began asking Ericka
all sorts of questions
to check her
mentality and awareness
of the surroundings. She
would recite her
name and answer his
questions with a “yes,
ma’am” before quickly
correcting herself with
“I mean “yes sir” in
between her cries. At
one point she asked Eric
to sing “Jesus Loves
Me”. As he started I
began crying harder. In
between a line he broke
down and Ericka
finished it.
Driving into the
hospital’s parking lot
Eric called 911 back to
let them know we arrived
(without the escort).
Once at the
hospital Ericka began
vomiting--another sign
of head trauma.
Immediately they began
IV’s, x-rays, CT scans,
etc. to determine
any damage to the right
side of her head where
she landed on the
concrete. We concluded
she was pushing the push
broom and backed
off the edge in between
the studs of the wall,
which were twelve
inches apart. We
contacted family and
friends, to begin the
prayer
chain.
During her tests, we saw
blood coming from the
Ericka’s right
nostril... causing us to
panic again. Minutes
seemed like hours,
hours like days as they
completed one test after
another. Finally
the doctor came to give
us the diagnosis. He
said Ericka only had
a minor concussion! We
were overjoyed! A nurse
commented to me
“You know, children are
so resilient”. Though
sometimes true, I
explained to her that
only God safely carried
my baby down twelve
feet onto the floor.
Soon after, she was
released from the
hospital. We praised the
Lord for His blessings
though we did not
know the extent of the
miracle nor how many
people had interceded
in prayer for Ericka.
Two thirty that morning
I called my cousin,
Eydie, in Louisiana to
give her the news. She
said her dad called
that day and had left a
message on the answering
machine, but all
he knew was that Ericka
had fallen from the
second floor. Nothing
else was known.
Eydie said upon hearing
the message she came
down with a sharp
pain on the right side
of her head, but didn’t
know why. Together
she and her husband
prayed in intercession
for Ericka, anointing
Eydie’s head for the
pain. Upon “Amen” of the
prayer Eydie’s pain
in her head went away
instantly. She told me
she knew at that
moment Ericka would be
fine as she felt the
heaviness lift away.
Five days later Eric and
I went back to the
house. We were able to
put some of the pieces
together… Measuring over
24 inches wide the
push broom had to fall
just right to get in
between the 12-inch
space from one stud to
another.
Second, in order to hear
the broomstick echo on
the floor the Shop
Vac had to be off. This
was no coincidence, as
Eric never stops
working until the job is
done. Also, we went
upstairs and saw the
rail on the balcony Eric
vaulted over, which was
cracked
horizontally the length
of the board. Together
we talked about the
doctor’s report stating
the small of the
cartilage on top of
Ericka’s right ear
cushioned the blow that
may have been a part of
saving her life. We know
it was God.
Also, during that week,
we found out that a man
(Tonye) from our
church held a prayer
with his group at work
the day following the
accident at 2:15pm. That
turned out to be the
exact hour Ericka
vomited for the last
time… another answer to
prayer.
On September 1, 2000,
the most unbelievable
thing happened.... I
had the kids’ picture
made by a “new”
photographer in our
area, a
couple of months back.
She is a super Christian
woman who left me
a wonderful note with my
pictures, explaining how
she considered
her photography a gift
that God has graciously
given her. Along
with this gift she feels
that God gives her
people not only to
photograph, but also to
pray for. So after I
read the note, I
decided to email her a
thank you for the note
and for some reason
decided to share the
story of Ericka with
her.
Her Response: “I’m
trying really hard to
see through teary eyes
to
reply to this. You won’t
believe this but here
goes: I was sitting
in my office where I
used to work when Tonye
came in. He started
telling me that he
wanted me to pray about
something. I said
“Sure, what is it?” He
hung his head to try to
conceal the tears
in his eyes and started
telling me about a
precious little girl
named Ericka who had
just fallen 12 feet to a
concrete slab and
had been rushed to the
hospital with head
injuries. I immediately
started praying and
alerted our entire
prayer group by email to
ask them to pray also. I
never dreamed that I
would actually get
to see this little
miracle, much less get
to take her picture. Of
course it’s probably a
good thing I didn’t know
who she was when I
was taking her picture
because I don’t think I
would have been
able to quit hugging her
long enough to work.
This is totally
amazing to me. Our God
is an awesome God!”
We believe that not only
did God save her life,
but also through
THE POWER OF PRAYER, she
is normal today. Matthew
18:20 says, “For
where two or three are
gathered together in My
name, I am there in
the midst of them.”
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