Amazing story
Jeff Jones: The End Was Just The Beginning
By William Wiegman & Tim Smith
The 700 Club
CBN.com
– "Whenever anything got hard or something bad would happen, I could always reassure myself, because I can kill myself later and not have to worry about it.”
Jeff Jones was a 16 year old living to die.
“I just stopped one day and said, ‘I am going to kill myself’. And I made a pact with myself that I was going to commit suicide. That was the start of a downward spiral. It just became an obsession for me.”
Jeff’s parents felt helpless when their once happy child turned dark, morose, and suicidal. They suspected a head injury as a small child contributed to his mental illness. They visited multiple counselors who were unable to stem Jeff’s suicidal impulses.
Father: “I can’t tell you how dark he was. It was like he was possessed or something.”
Mother: “It was a terrifying time because I felt so many times there was a train coming that I couldn’t stop.”
It wasn’t a train. It was an 18 wheeler traveling 65 miles per hour that left Jeff’s body crushed on the side of an interstate highway.
It happened on a family trip to seek help for Jeff. As the family settled into a motel along the way, Jeff’s girlfriend called and broke up with him.
Mother: “We saw Jeff doing a lot of pacing around and we knew that he had been on and off the phone so I was very concerned. I remembered that one of the counselors had told me that in those situations, I wasn’t giving Jeff enough space and time to think, so I let him walk away from the motel.”
Jeff wandered toward the interstate. Witnesses said he hurled his body in front of a big rig.
His father Terry saw the chaos on the interstate from their hotel window, so they rushed to the scene.
Mother: “When I first saw him lying there, with my background as a nurse, I thought to myself, ‘My son is dead.’”
Terry, an emergency room physician, also knew Jeff’s condition was dire.
“I figured he was probably in a deep coma and just getting ready to die and I just said, ‘I love you Jeff, I love you Jeff.’ I just kept saying that.
Jeff was rushed to the hospital.
“There had been a massive head injury. His left lung was completely down. His left arm was only attached by skin. The spleen needed to be taken out because it was so ruptured. It was bleeding into his belly. The most life threatening injury of all was the aortic tear.”
Emergency surgery removed his spleen and repaired the aortic tear. Once the surgery was complete, Jeff lapsed into a coma. His brain swelled and threatened to blow out his brain stem.
In the next few weeks he had a cardiac arrest, lost 50 lbs and contracted MRSA, a deadly staff infection. Doctors offered his parents little hope.
Mother: “I knew from his color and the symptoms and from his blood pressure and heart and the number of doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists at his bedside that he would die.”
Despite the monumental odds against him, Jeff survived. And another miracle unfolded in Jeff’s hospital room.
His father prayed that Jeff would have a visitation from Jesus. One day, in the beginning phases of rehab, Donna walked into Jeff’s room. She was astounded by what she saw.
“His arms were lifted up to the ceiling. His face was to the ceiling, and his eyes were just lit up.”
“As I felt Jesus in the room, I was thinking I was just an audience to Him. And He said, ‘I love you, Jeff and I want you to be a light to the world now.’ We realized that what I prayed for happened. From that moment on, I knew things were going to be OK.”
Jeff spent nearly six years in rehab, including physical and speech therapy. But his faith continued to grow.
“It was a very difficult process, but I felt like God was with me. I felt like I had a strength that wasn’t mine. It was a very neat thing because I knew that Somebody was right by my side the whole time.”
Jeff just graduated with a 4.0 average from the University Of Montana School of Pharmacology.
“I totally feel like I’m a new creation. I feel like I’ve gone from a dark, shy kid to someone who is really extroverted, has a great time in life, just trusts God and has a great family. I have so many things to enjoy I just really can’t wait for tomorrow. It’s just a miracle that I am here.”
“If you turn your life over to Jesus and give Him your whole life, your everything, He will give you everything. He’ll give you that happiness and contentment that we all long for. That’s the only way I ever found it.”
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