You’re gonna be okay.”
Illinois Coffee Break leader Jenny Weidenaar distinctly heard those words as the Weidenaars’ Mustang convertible flew over an embankment and plummeted to the road below, landing on its roof.
A few weeks later, as her husband Rob lay in a California hospital, Jenny asked him why he’d said that. “I didn’t say anything,” he insisted.
But Jenny heard those words and, as the weeks have unfolded, she’s confident that God spoke in the most terrifying moment of her life—and provided a network of assistance through the Home Missions’ Coffee Break program. Coffee Break is a church-based, community-oriented small group Bible study program whose primary goal is to bring women into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and nurture their faith.
Rob and Jenny were vacationing in California when their car left the rain-slicked highway. Jenny sustained a neck fracture. Rob fractured two vertebrae and, after four surgeries, is paralyzed from the waist down.
Many people might be depressed or angry with God, but this couple says their faith and trust have grown. They find many reasons to praise God. The crash occurred 90 minutes away from a hospital that leads the medical community in spinal-cord care. Although they were hundreds of miles from their home, family and friends visited nearly every day. Their church, Calvary RCA in Orland Park, Ill., and Jenny’s Coffee Break friends showered them with cards, monetary gifts, love, and prayers.
Then one of Calvary’s deacons asked, “Are there any Coffee Break groups in California?” The answer: Of course! Home Missions’ small group team leaders Todd and Cindy Wessels in Illinois contacted California colleague Danell Czarnecki, who contacted Coffee Break Director Becky Bidnick from Church on the Hill (RCA) in Norco, Calif.
Soon the Weidenaars were receiving phone calls, visits, offers of support, and prayers from new friends living near the hospital. The Californians became the arms of the Illinois church, and God touched many lives through the Coffee Break network.
Today Rob still uses a wheelchair and receives outpatient therapy every week. While the couple face a difficult road ahead, they trust in God, who assured them they’re “gonna be okay.”
