by Bob Lyons

I have been told that in 1990, I fell down 2 flights of stairs and hit my head on a steel door at the bottom of the stairwell. I was rushed to the nearest Emergency Room where “intracranial surgery” was performed. I was in a deep coma from October 14th, until December 8th, which is the “Feast of the Immaculate Conception.” My loved ones and I believe that God chose that date to honor the Blessed Mother Mary. Please notice that I am using the third person, as I have irreparable memory loss, due to my “closed head-injury.”

So, my loved were told that while I managed to survive my injury and subsequent surgery, they were told not to expect very much. One of my neurologists told my Dad, whom has since passed that this was his prognosis. 1) He said that I would be a tri-pelagic. 2) I would have very little insight into my condition. 3) I was destined to spend my remaining days in a “Nursing home facility.” 4) He said that I would never regain the mental capacity of a person of 5th grade age. Basically, for the rest of my life, I would be faced with a very meager existence. For the initial first few years of my recovery, my life consisted of only eating, sleeping and watching television. After listening to this doctor, my father (God rest his soul!) thought about it and he told that neurologist this: “We will let God decide what will happen with Bobby!”

However, only by the Grace of God, prayers and support of my loved ones, I have decided that God has indeed given me a Second Chance in this life! With this 2nd chance, I intend to try my very best in every situation, life presents itself with. By living my life this way, I will be showing our dear Lord, by my actions, just how grateful & fortunate, I feel to be alive! As my lifetime journey develops, I will see situations where I believe I can improve them. So, instead of focusing on the problem, with God’s help and support, I will try to re-direct my thoughts, as to how it can be improved. I hope that for every single moment of my life, I will see my life journey as a constant challenge to improve both myself, as well as when possible, our wonderful world!  An example is this. Within a year or 2 of my nearly-fatal accident, I was unable to walk. With the help of a true friend of mine and physical therapist at one of my initial rehabilitation centers put a “safety belt” on me and taught me how to walk again. With my burning desire to always try my best to improve myself, I am now focusing on improving my strides in my walk.

As my life time journey has developed, I have come to the realization that God has saved me for a good reason. I intend/plan to live the rest of my “God-willingly” productive, at certain times challenging, yet still worthwhile and always grateful life searching for this reason. My values and life goals have been adjusted, for I definitely believe the better. I can honestly say that never in my life have I felt as close to God, as I do right now! I foresee this closeness to increase with each breath, I take. All of our futures have unlimited potential to do good when we have God always by our sides. Through my injury and subsequent recovery, I have learned that everything good is possible when we have God in our lives!

My primary reason; “genesis” of starting this blog is to both share some insights God has given me, as well as, I am looking for others to share their experiences with me about their transformations to total Faith and God-Dependency in the Almighty.