Wednesday, December 28, 1996, was a gray and rainy day. It is a day that I will never forget for this was the day that changed the course of my life forever. That afternoon, on my way to work, I rounded a curve and lost control. My car slid off the slick road and tumbled and rolled, tossing me around inside like a rag doll before finally throwing me out through a broken window. Miraculously, I was alive, but I could not move
a muscle. As I lay on the ground in a crumpled heap, my thoughts turned to my future. I was only twenty-three. Six months before I had graduated from college with a degree in Human Development and had completed all but one of my prerequisites for entry into medical school. I had always felt that God was calling me to work with children. But now I couldn’t even move my body. How could I work for children if I was paralyzed? I had no answers.
All I could do was pray and trust that God still had everything under His control. Hospital x-rays revealed that I had broken the second vertebra in my neck. The fracture was a dangerous one. If it shifted by only a few millimeters, my spinal cord could have been damaged, leaving me paralyzed or dead.
Somehow, through all the trauma of the accident, God protected my broken neck and kept it from moving. My left hip was badly dis-
located and, after doctors worked it back into position, required surgery to remove broken bone fragments. A chipped tooth and various minor scrapes and bruises were the sum of my remaining injuries. I was airlifted to a trauma center for further treatment and my parents were notified of my condition.
Healing took several months and was a difficult, yet joyous, journey for my family and me. During this time, God began to slowly reveal His will for my life. First, He would give me a complete and total recovery, so much so that today doctors can barely detect my injuries in x-rays – and I have no residual complications.
Second, He would use me to work with children as an adoptive and foster mother...and a teacher.
Orion Christian Academy (www.ocaedu.org), an online school, was begun in 2012. Both are still actively serving children in the United States and around the world for God’s honor and glory. I currently teach at Cedar Christian School. Through these years of teaching, God has taught me a lot about His plan for edu-
cation. A fierce battle is being waged for the minds of our children. It is through the ministry of education that God is pre-
paring an “army of youth” (ChS, 30) who are “rightly trained” (CT, 493) to carry out the final work before Christ comes again. But Satan is also working hard to divert the minds of our youth and gain them for himself. We, as mothers, fathers, and educators, must work together to lead our children to God.
As Education Leader of the General Conference, I look forward to meeting and working with the many dedicated teachers, principals, parents, education leaders, and student-teachers who minister to our children and young people. Together we can reach the hearts of our young people for Christ and help in the work of preparing that “army of youth” for which God is waiting. Whatever your educational needs are, please communicate them to us using the contact information below. May God richly bless you as you minister to the youngest members of His kingdom.
by Margie Seely
