CROFTON, Ky. (KT) — Last fall in a Kentucky Today story, Tim Morgan told about marveling at God’s grace and goodness in his time as pastor of Fruit Hill Baptist Church. Today he is still marveling over God’s blessing and goodness — although the personal circumstances for he and his wife have changed dramatically.
His wife of 28 years, Audrey, is paralyzed from the waist down from a May 17 auto accident. She is doing in-patient rehab in Atlanta for at least another month, but during this lifestyle change, the Morgans’ faith and gratefulness to God have not waned.
Rather than focus on the challenges ahead, they are reflecting joy at God’s graciousness. Perhaps lyrics from a popular Christian song say it best:
I love You, Lord
For Your mercy never fails me
All my days, I’ve been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
‘Cause all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.
“We’ve said we are blessed — this was not our plan,” Tim said, noting in a Facebook post that their desire is to “show Jesus to the people here in rehab.” He added, “If there is something about Audrey’s story that can be encouraging, we want to share it.
“We have had so many people offering to help — what has been so amazing is to watch people who pray and support us. We have home modifications to do, so we are not there yet. But we don’t want to burden anyone else.”
Tim, in addition to pastoring, works as an operations officer with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell. He said various contractors are lined up for home modification work.
He said the accident occurred on Audrey’s way home from work — on a straight stretch of roadway, which had no shoulder. The vehicle’s front tire went off the side of the road, hit a raised driveway and the vehicle landed on the back bumper, with the weight crushing her spine. She was taken by helicopter to Nashville, where she underwent surgery the next morning.
“We had phenomenal first responders,” Morgan said. “It sounds so cliche, but God has been with us every step of the way. It’s been amazing the people God has put in our path.”
He said his wife, now wheelchair bound, “has always been a strong woman because of my military career … she has always been the silent partner in the ministry. I have watched her come out of her shell in the hospital, putting the work in to get as much out of rehab as she can.”
He recalls early in their ministry when they lived in upstate New York, far from her home state of Alabama, that a woman in their church advised Audrey, “You’ve got to bloom where you are planted.”
“That is what she has done,” Tim said. “She said she is going to bloom in the hospital.”
“For me, in the situation I am in right now, which is not something I would have chosen by any stretch, I have chosen to focus on what I can still do, the abilities I still have,” Audrey said. “I focus on how good God is and what He has done for me and not focus on the negatives. I approach everything with a smile and am friendly to everyone, and it has opened a few doors to plant some seeds.
“People ask ‘How can you sit in a wheelchair and choose to be happy?’” Her response: “Let me tell you the things God has done for me.”
She said she chooses to “focus on the good things God has done and not let it cause me to be bitter or angry or any of those negative emotions. I can still use my arms, I can see, hear, talk, I can get around — just in a wheelchair — I have to learn to do things in a different way.”
Audrey recalls she was in excruciating pain following the accident. “I have never felt anything like that pain, and not knowing what was wrong with me — I just knew I couldn’t move, and what I could move caused tremendous pain. I had shattered vertebrae, but the following morning after surgery, I had this incredible sense of peace. I have had that all along. Deep down I am at peace with whatever happens — whether I walk again or not — I am at peace. That carries me, my faith — I don’t know how people do this without God in their life. Whatever it (future) looks like, everything is going to be okay.”
She said that when people ask what she needs, she answers with one word: prayer. “To me that (prayer) is huge. I say pray that God’s will be done — pray I have strength to get through the therapy sessions. I have soreness but am not really in pain. Prayers are working. I can use all the prayers that people are willing to lift up on my behalf.”
She said she listens to a song every night that has “become my little lullaby” — God is Good by Jonathan McReynolds, which says …
May your struggles keep you near the cross
And may your troubles show that you need God
And may your battles end the way they should
And may your bad days prove that God is good
And may your whole life prove that God is good.
This story is republished with permission from Kentucky Today. Read the original.
Chip Hutcheson is a content strategist for Kentucky Today, the online news website of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. He also does supply preaching and interim pastorates. He retired as publisher of The Times Leader newspaper in Princeton in 2017 after serving as a publisher for 41 years. He previously served as president of the Kentucky Press Association, Kentucky Baptist Convention and the National Newspaper Association.
