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Living, breathing miracles?

By GAIL HOLLENBECK
Published February 3, 2007

CRYSTAL RIVER - As Sheree Monroe gingerly walked up the steps at First Baptist Church to sing at a Sunday morning service last month, it was obvious she was in pain.

Yet she had never wanted to sing a song more.

He's More Than Wonderful was a testimony to her relationship with God.

Before the song, she shared with the audience her reason for singing it that day.

Two days after Christmas, Sheree and Joe Monroe decided to use a few days of their vacation to go camping. They headed north toward Marianna Caverns.

The couple read the Bible together and then she settled in and to read a book while her husband concentrated on driving. Coming up behind a large motor home, Joe Monroe moved their truck and the camper they were pulling into the left lane to pass.

Then their plans changed dramatically.

"A wind got a hold of the camper and it started swaying," Mrs. Monroe said in a recent interview. "Joe had to keep from hitting the motor home, so he went to the left a little bit and onto the shoulder and there was a huge hole there. The camper started swaying like crazy and we began jackknifing all over the road.

"The truck spun and at some point the camper detached. We rolled over three times. I called out, 'Jesus, save us.' "

Because there was no front or rear impact to the truck, the air bags did not inflate; nor did the seat belts engage until after the first roll.

By the time the truck came to a stop, Mrs. Monroe had an 8-inch gash in her head. Later she would learn that she had deep bruising in her ribs and had damaged a disc in her spine.

But they were alive.

"It was truly God protecting us," Mrs. Monroe said. "Joe walked out of the truck with nothing more than a little scratch on his forehead. I split my head open and hit my skull, but my skull didn't split. The fact that I don't have brain damage or anything is a miracle.

"Some men stopped to help us and they told Joe later that they didn't think they would find a living person in the wreck," she said. "When they saw our Bibles there, they said they knew why we had survived."

Mrs. Monroe was taken by ambulance to Tallahassee Memorial, where she received 25 staples in her head wound.

God, she said, began sending "angels" to help them as soon as she called out for help.

"I felt the arms of God wrapping around me the whole time and I was very calm," she said.

A father and son stopped to help even before the truck stopped rolling and stayed for two hours to help Joe Monroe. A woman from the motor home took Mrs. Monroe's hand as she lay strapped to a body board and told her she would pray for her. There was the kind paramedic. And there were the many friends who would bring food to their house in the following days and share words of prayer and comfort.

"Everybody just took such good care of me, and I know God shielded me from pain the whole time," Mrs. Monroe said. "I really didn't feel a lot of pain."

After the dust settled from the traumatic event, the couple began to think about what being spared from death meant to them.

"One of the first things Joe and I discovered is that the Lord is not done with us," Mrs. Monroe said. "He spared us and it's really kind of exciting to know that he has something planned for us. It's so humbling to think that he cares so much for us. I didn't cheat death. I called on the Lord and he rescued me."

There were other realizations.

"One thing that I've really learned is that God is with me no matter what," Mrs. Monroe said. "The other thing I've learned is that if I let him be in charge, like of my singing, life is so much simpler and better. You really are a vessel and that's your role in it. You don't have to be perfect, and it's really not at all about you. If you can really get a hold of that, it's so peace giving."

Now she knows how to help others who are hurting, she said.

"It feels good to be sensitive and soft. He's showing me things like, don't pray trivially for people. Don't take other people's pain so lightly. So in this pain, he's teaching me what people need in the way of ministry when they're hurting."

She is amazed by how she thinks God has already been working.

"I picked the song I sang at First Baptist before Christmas," she said. "I had no idea I would sing it in a church, but God knew. I just bought it to sing along to around the house because I love it. I obviously didn't plan on singing a week after the accident, but then I got a call from Chuck Cooley (music minister at the church) asking me to sing.

"He said he just thought of me and decided to call. I knew it was from God, so I said yes."

When Sheree Monroe sang that Sunday in January, tears flowed freely among the congregants they listened to the words that held so much meaning for her:

For He's more wonderful than my mind can conceive

He's more wonderful than my heart can believe

He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams.

He's everything that my soul ever longed for

Everything He's promised and so much more

More than amazing, more than marvelous

More than miraculous could ever be

He's more than wonderful, that's what Jesus is to me.

When she finished, the audience stood and applauded.

[Last modified February 2, 2007, 20:12:30]