That Was God: A Mom’S Story About Hope in Traumatic Brain Injury

By Cindy Hipszer

As her daughter, Megan, bounced out the door on her 18th birthday, Cindy said what she says to anyone leaving her house.
Drive safe!
About an hour later, she received a call that shell never forget.
In That Was God, she shares the true story of her persistent loving daughter, who was given another chance at life after a near fatal crash that caused her to suffer a traumatic brain injury. She also shares how her family pulled together after such a crisisand how their love of God made an unthinkable situation easier.
At times, His presence was not always obvious. But looking back with 20/20 vision, its clear that He was there all along.
While Megans accident would leave her with serious injuries and a long road to recovery, God was present each step along the way.
Join a mother as she recalls watching her daughter narrowly survive a horrific crash. Cindy offers spiritual and practical advice for Christian parents and children who may be facing similar challenges in this compelling story of hope and faith.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Jul 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781489717153

Cindy Hipszer

Cindy Hipszer and her husband, Tony, grew up in Pennsylvania and now live in the South. They have three grown children and three young grandchildren. Her favorite activity is worship, and she also loves to read, travel, and campespecially with her family. www.ThatWasGod.com

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Copyright © 2018 Cindy Hipszer.

Photo Editors: Tony Hipszer, Megan Hipszer, Mike Hipszer of mystudiophoto.com.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1713-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1714-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1715-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018906246

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 7/9/2018

DEDICATION

I must dedicate this book to our Father, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and our Holy Spirit who lives within. He helps each believer to understand and sort all life’s chaos. Best of all, He teaches us the extraordinary character of God, how to appreciate Him, and how much He truly loves us! If it weren’t for Him—well, I don’t want to know where I would be right now.

Second, I dedicate this to my heroes of this world: my husband Tony, my daughters Megan and Autumn, my son Tony, and my three grandchildren. I love their laughter, looking into their eyes, and seeing life through their lenses (even when they are different than mine!). Let’s not forget the four-legged and slithering grands! All that is given by God!

Also, I could not have made it through this crisis without my sisters and brothers in Christ! Thanks to my friends who love us enough to sit with Mom, who talked and listened to scattered thoughts, raised endless prayers, prepared dinners, sent cards, ran errands, walked with me while I had a phone in my ear … and too many more to list.

The photos—oh my! It took two unskilled people (my husband and I) and one semi-skilled, Megan herself, before we called the family professional, Mike Hipszer of Hipszer Photography (http://www.mystudiophoto.com), to complete the necessary picture requirements. Every picture in this book and on the cover was somehow touched up by each of us. I loved writing and taking pictures, but who knew there was so much more to publishing a book!

God has blessed me with yous and all y’all! Hugs and kisses all around!

PRAISE

Cindy loves her family, her friends, and most especially, she loves God. This is HER story – her joys, her struggles, her strength, her questions, her hope, her faith. That Was God is a multidimensional epic centered on my youngest daughter’s fight back from a horrible automobile accident and the resultant physiological and emotional challenges she faced. It is a story about insurmountable adversity and about God’s goodness through it. Make no mistake – this is not a story filled with miraculous signs and happy dances all around. God shows up in so many ways, yet the reader will go on an emotional rollercoaster ride with Cindy that lasts years. One that I did not fully understand before reading it.

I expected to be familiar with much of the content as I began to read. I quickly learned that Cindy and I lived the same story but experienced much of it differently. A loose analogy is how the four gospels recount identical events of Jesus’ life, but offer different perspectives. After reading That Was God, I had a deeper understanding of Megan’s experiences, as well as other family members. Most importantly, I gained a deeper understanding of Cindy’s emotional experience – albeit years afterward.

One would think you know most everything your best friend is thinking and feeling. Cindy and I talk every day. And when we were in the thick of this battle, we constantly shared our thoughts, fears, hopes, and joys. We cried together then – and I cried often while reliving the story. It renewed my own experiences and exposed me to a piece of Cindy’s heart I had not seen beforehand.

Perhaps you chose to read this because of a similar life event; maybe one that you are still living. Truth be told – this story is still being written too, with every step forward Megan takes. Prepare to relive some of your emotions through these pages. But, also prepare to see things in a new way – through the lens of another. My prayer is that you will be stronger and better equipped because of it.

God bless…

TONY HIPSZER

CINDY’S HUSBAND AND BEST FRIEND

SPOILER ALERT!

Reading the table of contents may be like reading the end of a fiction book.

It’s the next page.

You may not want to do it!

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

CHAPTER 1     The Call

CHAPTER 2     The Critical Forty-Eight

CHAPTER 3     What Beautiful Eyes You Have

CHAPTER 4     Warning: Roller Coasters Ahead On All Tracks

CHAPTER 5     Special Days And Special Visitors Ahead

CHAPTER 6     Transfer Day

CHAPTER 7     Reality Starts Sinking In For All

CHAPTER 8     Phasing To Home

CHAPTER 9     Home, Sweet Home

CHAPTER 10   No Rest For The Weary

CHAPTER 11   Bittersweet Release

CHAPTER 12   The Puzzle Came Together!

CHAPTER 13   Senior Year End

CHAPTER 14   Transition Summer: College

CHAPTER 15   Getting Her Bachelor Of Science In Social Work

CHAPTER 16   Moving Beyond The Bs (So To Speak)

Epilogue: Final Thoughts

Help

Glossary

Bibliography

PREFACE

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

2 CORINTHIANS 13:11

T HIS TRUE STORY WAS inspired by my persistent and loving daughter Megan, who was given another chance at life after a near-fatal crash. During one of Megan’s conversations with our God, He told her to tell the story so others may come to know Him and love Him as she does.

Yes, that would be her story, and this is mine. I too feel called to reach out to other parents and families who have experienced distress or have lost a loved one in an unforeseen tragedy. Please know that you are not alone, you never were, and you never will be. That is one of God’s promises. This is trauma from a mother’s perspective. I could never speak of the personal anguish Megan suffered or what her dad and siblings experienced.

Likewise, my intention is to illustrate the powers of God the Almighty, which continue to exist, and are confirmed each and every day. These may be tough to distinguish during heartrending experiences, but I assure you, they are there. A few, I admit, were not obvious at the time. But God has it, and sometimes, when you look back with twenty-twenty vision, you see that His presence was unmistakable. It was God!

Thank you, Lord! There is no way we could have made those decisions or taken those actions with our slight, human, worldly minds. It was all you!

Sit back and be inspired. Bear with me as I set the stage of the impending tragedy and triumph. It will all make sense—I promise!

INTRODUCTION

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

DEUTERONOMY 11:18–19

O UR FAMILY LIVED IN a modest, beautiful home in southern New Jersey. We had moved there from central Pennsylvania seven years prior, much to the chagrin of our two lovely daughters—Autumn, twelve at the time, and Megan, fourteen months younger. Even though the girls were always ready to run away to the Pennsylvania country and back to their friends during the first year, this family move had to have been God’s working.

Another decision we made that upset Autumn and Megan was allowing their brother Tony to stay in Williamsport with his grandmother to finish his senior year of high school. My husband, Tony, and I had decided that changing schools in his last year wouldn’t be fair to him after he had worked hard in his academic courses and sports (baseball, football, and wrestling). He was very independent, had his own car and a job, and could undoubtedly manage very well with Gram. During the school year, we drove back to Pennsylvania for his games and important events.

It was a long nine months going back and forth to his games, senior-year banquets, and such, but it was worth it. The girls had a very rough adjustment to their new school and neighborhood because they truly didn’t want to be there. A few weeks after his graduation, Tony and Grammy moved to New Jersey with us. We had all made it through the school year and were ready for the next adventure.

Just as the girls seemed to be adjusting to their new schools and new friends, Tony left our nest to try college for a year. There, he thought he found the woman of his dreams, which did not help the girls’ emotional teen roller coaster. Their hero brother had another girl (besides them) and had moved away again. After his first year, he decided college wasn’t for him, enlisted in the navy, and got married.

Living in this area outside the big city of Philadelphia was also part of the weave for later necessities. Likewise, in that weave, was the church family we love and cherish. You see, our family went to church and, yes, we believed in God, but we didn’t truly work at the personal relationship part of it until we were engulfed in this new family. Somewhere during that second year, the girls told my husband and me that they loved their new church home. In fewer than six years, we became quite involved in serving and growing our individual and family faith. The girls grew spiritually along with others their age. That was God!

In 2006, within six months of each other, both girls earned their driver’s licenses, and each had a car. Our oldest daughter Autumn, now seventeen (close to eighteen) always seemed very sure of herself and was very outgoing. She was a good driver, but sometimes—okay, all the time—she was running late. One of the last things a parent wants to hear is the screech of tires as her teen is pulling out late to get to work or classes.