On the most recent episode of Your Hope-Filled Perspective podcast, as part of the Sacred Scar Story series, I interviewed Gina Kelly about her childhood wounds sustained when she was struck by an oncoming truck when she was just eleven years old. If you missed that episode, listen here: How to Witness God’s Faithfulness in Suffering: From Trauma to Triumph – Episode 274. Gina and I forged our friendship when I had been in an automobile accident, was injured, and she reached out to me because she knew what that experience was like. That is just one of many examples of how God has used Gina’s sacred scars to serve a redemptive purpose. I asked Gina to share her story of how she found purpose in her suffering and how God has used her sacred scars to bring hope and healing.
Finding Purpose in Suffering: How God Uses Sacred Scars for Hope and Healing
By Gina Kelly
February 22, 1979, is a pivotal date in my life and in the life of my family. It is when I saw God’s faithfulness in my life and in the lives of those I love displayed miraculously. It is the day where many of the physical scars I carry today were received.
Gina’s Sacred Scar Story
I was a sixth-grade student and had the privilege and responsibility of serving as a “crossing guard” for the elementary school I attended. My school district did not have any bussing of students. You either walked to school or had to receive a ride from a parent or other adult. My day started out like any other. I served at my post in the morning, completed a day of classes, then put on my special orange safety belt that served as a uniform and began to walk home with the other elementary students who lived near me. I stood in the middle of the entrance to the supermarket beside our school and watched as every student safely crossed.
We walked up the hill to the streetlight, the only intersection I was not responsible for helping students cross. An adult crossing guard made sure we made it to the other side of the busiest street in my small town. I had one more street to supervise, then my mom would pick me up and drive me the mile home that remained.
I was supposed to walk down the left side of the street to get to my next crossing post. But my best friend and I were deep in conversation that day. I chose to walk with her, then add one additional street crossing on my own to move from the corner on the right side of the street to my post on the left side where the other students were waiting for me. I know I looked before I crossed the street.
My memory becomes foggy in the next moments as I neared the street corner and safety. I saw a flash of red as I ran. Then I remember sitting up in a snowbank on the side of the road with a friend standing beside me. The flash of red I saw was a red pickup truck. The driver apparently did not see me. He hit me and continued to drive, only stopping after the impact registered with him.
I was carried/thrown 125 feet down the street from the corner. I landed in a snowbank that remained following “the blizzard of ‘79”. My mom arrived before the ambulance did. My little brother, only six years old, sat in the back seat and watched and waited as the ambulance came. A neighbor saw my mom with me and took my brother to her house. My mom rode with me in the ambulance. My father arrived at the scene just after I left. He met my mom at the hospital.
I sustained significant injuries during the accident. X-rays confirmed that I had a skull fracture. The right side of my face was completely paralyzed. Further testing revealed six fractured ribs on the right side at the point of impact with the truck. My right lung collapsed. I lost all hearing in my right ear. My parents stated that as soon as the chest tube to drain the fluid from my right lung was inserted, I was immediately rushed from our local small-town hospital to the nearest trauma center, over 30 minutes away. My mom rode with me in the ambulance. My father followed behind, as best as he was able. There were no smartphones or GPS in that day. My father had never been to the new hospital. In sub-freezing temperatures, he drove my mom’s station wagon as fast as he could, windows fully down so he could listen for the ambulance siren and find his way there. God must have guided his car. He found us not long after I arrived.
It was a long day for my parents as the doctors cared for me. They did not have a smartphone in those days. Or even their Bible with them. All they had was a small booklet my dad always carried that contained some verses speaking of God’s love and promises. They poured over that book and those verses as they waited. I felt the presence of God strongly in those days. I was only 11 years old, but loved Jesus and knew He was my Savior. God cradled me in His arms in the ICU. I felt such peace. And ever since that day, I have known that God is able to care for me.
God’s Faithfulness to Heal
My parents were advised that I likely would not survive that first night in the hospital. If I did, the doctors did not believe I would likely be able to walk or talk. They suspected significant brain injury. That was what was predicted. But God had other plans.
I underwent surgery the next day, to try to resolve the cause of my facial paralysis and deafness. There was no change noted. I left the hospital only a week and a half later, with a scar behind my right ear from the surgery and a scar on my right ribcage from the chest tube. I remained deaf. My face remained paralyzed. My mouth drooped on the right side, and I could not close my right eye. Every night my mother placed a thick ointment in my eye and taped it shut so that my eye would not dry out as I slept. I had to wear a clear “pirate-patch” over my right eye when I went outside to protect it from dust and debris.
People stared at me, and I could tell they wondered what was wrong with me. I wanted to shrink away at times. But could not. I was so grateful to God for my life. I knew it was a miracle. I also wept for the “perfect smile” and facial symmetry that was no longer mine. I began to cover my mouth if I laughed or smiled out of shame.
In His goodness, God began to heal me. I underwent a second surgery behind my right ear. The surgeon re-opened the scar from my first surgery and was able to find a fragment of bone that was compressing my facial nerve. He removed it. My mother says that she noted the moment I returned from surgery that the right side of my face was no longer as tightly drawn as before. She noted a small lift at the right corner of my mouth. My auditory nerve could not be helped. To this day I am deaf in the right ear.
Little by little over the next two years I began to gain more movement on the right side of my face, healing physically. I also was blessed to have a faithful youth leader who poured her life into me. She spoke God’s truth to me and helped me see myself as God sees me. She prayed me through bullying because of my facial asymmetry in middle school and by high school I began to become more comfortable with my scars.
Sharing Hope, Healing and Comfort through My Journey
God did not just bring comfort to me through my accident and scars. My father was a speaker for a group called Christian Business Men’s Committee (CBMC). He spoke many times after my surgery, sharing my story and how he saw God faithfully protect me. Grown men wept as he shared from his heart, imagining how they would handle things if their own daughter were hurt as I was. Little by little I began to share my story, too. My accident and healing unleashed many questions for me. How do nerves heal? Why do some heal and others not? I studied Physical Therapy in college and to this day work as a Pediatric Physical Therapist.
When I tell parents and patients that I am deaf in one ear and have residual facial paralysis from my surgery, it seems to bring them peace. I think I gain a little “street cred” because they know I, too, was a child who spent time in the ICU and have suffered. I often must observe my patient’s scars from their accidents or surgeries. If they want, I let them also look at the scar behind my ear. I want them to know that they are not alone in having scars and that they will heal. Their parents need hope for healing, too.
Am I glad that I suffered all that I have from my accident? In many ways, “yes”. I would never wish the experience upon another child. I suffered and still have pain in my upper back from where the ribs healed and scar tissue formed, limiting my spinal mobility in that area. I often miss what is said if the room is crowded and noisy and someone is standing to my right side. It is humbling to have to ask people to repeat what they just said. And I still groan at times when a photo of me is taken. I struggle to see the beauty that my friends and family see when they look at me. But what I have gained is so much greater than these things!
Finding Purpose in Suffering
Dr. Michelle often asks for a word of hope for her listeners. In my own experience, I have seen so many blessings come out of my accident as God has truly redeemed my scars for His good. God has given me an unshakable faith in His ability to care for me and others. I saw Him miraculously save my life. I know that He can do the same for those I love.
Before I was married, I served as a missionary in Pucallpa, Peru. I worked in a school for children with special needs, providing physical therapy to them. The school also opened in the afternoons for patients in the community to come to our clinic.
One day a woman who sustained significant trauma from a bus accident was carried into the clinic by her husband. In Spanish, he asked me, “What happened to your face?” Whoa. He was blunt! God gave me the incredible opportunity to tell the story of my accident and God’s faithfulness.
This husband and wife asked many questions, wanting to know more about a God who loved us so much. In that clinic, they both prayed with me to place their faith in Christ. I wept that night. If God had restored my face and smile as I desired, I may never have had the opportunity to share the gospel with them.
Many times, it is the accident and scars that I have struggled with that have opened the door for me to comfort others.
A few years ago, two young sisters in my community were hit by a car. They suffered significant injuries. I was introduced to the family, and now a close bond has formed. For these young girls, I am the only other person they know who understands what they went through. Their parents have hope for their daughters when they see what God has done for me. They hope for God to work in their daughters’ lives as well.
Revealing Beauty in Sacred Scars
As you read these words, my prayer is that you will see in your own life that God is faithful. You may not have sustained significant injury and trauma in your life physically as I have. You may not have outward scars that show where healing has occurred. But I know that every one of us has suffered in some way in our lifetime. I pray that God will show you how He has worked to bring you through your suffering and to heal you. I pray that you will see your own scars as testimonies that healing has come to you. You are deeply loved. And God sees beauty where you see scars.
If Gina’s story or any of the sacred scar stories have encouraged you, please consider picking up a copy of the book Sacred Scars: Resting in God’s Promise That Your Past is Not Wasted. Perhaps not only pick up a copy for you, but also consider getting a copy for a friend who struggles to see the good God has or can bring from their pain and suffering.
In life's trials, God's faithfulness shines through our scars, revealing His healing touch. Discover how sacred scars can bring hope and renewal. Read Gina's Sacred Scar story here. Share on X Each scar tells a story of God's redemption in suffering, turning pain into purpose. Embrace the beauty found in healing and the strength it brings. Read Gina's Sacred Scar story here. Share on X
About Gina Kelly
Gina Latta Kelly is wife to her husband Brian, and mother to her two young adult children, Joy and Joseph. She works as a pediatric physical therapist in an outpatient clinic where she lives in south central Pennsylvania. She served as a missionary in Peru, South America prior to getting married. Gina says she still feels as if she left a piece of her heart in Peru with the families she worked with when she was there.
Sacred Scars: Resting in God’s Promise that Your Pain is Not Wasted
Now Available!
We all endure trials, pain, and hardship in this life. Too often we believe these experiences disqualify us from being useful to God. But the truth is, your past pain and brokenness serve as preparation for what God wants to do in and through you – if you will surrender to and trust him.
Just as Jesus’s scars didn’t disappear after his resurrection, our emotional or physical scars tell our story and lend credence to our testimony of God’s love and power. If you are ready to turn your past pain into present comfort and future hope, let Dr. Bengtson be your compassionate guide.
Find out more and order here: Sacred Scars
