I apologize for being absent from my blog for several weeks. We've had a challenging couple of weeks. I continue to be blown away at how God has been speaking to me through these challenging times.
First of all for those who don't know what my husband does for a living, he is an electrical lineman. I've always been proud of the work he does and the passion he has for helping others through his work. Several weeks ago my dear aunt shared the video below about lineman and their passion for helping others. This video touched my heart so much when I first saw it and it has even more of an impact on me now.
On April 25th my dear husband got a flash burn to his face and wrist while at work. I got the call that every wife of a lineman fears. I was sitting at work in my office with our little girl, who was with me as she had just finished piano lessons. Josh called me and said 'I just got a flash burn, but I'm okay and I'm headed to the hospital.' The words lineman and burn NEVER go well together and at the time I didn't understand what a flash burn was. I was so incredibly grateful that his coworker that was driving him to the hospital had Josh call me instead of him. He knew it would help me just to hear his voice as I made my way to the hospital. My mind began racing and I instantly got my daughter and began heading the ER. The hospital they took him to is 24 miles away from my office and all I can say is the drive felt more like 400 miles. I made just a couple phone calls on my way over there asking for prayers for Joshua and for myself. After getting off one of the phone calls my sweet little girl said 'Mommy what's a flash burn and is Daddy going to be okay?' It was a horrible feeling not being able to answer these questions this precious girl had about her Daddy.
On my way to the ER, I dropped off Miss Kylee with some dear friends and quickly finished my drive. Although I was terribly scared, worried, panicked, and shook up, I had an incredible peace come over me that only God can give. I prayed constantly for my best friend, my dear husband, the best Daddy, my new running buddy. I prayed for God's protection, healing, safety as I drove, wisdom and guidance to stand beside him during this time, and even to prepare and calm me before I walked into the ER room as I had no idea how bad it was.
I FINALLY arrived to the ER and they told me I could go on back. As I walked in there I could feel my whole body shaking as I saw his face was covered with white wash cloths. I instantly began weeping for this sweet man. He realized right away that the wash cloths needed to come off of his face so that I could see that it wasn't as bad as I was picturing it to be, but oh this poor man was in pain. And even at this moment he still put my feelings ahead of his own. They kept rotating the cool wash cloths to continue to cool down the burned area. And I stood there holding his hand and trying to tolerate the smell of burnt skin, which I knew had to be extremely difficult for him too.
The two coworkers who were with him when it happened and got him safely to the hospital reassured me that he had on all of his personal protective equipment, that he didn't get an electrical burn and that it could have been so much worse. When one of them showed me his flame retardant shirt, I began crying again. Here's a picture of his shirt after the accident. You can see how it burnt the right side of it and it even has some holes burnt in it, but it did what it was supposed to and protected him from getting even more burns.
Here's a picture of his safety glasses and you can see where hot metal hit his safety glasses while protecting his eyes.
Here's his hard hat, which as you can see also protected him from greater harm.
This was a brand new hard hat as well.
And of course his gloves that protected his hands.
I'm so incredibly grateful for all of this protective gear, but NOTHING can compare to God's protection over Joshua on this day.
The majority of the burns that Joshua received were on the right side of his face and a small area on his wrist. Most of it was severe first degree burns with second degree burns on his wrist, lips and underneath his nose. With Joshua's permission I'm sharing the pictures of his burns and the healing process for several reasons. As a reminder to never take short cuts when it comes to putting on your protective equipment, a new understanding and compassion for burn victims and to share God's incredible healing, grace and peace.
We were finally able to head home from the ER and we decided to go home, get Josh cleaned up and then go get the kiddos so that they could see their Daddy for a minute before going to bed. Joshua slept pretty good that night but I did not. I couldn't quit thinking about what this experience must have been like for Joshua to endure and then I found myself just listening to him breathe like you do when bringing home a newborn. And it also hit me that I could have lost this man, but God had a different plan. During this sleepless night I was comforted by reading all of the prayers and support on Facebook. One particular post from a dear friend was the verses Numbers 6:24-26. 'May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look upon you with His favor and give you peace.' I pray these verses over my children every night but the fact that someone else was praying this over us was so comforting and it reminded me to pray this over my husband too!
Here's a picture of Joshua's burns the day after the accident. At this point the skin was very dark, swollen and some blisters were beginning to form.
Here's another picture of the healing process. This was a couple days after the accident and by far the hardest day for our entire family. The nurses in the ER had warned me that it would get worse before it got better and they were right. When Joshua woke up on this Sunday morning he was unable to open his mouth as his lips were stuck together. I was really struggling emotionally on this day too. I was praising God for saving and protecting him, but also seeking wisdom on how to help him, love him, and be the wife he needed me to be. The kids struggled a lot on this day too. They were worried about Daddy and were uncomfortable with how Daddy's face looked. As hard as it was the kids and I still went to church while Daddy stayed home to rest. This time reminded us what a blessing our church family is. They were there to pray for us, hug us and love on us.
And then we started to see some significant improvement and answered prayers! The swelling was starting to go down and the dead skin started to peel, and even Jayce said 'Daddy, you're face is looking better.'
We were amazed each day how he started to feel and look better.
What a difference a few days can make.
And here is my incredibly handsome husband just 11 days after the accident. His skin is going to be extremely sensitive for quite a while and it looks like he's going to have a scar on his wrist. There is also a part of his lip that is still numb. We're hoping that he will regain feeling in it but there is a possibility that he won't. As frustrating as that is for him we are still so very grateful and blessed that it wasn't any worse!
Wives ~ ALWAYS pray for your husband as he goes to work (regardless of his occupation) and ALWAYS give him a kiss before he leaves for the day! Two very simple but VERY important tasks we as wives need to do regardless of how busy we are!
And here we are running together again!
'And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to His purpose.'
Romans 8:28
Blessings,
Krystal
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