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Discovering God’s Purpose as Victim to Victor

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“I had 911 on the phone, and fully expected to find a-a dead body there in the parking lot. Her body was broken and bruised and-and just not laying in a normal way, I thought there is no way that anyone would ever be able to get up and walk from something like this ever again. It was just the most traumatic thing I've ever seen in my life.” 

On September 13, 2011, Eddie Wilson was returning to work after a walk on his lunch break, as he approached the building something caught his attention.  

Eddie continues, “I heard the squeal of a car over to the right. And I look over and there's a big, huge black SUV just squealing its tires and taking off out of the parking lot.”

Just moments earlier inside the SUV, his coworker Whitney Wiser just broke up with her abusive boyfriend. Now, as she walked away from his car, he hit the gas and sped towards her.

“And then the next thing I knew is that the SUV absolutely plowed into her and then I heard the sound and saw her as she was underneath the SUV, and the tires were going over her. And at that point, I could not process what I was seeing, because you're not supposed to see things like that,” said Eddie.

He called 911 as he ran down to Whitney’s broken body lying on the pavement.

“You could tell that she was in tremendous pain, and at that point there was absolutely nothing else I could do but to grab her hand and pray with her right there on the spot.”

Whitney struggled to breathe as she clung to life. She had several severe injuries including a broken back and cracked ribs. She was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. RJ Harris was one of her physicians.

“I was on the way to see her, looked at her chart, and I was really surprised that she was still alive after reading what had happened, recalls Dr. Harris. “She was in pretty bad shape.”

Meanwhile Deanna Wall a pastor at Whitney’s church arrived at the hospital to pray for her, “I looked down on the gurney at a beautiful person, who was battered, bleeding, broken. And I got down as close as I could, and I said, "Whitney, God's got plans for your life. And He's going to bring you through this. You hang on."

Whitney had been a rising star in body building competitions, after her emergency spinal surgery, it was unclear if she would ever compete again or even be able to walk.

“I just didn't want to eat. I did not want to even try to walk. Just because of the level of pain that I was in,” said Whitney fighting back tears, “And I still like – I just didn't understand that coming from bodybuilding and the strength training, it's like I'm invincible, right?”

She began physical therapy with the same determination that brought her success in body building. Over the next weeks, she went from walking a few steps a day to walking a few hours a day.

She says she put her life, and future in God’s hands. “I had 100% faith and trust in Him, that I didn't understand why that happened or why it had to happen, but I trusted Him that I was gonna be okay. I also, within a couple weeks of it happening, I was able to forgive, uh, my ex-boyfriend for doing that, which clearly was not me, that's God. Because being able to forgive somebody that tried to take your life and everything from you, I feel like it's not humanly possible to forgive that, that fast. And so that was God, 100%.”

Despite her broken back Whitney trained hard and miraculously became stronger than before. She even returned to the bodybuilding stage at the top level, the Olympia.

Whitney smiles, “Not just that I got to the biggest stage and best stage in the world, but because I did it after what happened. And that's a miracle. That's God. God takes the most broken people to do things with. And so that's what I feel like His purpose was for it.”

Eddie followed her story and says, “It's a miracle. It really is. She is a strong person. The fact that she's walking through life with health. That she's walking through health with forgiveness. That she's walking through life with a purpose and a meaning and doing this all through her faith and her passion for the Lord, it's just an amazing thing.”

Through this experience, Whitney discovered God's purpose for her life. She started her own body building show, encouraging women to overcome their challenges, like she did, with the power of God.

Whitney confidently states, “When I tell people my story, it's like all barriers come down, all walls come down, and they're open. And they're like, "If she went through that, I can go through this." So it's just – it's empowering. God brought me back so much stronger, that I made it to the Olympia, and I was on a stage with the best athletes in the entire world after that. So the power of God!”
 


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About The Author

Karl Sutton
Karl
Sutton

Karl Sutton has worked in Christian media since 2009. He has filmed and edited over 200 TV episodes and three documentaries which have won numerous film festivals and Telly awards. He joined CBN in 2019 and resides outside Nashville with his wife and four kids. He loves cycling, playing music, and serving others.