Reports of the accident were aired on TV, and news stories of her miraculous recovery followed. Jessica’s parents were told that even if she did survive, she would be blind for life, she would never walk again, never go to school, never have a normal life of any kind. But Jessica, through the prayers of many, was touched by a living God—the God who answers back. Everything that medical science said was impossible came to pass. 

Today, Jessica is a healthy and thriving young woman. She graduated from high school with honors, with perfect eyesight, complete mobility, and no visible effects from the accident that left her on death’s door.

See the entire story on YouTube: The Healing of Jessica Ward, (Not Yet, Daddy) - Brother Darrell Ward Testimony

She'll Live and Not Die

The Story of Leisa St. John

I was a nineteen-year-old nursing student and my life was busy. One day as I was racing out the door for my daily forty-minute commute to college, I did not know that on that day my life would be forever changed. I would meet death face to face and by God's grace and mercy live to tell this testimony. 

The year was 1980, on a cold January morning in North Carolina, USA. The day had begun as a typical school day for me. However, on this particular morning, my mother made me wear a very bulky winter coat because of the weather. I hated wearing coats and usually snuck out the door without one. Then when I tried to start my small car, strangely, it would not start. Therefore, I drove my parent’s large four door car instead. God also woke a Godly sister from my church early with a great burden, and told her to pray for me. I would later find out why. In these multiple small things God was showing me clearly that He was in total control!

On my way to school, I had come to a major highway intersection when a drunk driver, in a large company van, decided to blast through a solid red light and collided with my vehicle. I only have a few dream-like memories of the impact. It was as if I had a dream and, in the dream, I saw the large white van and heard myself say, "Doesn't he know he has to stop, doesn't he know he is going to hit me?" As I was crossing through the middle of this large intersection the truck impacted my car at high speed, throwing me into several other vehicles. As my car crashed into one car after another, I was thrown all over the inside of the vehicle. My parent's car was completely totaled. 

Emergency personnel had to use the Jaws of Life to cut me out, where I was lying unconscious on the backseat floorboard. My left arm was lacerated, and the coat sleeve was cut. Had I not had on the heavy coat my mom insisted I wore, I would have lost my left arm that day. Had I been in my small car, that would not start that morning, I would have died for certain. That very same evening, when my family tried to start my small car, it started right up. My car had never failed to start all the years I owned it, except for the morning of the accident. It just proves that in our darkest trial, God says to Satan, "Thus far and no further." 

I only have a few very faint memories of the initial hours after the accident. I have one memory of seeing a girl being raced into the hospital ER on a stretcher, and many people yelling and working on her. My first sensation of extreme pain also came, as I was in a twilight, in and out state of conciseness. I was in the ICU, and I remembered hearing horrific screaming over and over. My head was pounding in pain and all I could think was, "Please stop this woman from screaming!!" I would later discover that the young girl screaming was me. The surgeon was using long needles to do deep nerve blocks to my many broken ribs. This was necessary to control the pain, so that I would keep breathing.

I suffered many injuries, broken bones, and lacerations. These included a sustained skull laceration, cerebral concussion, eight broken ribs, a broken collar bone, four fractures to my pelvis, three back fractures, bruised and bleeding kidneys, internal bleeding from a torn and damaged spleen, and a punctured lung. I was in pelvic traction, and it required continual strong narcotic medication around the clock and a team of nurses to turn me every two hours. The pain was excruciating! I would spend a week in the ICU with a total of six weeks in the hospital.

About a week into my ICU stay I began suffering with severe vertigo causing the room to spin round and round. I lost all ability to control my eyelids or close my eyes. It was pure agony, and I can still remember this torture, vividly, 43 years later. I had to hold my head downward to see, as my eyes were rolled upward. I began to feel myself slowly slipping out of this life. My body was going into shock from all the trauma and strong narcotic pain medicine I was receiving continuously. 

During this critical and torturous time, I noticed a man standing to the right of my bedside. His face looked like Hoffman's head of Christ, (picture) and he had on a long white robe. He stood peacefully with his arms crossed and he never spoke a word. He just kept his eyes fixed on me, standing always in the same place to my right.  He was as real as my mother standing there also. My mom would later tell me she knew he was there as she could feel his presence. The doctor and nurse stood by my bedside to the left and my doctor had tears in his eyes. He cared, and it was hard for him to see a young nursing student suffering so greatly, powerless to help her. The doctor told my mom that he didn't know what else to do to help me. 

From that time both my parents were allowed to stay with me continually in the ICU. My mom was praying, "God please speak to Leisa's doctor and give him answers." She would later tell me, ‘It was as if a voice spoke to my surgeon and he raised his head and said to my nurse, "Take her off all pain medicine, she is not to even have Tylenol." From that moment on, I received no more pain medicine. The next 24 hours were pretty rough being turned every two hours without any pain medication. Repositioning me frequently was mandatory to prevent blood clots and pneumonia. However, God did a miracle and took my pain away. 

During the time I was suffering so greatly, and the doctor was feeling helpless to assist me, my dad called a dear friend and pastor we loved, Brother Ed Byskal, in Canada. (picture) Brother Ed told my dad he would go immediately to prayer and seek God for an answer. Pastor Byskal called my dad back later, after much prayer, and told him God had spoken very clearly to him. He said, "Leisa will live and not die." Praise the Lord for prayer and his faithful servants who can hear the voice of God. When God speaks through his servants, it is done. God always has the final say! Less than 24 hours later I would recover supernaturally and be transferred from the ICU.

I remember waking up to the early morning light the next day and realizing my eyes were closed. I was terrified to open them because I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to close them again. When I finally opened them, I looked around, and the man in white, from another world, was gone! He never appeared again. By that SAME evening, I was moved out of ICU to a regular room. I lived and did not die, as Satan had planned for me. It was a Divine miracle of God and it happened exactly how He had spoken through His servants!  I have to pause here to say, thank you Jesus for healing me.

I only improved during the next five weeks in the hospital. The doctors said I would need physical therapy for a year to walk again, but I never did. A sister in our church had a dream that I walked out of the hospital earlier than expected.  When I left the hospital after six weeks I was walking! Yes, I walked on my tiptoes for the next year, but I did walk. I never needed a single day of physical therapy after I was discharged, and I reentered nursing school again in the fall of the same year. I became a critical care nurse and was able to serve many critically ill and injured patients throughout the US and Germany until 1996 when I retired to motherhood. 

The experience I went through made me a better and more compassionate nurse.  God's plans for us are perfect and He makes all things work for our good.

I am so thankful the Lord spared my life and that He is a prayer answering God. Saints were praying for me all over the world and prayer changed everything!! Today, because God spared my life, I have two beautiful children on earth, a wonderful son in law, and a beautiful two-year-old grandson who is my absolute joy. We all love and serve this same Lord Jesus today. God has been so good to me, and His goodness is running after me!! 

It is my prayer as you read this testimony that God will anoint your faith to believe for your every need. Our lovely Lord Jesus Christ is the SAME yesterday, today, and forever. He still answers prayer and does Miracles so great!