Ashley Stevens

My guest today is Ashley Stevens. She’s a Catholic convert and she blogs and speaks about her experiences. We talk about some crazy times in her life: one was when she gave birth to her daughter in the car, the other was how she narrowly survived a horrific car accident with a semi-truck. This accident altered her life significantly, taking away the use of her hand, paralyzing one side of her face and leaving her deaf in one ear. You’ll appreciate the lessons that Ashley has learned in thankfulness and in the pursuit of joy, even in the small things.

The life-changing accident happened three weeks after getting engaged. Usually, you don’t survive an accident being t-boned by a semi-truck.
Ashley recalls the blessings of the incident at the time.: Like how an entire field was nearby so it was easy for the helicopter to land and lifeflight her to the hospital.During her time at the hospital, Ashley endured multiple surgeries and was in a coma for a month.
The accident and suspected stroke caused facial paralysis and has left her hand unusable.Through immense support, Ashley and her family saw God’s providence in this time. Meals delivered, tangibles supplied and even small details were met.Her first memory brought her to all that she had lost physically and connected her with her fight for her life. Uncertainty loomed over her during recovery and it was a wrestle to move forward with rehabilitation. No doubts in God or loss of faith, but still incredibly frustrated with her loss of her abilities. Small things were impossible. Like, she couldn’t tie her shoes.

Ashley talks about being blessed knowing with certainty that God loves her. Her hope is anchored in Christ and believed during the the hardest times that she could regain the bare basics of living unassisted. In thankfulness, she pressed on.In reality, her return to normal life didn’t feel triumphant:
One deaf ear, a hand that couldn’t type was trying.During dark times, it seemed like dreams that Ashley had were lost.
Life unassisted seemed impossible.
Getting married and having children became a hope instead of a goal.People asked her to speak about her miracle but she didn’t see it that way. Until she started sharing…this helped her remember all that God had done.This process took time to see. It literally took years to become thankful!
Ashley connects thankfulness with Christ at the Last Supper. Being with a friend about to betray him, knowing he’s facing death and punishment, but still being thankful.

And because of all of this, Ashley’s been blessed to be able to tell people about her faith because of it.

In the depths of our conversation, I love how we focus on seeking thankfulness even in the hardest time.
Ashley’s encouragement  to the person who is not ready for thankfulness is, “It is ok!” It takes time for our heart to align with our actions. But the key is that we need to look and hunt for opportunities to be thankful. Choose to look for it, especially when we’re in that hard spot!

I love when Ashley helps us understand our vulnerability by reminding us of the story where the Israelites were full of fear when they saw their enemy, the Egyptians, approaching.

Don’t forget, just like the Israelites, God brought you through this before and will carry you through it again.