Finding Peace in the Midst of Crisis: A Story of Prayer and Presence

(audience cheering)
Kaegan Lovelady: Hello, everybody.
Okay, just need to make sure y'all can hear me.
Okay, I'm Kaegan Lovelady.
I am a sophomore pre-nursing major,
and I honestly never thought that I would be up here
giving a chapel talk,
but I'm very thankful for the opportunity.
Josh also failed to mention
that I would be going after Dallas Jenkins,
and so thanks a lot for that, Josh.
So I'm gonna be talking about a pretty difficult time
in my life, so if I start crying,
I'm just gonna apologize right now.
So on March 29th, or Good Friday of this past year,
I was planning on going home for Easter,
and we were gonna go hiking,
and it was gonna be a lot of fun.
But as I was getting gas,
I get a call from my little sister
saying that our younger brother, Luke,
had gotten into an ATV accident.
I didn't really get many details at the time.
She was kind of panicking and frantic,
and so my mind kind of went to the worst things,
like does he have permanent brain trauma,
anything internal that we might not know about?
All I knew at that point is that he was conscious.
So I frantically texted my parents,
and I found out that they were gonna have to life flight him
up to Lubbock.
And I normally do well under pressure,
but in this moment, I kind of just broke down
and prayed to God that, like I'd never prayed before,
that somehow my brother would be okay.
I rushed over to the hospital,
and I got there right as the helicopter was landing.
My parents weren't allowed to ride
in the helicopter with him,
so I met him in the trauma room.
And as they wheeled him in,
they started listing off all his injuries,
and I kind of had this weird sense of peace wash over me.
I just saw him there breathing and talking to the nurses,
and I knew that everything would be okay.
This happened to me twice in that room.
Second time is whenever he asked to lead a prayer.
And it was kind of comical
because he was under a ton of pain medication,
but I couldn't help but shed a few tears
and just feel God's peace wash over us
and everyone in the room.
After a few hours and many scans later,
we found out that he had broken some vertebrae in his back,
and he was going to need surgery.
The next day, they went into the surgery.
It was eight hours long,
and he spent a total of eight days in the hospital,
majority in the ICU, and then some in the pediatric unit.
These days were filled with anxiety and worry,
but also thankfulness that it wasn't worse.
We had a ton of family and friends
who filled the waiting room
just to show their support for us,
and we truly could not have been more grateful.
These eight days were some of the hardest times
that my family has had to go through,
but also the days where we felt nearest to God.
And I think the reason that we felt close to God
and his peace is that we had a ton of people surrounding us
and we prayed so, so much.
So first, my first point
is that you can bring peace to others.
There was an overwhelming amount of people
who came to support us.
That waiting room was never empty.
And also we had a ton of people from LCU come and visit us,
President McDowell, Vice President McNeill,
Dr. Patti Joiner, Josh Stephens,
all these people were so kind to us,
and I'm very thankful that they were there.
I think God puts people in our lives for many purposes.
They may be a lesson or a challenge to make you stronger,
but I encourage you to be neither of these things,
but to be the peace that's in their lives.
Everyone has their burdens, even if we can't see them,
be the person that makes their load
just a little bit lighter.
My brother wrote me a little thank you note
after the accident, and I'm gonna read it to y'all.
I'm sorry, he doesn't have the best handwriting,
so I'm just gonna try and read this.
It says, "Dear Kaegan, I can never thank you
"for what you have done for me.
"You were there in the hospital
"when I was scared the most,
"and I can never thank you
"for the things you've got me in the hospital
"and the love you showed me.
"I love you more than the world.
"Thanks, love, Luke."
So, I can't emphasize how much your presence matters.
Just simply texting someone and asking them how they are
might make a difference.
God made people for people,
and don't let his gift go to waste.
Pour into your relationships,
say I love you, and show that you care.
I didn't know that my presence
made that big of an impact on Luke,
and just like me, you might not feel needed either,
but know that you are loved,
and you do make a difference in others' lives.
So, make an effort to share God's peace.
Secondly, I found peace through prayer.
I'm not gonna lie to you,
before the accident, my prayer life wasn't great.
It's something that I really struggle with,
and I have to make a conscious effort
to pray to God daily,
but on that day, I have no doubt that my prayers
and the prayers of so many others
had a huge impact on my brother's state.
So, just know that prayer works,
and God is faithful to answer our prayers.
When I look back on that day,
it's kind of impossible to not see God's hand in it.
He rode back on that go-kart with a broken spine
for a mile and a half on a dirt road
before they even called the ambulance.
And so, one wrong move, one wrong bump in the road,
just a single pebble in the wrong place
could have paralyzed my brother or worse.
And so, if you're doubting that God is real,
let this story solidify in your mind
that He is real and alive, and He cares for you.
He wants to hear your prayers
and your doubts and your concerns,
whether it be something small,
like a test that's stressing you out,
or maybe something bigger,
like a terminally ill family member.
Nothing is too big or small to pray about.
He cares about it all.
In Psalm 56:8 it says,
"You number my wanderings, put my tears into your bottle.
"Are they not in your book?
"When I cry out to you, then my enemies will turn back.
"This I know because God is for me."
Let Him take care of you,
and never doubt that He sees every tear that you cry,
and hears every word that you say to Him.
So, in conclusion, I want to read a verse
that really spoke to me during this time,
and it's 2 Corinthians 12, verses nine through 10.
And it says, "But He said to me,
"my grace is sufficient for you,
"for my power is made perfect in weakness.
"Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly
"of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ
"may rest upon me.
"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content
"with weaknesses, insults, hardships,
"persecutions, and calamities.
"For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Thank you, y'all are dismissed.
: (applause)