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Lessons Learned from Gloria

by LauraLee Shaw  
12/21/2007 / Testimonies

Her name was Gloria, and she was like no other. As a youth, she was a red-haired, freckled firecracker, those who knew her would say--gorgeous, a total knockout and full of life. Not long after marriage and having her first baby, her whole life was turned tragically upside down because of a missed stoplight. As she drove to pick up some milk from the store, a semi-truck flattened her car, and it is said, that since she wasn't wearing her seatbelt, she flew into the backseat as a result of the impact.

She sustained terrible head and upper body injuries, and her legs were pinned under the driver's seat. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Unbelievably so, she was revived and rushed to a nearby emergency room in the St. Louis, Missouri area. After seeing the damage to her brain and internal organs, many predictions were made of her situation---she would not make it through the trauma, and if she did, she would be in a vegetative state, or at the very least severely handicapped with very little use of her legs or arms.

So much for predictions. After being in a coma for 3 months and in the ICU for months after that--with excruciating determination, intense physical therapy and tremendous prayer and support from family and friends--she re-learned how to crawl and talk, cope and walk. After a few years, she even had a second child: "A Miracle Baby," the newspaper would call her.




Hating to ask for help or charity motivated her to be as independent and "normal" as possible. She would drive her kids to school and extra curricular activities most days (yes, she passed her driving test) and made pot roasts and sheet cakes for her kids and others when they came for a visit. Many times, she would exercise on a stationery bike just to keep in shape and to keep her muscles as strong as possible.

In the small town that she lived, many people enjoyed her sense of humor and her dramatic perspective on life. What made her so interesting was that she lived in the middle of being an adult and being a kid. She could communicate like a grown-up (learned behavior), but she thought and looked at situations more like a nine- or ten-year-old would. While this made her fascinating to some, it made her life that much more of a challenge personally. After her car wreck, she lost the ability to cry. She could sob emotionally, but she could not produce actual tears. Imagine being a nine-year-old female, or any aged female for that matter, and not being able to cry. Her mental stability didn't have a chance!

She spent the rest of her adult years being in and out of the hospital with various illnesses, surviving a series of car accidents, weaving in and out of delusional and paranoid behavior and coping with an empty house when her daughters went off to college. Numerous medications were part of her daily swallowing regimen, each one fixing a different symptom or problem diagnosed by one of her several doctors. Her choice was to live alone and "take care of herself," and the consequences were incredible loneliness and fear wrapped up with the satisfaction of making it on her own. Her sister Carolyn, her Pastor Steve, and her other sisters and church friends helped make her strong preferences a reality by sacrificially taking care of her needs, while allowing her to maintain her dignity as much as possible. Though her daughters tried to persuade her to live with either of them, she felt comfortable with her life the way it was. While no one ever totally understood this about her, most suspected it was that same strong will and determination that got her through her hardships, combined with the security from living life in the routine she had always known.

On September 11th, 2006, Gloria finally lost her fight to keep living after a month of struggling to recover from a colostomy in the ICU. The list of lessons one could learn from her life is long. It is for me. She was my mother, and I was her miracle baby. I know the story between the lines of circumstances, and that is what I hold on to in the pockets of my memory.




I've often wished I could ask God face-to-face why He allowed my mom to suffer so long, so hard and so deeply, but I know that my futile mind wouldn't understand even if He told me. I'm thankful for this nugget from 1st Corinthians 1: 27-29 to remind me of what made her life valuable to all who knew her:


Here are some of the important lessons I learned from reflecting from thirty-six years of life with her:

I learned that laughter truly is good medicine.
I learned that I really shouldn't EVER judge a book by its cover.
I learned that opening and reading my Bible is as necessary as breathing in and out.
I learned that true strength comes from God, and it is magnified when I'm weak.
I learned that I am blessed to have a godly husband who leads and provides for his family.
I learned that the "wrecks" in life are inevitable, & I should not give up when they come.
I learned that I can overcome my strongholds if I fight them with Christ's strength.

Some people say that everything they ever needed to know in life they learned in Kindergarten; however, I know a good number of people who would say that everything important they ever needed to know in life, they learned from the life of Gloria, my mom--God-strong--now dancing before the Lord in Glory with her new legs on...

LauraLee Shaw is a disciple of Jesus Christ disguised as a wife, mom, writer & speaker. She is a contributing author to "Women of Passions," and a writer for "Internet Cafe Devotions." You can visit LauraLee at

Article Source: WRITERS


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User Comments

What a beautiful story! Laura is truly an inspiration to all of those who know her and read her writings!!!! Thank you Jesus for the wonderful neice that you have given me and others to enjoy Judy Prisby


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