Cindy Fisher: A Story of Grace, Trauma and the Power of Prayer

God’s grace is found in many different shapes, sizes and places, some obvious and others unexpected. For Cindy Fisher, then 29, it showed up in the trauma unit of the Allentown Sacred Heart Hospital.

When she, her husband and her daughter were in a serious car accident, they ended up in two separate hospitals. After being cut from the car with the use of the “jaws of life,” and life-flighted to the hospital, Fisher was diagnosed with Traumatic Closed Head Brain Injury and a broken jaw in several places.

The doctors told her family she was lucky to be alive, but there wasn’t much hope for full recovery. They needed to prepare themselves, as her brain function would likely be extremely diminished.

Her husband and daughter’s injuries were less severe, and although still in need of care at home, they were soon out of the hospital. She, however, remained there for another month. At the time of her discharge there were more questions than answers, and a decision had to be made. 

Should she be placed in a nursing home?

Who would care for her? 

Her family quickly decided against the nursing home, and her sister acquired the needed equipment to care for her in her home.

 “With the grace of God,” Fisher said, “our families made changes that interrupted their everyday lives to care for our special needs.”

This was no small task, and required much personal sacrifice.

“I was the most difficult to car for,” Fisher said. “I had lost my short term memory and most of my lifetime memories, my fine motor skills had disappeared, and I had continual hallucinations. A minute seemed like hours to me.”

Although recovery was a long process, she didn’t have to go through it alone. She was supported and prayed for by family, friends and various churches.

From left: Cindy, Lloyd and Melissa Fisher at Melissa's Graduation from Nursing college in 2008

Now 55, Fisher praises God each day for her family, friends and life. After her recovery, she was able to continue her roles as a wife, mother, sister, friend and now grandmother of two. 

“I truly believe in the power of prayer and God’s grace,” she said. “I know in my heart that I would not have come this far without God’s grace.”

She has known God since she was a child and was baptized twice—first at the age of 12, then at 22 when she felt she better understood the reasons for it.

When she meets people who are in similar situations to what she went through, she hopes her story will be an encouragement to them as she keeps them in her prayers. 

Jennifer Schreiner: Finding the Right Path

The paths of God's children are marked with grace.

Jennifer Schreiner was five years old when she first decided to follow the path of Jesus and give her heart to Him. 

About 19 years later, however, she found herself on a different path. It was then, she said, while she was hanging with the wrong crowd and no longer living for God, when her mother was praying, asking Him to get her attention.

And He did. 

Through a pregnancy. 

Unable to take care of a child at that point in her life, she placed the baby for adoption. 

At first it was difficult finding the right match. One couple was suggested to her, but she knew them and felt it would be awkward. So, she kept looking. Another was found, but then fell through a couple months later. Then, five different people at different times suggested the first couple, and she began to wonder if it was of God.  It worked out, and that couple ended up adopting the baby.

Today, she recognizes God’s hand in the adoption. “The family I didn’t want to adopt her at first," she said, "has been the best family she could have had."

Although it was a hard time in her life, looking back, she now sees it as God’s grace. “I’m not sure I would have been able to do it if I was not turning to God,” she said.

She pointed out that it was also through the love and non-judging attitudes of her family and church that helped her through the difficult time and lead her back to the path of Jesus.

Today she rejoices not only for the grace of God in her own life, but also in the life of the child who was adopted almost 10 years ago and became a child of God at the age of five.

Jennifer is now married and she and her husband Brad have two daughters. 

When she meets people who are going through similar situations to what she went through, she says she wants them to know that, “no matter what you have done, God wants a relationship with you.” She goes to God daily for strength and when things get tough, knowing that He is in control is a big deal to her, because that means she doesn’t have to fix it.

Her favorite verse in the Bible is Micah 6:8, which says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (ESV)

 Click here to learn about God's story of grace for your life.

Whatever paths your life has traveled, God's grace has always followed.