Car Accident Looks Brutal, but Not to God

“He said, ‘Mom I can’t breathe. The car flipped.' And I said, ‘Where are you?' And he said he didn't know.”

August 19th, 2021 - Amber Lavengood got the phone call every parent fears. Her son Jaydon had been driving with friends in rural Indiana when the driver lost control, flipping the car over several times. His mom, Amber, had been an emergency room nurse and knows how deadly a crash like that can be.

She says, “I was instantly worst-case scenario, expecting some major chest trauma, knowing that the force of any kind of a car flip is enough alone to kill a person.”

Jaydon was able to get himself and another passenger out of the car. Dazed and injured, he called his mom. A bystander took his phone and told Amber where they were. As she raced to the scene, Amber called her mother for prayer, then cried out to God.

She recalls, “Is a medic on the way? Can I get there first? All those thoughts were just racing. Crying out to God, 'not my baby, please.' I needed God right then. I needed to be in conversation with Him and to know that He was with me and with my son. I couldn't be with Jaydon at that exact second and I had to find where he was, but I knew God could and God could provide him with the first responders and the medical attention until I got there. Or God could sustain him.”

Several EMTs went to church with Amber and quickly started a prayer chain for the boys’ survival. Still, when she arrived on the scene Amber was overwhelmed by the devastation.

She says, “The car was worse than I could imagine. The sight was just unbelievable, the car was laying upside down. There was debris everywhere. My son was laying on the edge of the hill with another gentleman. And you could see that there was someone stuck in the car. The nurse in me instantly thinks there's no way these boys are going to live through this. My mind was racing with all these possible injuries. I know that a chest contusion, a blunt-force injury to the chest can be fatal. That was a battle, to just lay hands on him and pray and not be able to pick him up and hold him. That was very hard."

Jaydon and another boy were taken by ambulance to a local hospital, the driver was life-flighted to a trauma hospital in Indianapolis. Despite the grim reality of the situation, Amber felt God was with them. She says, “I was at peace. I was able to be in the moment with my son and also know that my other children were being prayed for and provided for. I knew that and trusted that God was working out all the details, even the ones I couldn't see. And no matter what was to happen, I trusted God's will."

Jaydon had a concussion but was conscious and talking. He had deep bruising across his chest and his arm appeared deformed and possibly broken. Though showing signs of a concussion, somehow he believed he had already been healed.

Amber remembers, “Jaydon, at that time, kept saying that he was not going to have any broken bones, that he had prayed and asked Jesus, and Jesus had healed him. And he kept saying over and over again, ‘My Jesus saves, I'm not going to have any broken bones.' As a Christian mom I’m like, ‘oh yeah, that’s great. And the nurse in me is expecting he's got a broken neck, possibly broken back, he's got chest contusions. You could see where the seatbelt was. There was internal – it looked like internal bleeding, especially around where the liver was located."

Medical staff gave Jaydon an E.K.G. to check the rhythm of his heart and an ultrasound to look for internal bleeding. X-rays then followed, checking for fractured vertebrae and broken bones. Amber waited and prayed. To everyone’s amazement, all the tests revealed - Jaydon was fine.

“It is very amazing. It was amazing to witness and even more amazing to come home with your son that night and know that he walked away,” says Amber.

“I was like that's crazy. I was really thanking God, and I was really happy,” says Jaydon. “I felt great in a week. But my body, I can move again. It was just my – I had a little head problem, but I just prayed about it and I felt great. I was ready to go back to school in two weeks.”

Amber says, “From a medical standpoint, I can't give you any explanation as to why he didn't have any broken bones. To have a mild to moderate concussion only is really miraculous.”

Jaydon knows that it was the grace of God that brought him through his near brush with death. He says, “I am really thankful because I thought I should've been dead. I kept thinking, 'I should be dead.'"

The other boys also survived and began their road to recovery. In the midst of what could have been a life-ending accident, Amber is thankful for the prayers from her community and the grace of God that sustained them.

She says, “Surrounding yourself with a good church family and a good prayer family that's going to support you in your hour of need, makes a huge difference. God is good always. His plan – we don't always understand. And I can't lean on my understanding, but in this situation, I did give God all the praise immediately. I mean, I was ecstatic. I was in disbelief at how amazing the outcome was. The accident could have been very different. Very different. And God deserves that glory."

Jaydon says the accident helped shape his faith, something that’s evident to his family and friends. “I'll sit here and pray and they're like, 'You're not the same person.' I'm like, 'No, I am not the same person. I'm a different person,'” says Jaydon. “The biggest thing is the power of prayer and just to believe in God because He does have a plan for you. And He does give you strength too, it is true.”