Divine Courier

Before I had ever heard of the terms, “Noahide,” or “Emuna,” a life-altering event set in motion my journey to discovering the meaning of both.

The life-altering event:

I was working as a courier for an armored transportation company. I was proficient at my job, and was climbing the corporate ladder quickly. The route I was assigned left the branch over an hour late on a rainy Monday morning, so my driver and I were trying to make up the lost time by whatever means possible. While taking a ramp off the interstate, the cars in front of us came to a sudden stop. My driver veered onto the grass beside the road, realizing that the twenty-five thousand pound truck would not stop before slamming into the car in front of us. When the back tires reached the muddy grass, the driver lost control, and the truck rolled twice, landing on its top. I awoke lying on my back with a searing pain in my neck, and realized that I was seriously injured. I was taken to a nearby emergency room, where one of the best Neurosurgeons on the East Coast happened to be on call that day. I learned that I had shattered my C5 Cervical vertebra, and I would have to have a metal plate and donor bone surgically implanted to correct the damage. I was told that this type of fracture often results in paralysis or death. The Neurosurgeon was amazed at how comparatively effortless my surgery went. After these two revelations, I knew that God had been watching over me.

Will I ever be the same?

It is common for people recovering from major traumas to become depressed over not having the physical capacity they had before. I had battled depression most of my adult life, so I was no exception. After two months, I insisted that I return to work, and my surgeon acquiesced. I just wanted my life to be back to normal. I was placed on limited duty at my job, but after about four months, I knew I would always have physical limitations. Although the vertebra was completely healed, the muscles in my neck and shoulder had been damaged, and it seemed I would never be able to ever function as I had before the accident. At this point, I became severely depressed.

Losing everything (or so I thought):

My job had been physically demanding, so I knew my career as an armed courier was over. I was three days away from sleeping in my car when I moved back home with my parents. Even though my relationship with my mom had been strained for five years, she welcomed me into her home. I enrolled in college, and put all my energy into attaining a new career. I didn’t know it at the time, but I got to spend the last two years of my mom’s life with her.  I graduated from college, and my dad remarried, so I moved in with a friend and her family whom I had known for twenty-six years. She was a practicing Noahide, and shared her experiences with me. I had followed the predominant religion of the US, and never disavowed my faith in God through all this. The more I listened to my friend, the more I realized it to be truth, and how misplaced my faith had been.

The seemingly bad is nothing but a divine courier that is really carrying concealed gifts which are ultimately for our good:

All of these events brought me to be where I am today. I have been blessed with the knowledge of Hashem and Emuna, which allow me to see that I am not the victim of some random misfortune. The accident made possible the reparation of a relationship with my mom, my current career, and finding the Truth. I know that sometimes we may never understand the benefit of a seemingly devastating incident, but I will always know it is there, Baruch Hashem!