The Family of God

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Good morning, awakening! You can find your speech! Good morning, good morning! I am definitely one of the people who makes my children match me on Easter.

So we'll I haven't bought anything yet, but we'll see.

Good morning, awakening.

My name is Ashley, and I'm one of the pastors here, and this is my friend Melissa.

I'll introduce her more in a moment, but I want to give us a little roadmap of where we're headed this morning.

In our teaching calendar this year, we're being really intentional about sharing stories and testimonies of how God is working in the lives of the people in our church community.

The main way that Jesus taught his disciples and the people was through stories called parables.

He would encounter someone or something, and then he would teach by telling a story.

This morning we're doing something similar.

We're going to hear what the Lord has done in someone's life, and we're going to turn our eyes to Jesus.

In January, we got to hear Shadi Khalili's story of faith.

And today, Melissa is going to share her extraordinary story of how she has seen God work in her life in a really miraculous way over the last eight months.

We're in a series leading us to Easter called Knowing God.

And through Melissa's testimony, we're going to hear how she experienced God both in the height of crisis and through his people showing up in the aftermath.

As you're listening, notice what God might want to teach you about himself through Melissa's story and through your own connection to the family of God.

So before we get started, let's pray together.

God, I thank you for everything that you have done in Melissa's life.

God, thank you that she is here telling her story.

Lord, would you cover her with peace as she shares both what happened and also what you have done through it?

God, would you inspire our hearts and our minds to be focused on you and what you're doing in our own story?

Jesus, may you have all the glory.

Amen.

So there's so much I could say about Melissa to introduce you to her.

Many of you already know her.

But I would like to say that she's one of the most delightful people that I've ever met, that I've ever known.

And her heart for serving God's people seems to be never ending.

And it flows right out of her relationship with the Lord.

But instead of me going on and on about how much I love her, I'm gonna turn it over to her to let her introduce herself.

So, Melissa, tell us a little bit about yourself.

What do you do for work?

What do you do for fun?

How did you come to know Jesus?

How long you've been at Awakening?

All of those questions.

All the things all at once.

All right.

Well, obviously, my name is Melissa, and uh I have been attending here at Awakening for just shy of 10 years, and I have the pleasure of serving on the connection team.

I greet most Sundays for second service, and I also co-lead a small group and I volunteer in a couple other uh capacities here at Awakening.

And for work, my day job, I'm in human resources and I work for a logistics and transportation company.

For fun, uh I do love walking my dog, spending time with friends, hiking, um, serving, and uh my hobby, which you're gonna hear more about, is dirt biking.

And um I, in terms of um my growing up, and um so I grew up here in San Jose, and I grew up um in a Christian home.

So um I accepted Christ as a little girl and then was baptized um as a child as well.

And I have really fond memories of um Sunday school and youth groups, so my faith has always been a very important part of my life.

Yeah, so dirt biking.

Dirt biking.

I just learned this, and the whole room, did you hear?

They like audibly responded to this.

So you're in for a good story right now.

2025 was a significant year for you, and it centers around this hobby of dirt biking.

So, can you walk us through what happened?

Yeah, yeah.

So I have been riding with um a Christian dirt bike riding club for about 14 years now.

My big brother uh got me involved a while ago, so I have him to thank.

And um, so part of it uh for dirt biking for me is obviously riding the motorcycle and like learning that skill and also just being out in nature.

I really enjoy that.

So I get to enjoy nature and ride a dirt bike, but also I'm part of a really great community of believers.

Um, the name of our club is called Racers Under the Sun, S-O-N, Sunbean Jesus.

And I just have the great um pleasure of being a part of that community as well as my awakening community, and uh so we put on events and we spread the gospel to the motorcycle community and we have fellowship and we do you know camping trips and things like that.

So I've been doing that now for 14 years.

And uh this summer in August was just another summer, it was just another August, and we were heading up to uh one of our favorite places to camp where our club does an annual trip, and it was actually where I learned to ride a dirt bike too.

And uh so yeah, we were camping and fellowshipping, and uh that morning I headed out on my dirt bike with my brother and a couple of friends, just like I've done for 14 years, and we were heading down a trail, and it was a it was a pretty challenging trail, but it's something I could handle.

And um the next thing I know, I am barrel rolling down a ravine.

I'm experiencing something I've never experienced before.

My body is is rolling, and I'm just wondering when is it all gonna end?

When am I gonna hit the bottom?

Um and that was that was just that was the accident.

So I essentially I come to the bottom of the ravine, and I come to and I'm aware of where I'm at and and what just happened, and I know that I'm alone because I know that my friends and my brother didn't see it happen.

And that that feeling like starts to set in, but the Holy Spirit just was just very present with me in that moment, and he was so gracious to me, and he just guided me to know what to do to take care of myself.

And in that moment, uh, I was at the bottom of the ravine, uh, it was estimated about a hundred feet down, and there was a little creek and rocks and sticks and twigs, and what would you imagine at the bottom of a ravine, right?

Uh so I'm I'm laying there and I'm trying to figure out okay what's next, and the Lord just prompts me to roll out of the creek and reminds me that my cell phone is in my backpack, and he prompts me to take my cell phone out and I put it on a rock.

I slide the SOS button, and the rescue people, the dispatchers, by the grace of God answered the call, their satellite signal in the middle of the forest.

I was in Northern California in Auburn in the Tahoe National Forest.

And so, what a relief.

You can imagine the relief that they pick up the phone and I hear the woman reading the coordinates to the gentleman on the phone.

So then I know that they know where I am.

I didn't really know exactly where I was or what was happening, but they knew where I was.

And the woman says, make yourself as comfortable as possible.

We're sending help.

And it's like, okay, make yourself as comfortable as possible.

Yeah, I'm you know, that's what's going through my mind, right?

But I'm taking her seriously.

Um, so I remember taking off my chest protector.

I'm pretty sure my helmet and all the other gear, I don't even know where it all went, but I laid the chest protector down and I laid down on my back, and yeah, I took her advice.

So I made myself as comfortable as I could.

I don't really know how long I was there.

It was probably at least two hours.

Um, and the Lord was just so close to me during that time.

He he helped make the time pass.

Honestly, I I don't it would it, I mean, obviously I was hurt, but I didn't have any clue how badly I was hurt.

Um, nor was I really thinking about that because the Lord just took over my mind and just um kept me from going into those the place of anxiety that I would normally be prone to going.

So some time passes, and uh eventually my rescuers do come.

And I still remember uh them coming down the ravine.

They did not come the way I came, they found a much, much smarter way to get down, uh much easier um on their bodies to get down.

And uh I just remember seeing them, I just raised my hand and I was like, praise God, right?

Because my rescuers were there.

And um, they do what they're trained to do, right?

They assess my situation, um, they place me on a board and they strap me in, and they're and assessing the situation, they look up and they see my dirt bike is hanging uh quite a bit higher up on the ravine.

It turns out that my bike got caught up there, but I'm the one that rolled all the way to the bottom.

So they wanted to make sure that we were all safe, and just in case the bike did dislodge off the side of the mountain, so they they um put us all in a safer place while they're looking around trying to figure out okay, how are they gonna get me out?

So they were not able to uh airlift me out of the ravine because of all the tree, the canopy of the trees.

So they they figured that they're gonna have to get me out of there.

So there were about eight very, very strong men, and uh they got to work and uh they strapped me in really tight, and um there's this thing called a Stokes basket.

So they they put me in this basket, essentially has like handles and railings around the side so they can grab it, and they just started to lift me um out of that ravine, again, probably about a hundred feet up.

Uh they did have a pulley system or something that they were using toward the end to help them out, God bless them.

Um so, but that's not the end.

That they just got me up to the trail where I fell off.

So then it was about another, estimated another mile down a single track dirt trail, bumpy trail.

Uh so they put the basket, the Stokes basket on a wheel, and they took turns um helping navigate and and wheel me out, so that was about a mile, and then they uh brought me up to a fire road.

So a fire road is exactly what you're thinking it is.

It they're cut through the forest in case there's a fire, so that firefighting trucks and in this case ambulances can get in and assist.

So they brought me up to the to the fire road, and that's where my brother and my friends found out what happened.

See, uh they just thought I was lost because they they couldn't figure out where I could have been, because my friends were ahead of me and my brother was behind me, but nobody saw the the accident.

They didn't see me go down.

So they had gone back to camp and got other guys, and they were searching just madly searching the trails for these hours, uh, and they didn't know what had happened to me, but they did happen to be at the fire road there where the ambulance was.

And then when they they and then eventually I came up and um they found out it was me, in fact, who was injured and I wasn't lost.

Uh so I I remember one of the guys from the dirt bike club just reaching his hand and and the side of the ambulance and just letting me know he was there and that they're praying for me.

Um so the ambulance took off and down another dirt road, and um then we went to a place called China Wall where the helicopter could land.

And obviously, um, because of the nature of my injuries and the trauma and the amount of time I'd been down there and how far away I was from any hospital being out in the the Tahoe National Forest, obviously the best way to get me out of there was a helicopter.

Um so they put me in the helicopter on a hot August day.

It was a very interesting experience.

I don't recommend it for anybody, but it's a great way to get to the hospital if you need it.

So praise God for for that service.

So, yeah, they flew me to the hospital, and that's a very surreal experience.

If anybody watches those hospital shows and the trauma center and they're bringing the people in, yeah, I was I was the one laying there with the neck brace, with completely stuck in there, right?

And only my only experience was what was on the ceiling and what was directly above me, because they weren't they had no idea what the extent of my injuries, so they obviously they were they were um keeping me all snugged in there.

So yeah, they ran all of the tests and the x-rays and the scans, and they let me know that I had broken three vertebrae in my back, I had fractured some ribs, and I had broken my ankle, but by the grace of God, um my spinal cord was not injured, my head was not injured, um, I had a lot of great gear on.

Um, so you know, uh that that didn't sound great to me, but um the fact that I didn't injure my spinal cord, and they were very clear with me that that this was that this is something they were very skilled at um at fixing.

So uh the next morning at 8 a.m.

they wheeled me in to surgery, and I was in surgery all day.

They did back-to-back surgeries, one on my back and one on my ankle, and I was in the ICU in um in Roseville in Northern California for six days.

Uh it took a little bit to obviously post-surgical and um just to make sure that I was stabilized.

And so while I was there, obviously I told you I'm a native San Jose, right?

I wasn't anywhere near home, but I had the blessing of some friends uh from my dirt bike club and some family um that live up there that they came to visit me and um pray for me and and love on me.

So um, so yeah, that was six days, and then I was cleared to go home.

But as a single lady living in a condo with stairs, that wasn't gonna be my next destination.

It wasn't gonna be um to my current home.

So I went to my original home with my parents who were so kind uh to have me back uh in the house I was raised in.

Uh except for this time it was in a hospital bed in the living room, not my bedroom.

Uh so I was able to uh recover there with their love and support and uh with so many people.

Man.

Praise God that you're here.

That I'm here walking.

Yes, and then I'm walking.

Yes, that's it's a miracle in and of itself.

Yeah, seriously.

Yeah.

So let's go back to the moment where you're first at the bottom of this ravine.

You've just rolled down the side of a mountain, you're laying there significantly hurt, though we'll hear that you didn't totally know that yet.

Um, but what you do know is that you're completely alone.

Yeah.

So share a little bit about how you experience God in that moment.

Yeah, yeah.

God showed up really quick, really quick.

Um, in fact, I was just thinking about the song we were singing about the army of angels, and there were an army of angels there that day.

No doubt, no doubt, no doubt.

There were an army of angels there watching over me and protecting me.

But the Holy Spirit was just so close to me and so gracious and so merciful.

Uh, he gave me the experience of the peace that surpasses understanding.

Uh this was obviously a very traumatic and terrifying situation, especially to be alone and so far away and to be hurt, but my mind didn't go there.

It just didn't go there.

Um, instead, the Lord was just so gracious to me and he just helped me focus on what is it that I needed to do to get help, right?

And so, like I shared, just helping me remember I had my phone and remembering to use the SOS button, right?

Instead of just laying there and and not having any resources.

So he he was just so gracious with that.

And um just with the the pain, uh, I did not experience excruciating pain.

Uh, I would imagine, or I've been told that that I should have, and most people were are in a lot of pain, and when they were asking me about my pain levels, I was rating it a six.

Although it doesn't help that the guy said, Oh, a ten is if you got run over by a car.

So I was like, okay, I think I come in at about a six, because I just fell 100 feet down a I mean, that's it.

I literally was like, I can't tell this guy that I'm a 10.

I didn't get hit by a car.

Um I mean, so surely this isn't that bad.

So um, so yeah, so the Lord was just very gracious to me with not not letting my mind go to those places that I would normally go.

I tend toward anxiety, I tend toward control and wanting to have all the answers.

And I didn't need all the answers because I had the one present with me who did, and he had the way, and he was there, and he he comforted me.

So um the the peace that passes that surpasses understanding is an amazing feeling, and having that at a time where there was nothing peaceful about where I was at, and instead the Lord was just so merciful to me in that moment, and and and going forward, and the rest of the story, which you'll hear, is just completely filled with his mercy and his love for me.

That's so beautiful.

So you shared with me once you were out of the ravine and beginning that recovery process, the impact of your community, of awakening community, your dirt bike community, and a few others.

So, how did people from Awakening and others step in and support you during that time?

Yeah, well, right away, right away, uh, you know, folks knew that I was uh coming home, so they drove me home in an ambulance because it's a long way from Roseville to San Jose, and I wasn't quite in a position to drive myself.

So uh got home and there were already people lined up, um, literally already people lined up coming in the house.

I had a friend here who's in the audience today who who brought dinner for our family.

Uh I had some friends from my dirt bike club who graciously came equipped with a walker.

Why?

Because this gentleman has already hurt himself multiple times.

He was here in the first service.

Uh he had a he was also injured in another dirt biking accident, because this is what we do.

So we come alongside each other, right?

And so when somebody breaks a bone, we show they show up and they brought me a walker, and they brought their presence, and you know, them uh just having people there already knowing what I was gonna need was a huge blessing.

So that's just day one.

Um, as I mentioned earlier, I'm part of a small group, and at that time there was this uh lovely woman uh as part of my small group who is an occupational therapist, and uh she knew exactly what to do when her friend was down.

So she came by uh several times a week for the first week or two to help me get situated.

Uh so if y'all if y'all didn't see me in those glory days back a couple of months ago when I came to church, I had a back brace on, very restrictive, and I was non-weight bearing on my leg, both of those for about 10 weeks.

So I had no no bending, no lifting, no twisting, no fun, no nothing, right?

Just there's really there, but I was really in a position where I needed a lot of help.

So my friend from our group knew exactly how to help, so she came and she provided me with some pointers and some recommendations on different things I could buy.

Um she helped me shower.

Guys, if you've been in a dirt biking accident and then in the hospital for six days, a shower is a very lovely thing.

Um, and when you have a broken back and all the things that I shared with you, showering is a very um challenging thing.

Um, so just the gift of helping me figure out how to shower and get me all those things that I needed was um one of the first things, but I have a list of many more.

Uh, next was the Awakening Meals Ministry.

The Meals Ministry was so, so helpful to me and to my family.

As I mentioned, I was living with my parents at the time, and just knowing that that's just one less thing that we had to figure out.

What are we having for dinner, right?

And so uh there were probably three or four nights a week where meals were provided, and sometimes um there was so much extra that we could have leftovers.

So the meals ministry was so, so, so helpful, and um just knowing that people were praying for me and thinking about me and caring for me and just being generous with their time and their money.

Um, some people uh slaved over a hot stove and made a meal, and some people um had food to door dash to me of a restaurant of my choice.

Uh so it just it was so so amazing and just really filling uh filling a very practical need.

For food, and it goes a long way.

After that, I mean, goodness, eventually, after a couple weeks, I was able to come to church, and yet I wasn't able to drive.

It was a long time till I could drive.

So people volunteered to bring me to church, which was just so helpful.

I didn't really want to watch church from home.

I just wanted to be here with my people.

So getting a ride to church was a big deal.

I received countless flowers and cards and sweet gifts from people, people from the connection team and other people.

I mean, so many cards, so many flowers, treats, and just so many things.

I just, there was just so many generous acts of service that people did for me.

Most days I had visitors, or every day, every day I had visitors, and I remember people were asking me, like, what can we do for you?

Can we bring you anything?

And it was just like, bring yourself.

Just come.

Just come spend time with me.

For those who know me, relationships and friendships are just super important to me, and I just love being with people.

So having people there with me to hear me tell my story for the hundredth time and to pray for me, to play games with me, uh, was just super helpful and helped pass the time you can imagine for somebody who's quite independent, works full-time, and then is now stuck for at least five weeks, six weeks, um, not being able to do much.

It's super helpful to have people come and visit.

Uh, people came and did me a great favor by pushing me in my wheelchair around the neighborhood because it was summer and it was nice out, and I just uh get me and the dog out for a walk.

So something simple like just pushing me in the wheelchair um around the block, uh playing games with me, having meals with us.

Um just so, so sweet.

Um, I had members of the prayer team come and pray for me and love on me, so that was amazing.

Uh also, were y'all wondering what happened to my dirt bike?

Is it still there?

It's not there.

It's not there because there were some really uh nice gentlemen from another dirt biking club up in Northern California or Nevada area who, when they heard about it, and let's say the dirt biking community is a small tight community and word traveled fast.

So these guys were like, they were down for it.

They were up for the challenge, or down for the challenge, to go in the ravine and get my bike out.

So as I'm healing, I don't honestly, I don't really care about it.

One of the guys from my dirt bike club's like, yeah, this other club, they're gonna go get your bike out.

I'm like, my first response was no, they don't need to go down there, they don't need to get hurt too, right?

I of course I didn't want them, but they were pretty insistent.

So uh they had a good time.

They sent me a video afterwards of them um pulling it out.

They had their police system and they were chatting it up and having a good time.

Uh so obviously it was it was fun for them.

And then somebody from this community uh just shows up at my parents' house one day.

I have no idea who this guy is, and he starts talking a mile a minute and coming in, and I'm like, I'm sorry, I have no idea who you are.

And he's like, Oh, I'm so-and-so.

I'm from the Nevada County Woodright Woods Riders, and I have your dirt bike here.

And I'm like, oh, great.

So uh he drove it all the way from Northern California from Auburn, or they had a series of people, I guess, you know, uh doing their part and getting it back to San Jose to drop it off to me.

So um, wow, right?

I mean, these people volunteering to get my bike for me who didn't even know me.

Um, and lastly, there was one day where most of the awakening staff came to my parents' house and um they just they just loved on me and they blessed me.

I remember Dave saying, texting me, he goes, Okay, yeah, well, I'm gonna bring some some people from church by.

And I'm thinking, great, maybe two or three people.

And I open the front door and they keep coming and they're parking and they're coming, and I was like, whoa, okay, uh, maybe we need to go in the backyard where there's more room.

So I think there was like nine or ten people um that came one day.

And um, so that was, I just felt so loved and blessed um by the staff coming to hear me.

Man, I love hearing how so many people showed up for you in so many different ways.

Um, when we originally had some guiding questions for this conversation, the next question was, what did you learn about the community of God?

And you immediately said to me, I always knew that they would show up.

Isn't that beautiful?

You already had this great confidence that God would use his people to care for you.

So instead, would you share with us the importance of the church community and being fully a part of it?

And what can we learn from your experience of the importance of being in community?

Yeah.

Well, um, yeah, I I knew, I always knew that that the body of Christ would be there to care for me if something ever happened.

I I never I never doubted it.

Um, first of all, because I've been here for 10 years and I've seen it happen countless times for other people.

And I have also invested time in my my group and with others and building relationships, and all of the people are just so loving.

So there was never a doubt in my mind uh that my needs would be taken care of through the body of Christ.

Um so I love serving other people and giving of my time, uh, but I had not yet been in a situation where I needed to be on the receiving end.

So that was a little interesting at first.

Uh, so it took a little bit of an adjustment, but it was just a little bit of an adjustment because I remember how much joy it brings me to give and love on and serve other people.

And then it was like, well, of course they're doing it because they want they want to they want to love on me and they want to serve and they want to give, and it brings joy to their hearts to serve also.

And it's like, well, then why would I stand in their way?

Let the blessings flow.

So uh it was just um uh interesting to be on the receiving end, but such a such a great blessing.

Uh, I've heard it said that the church is the hands and feet of Jesus, and yes, that is so so true of many churches, but especially here at Awakening.

Um, the church, everybody, so many people here were just so generous to me and so caring and loving and went out of their way over several weeks.

Um, and even um and praying, praying for me.

I was definitely covered in prayer for so much, so many weeks.

And during my whole recovery, I mean it's been um about seven months now, so I definitely feel the power and the impact of the prayers from everybody.

Yeah.

As we close, what is the final encouragement that you want to share with our church body?

I have two, two pieces of encouragement I want to share.

The first is get in community, get in with a group, a small group or some other faith-based community, uh, whether it's here or somewhere else.

I've shared that I have two, right?

I have the dirt biking community in here, um, so I'm double blessed.

But it would just, you have no idea how much blessing you will receive by being in community and how much of a blessing you are to other people.

So, especially in a small group environment where we're meeting weekly and we're uh reading the word and iron sharpens iron, right?

So um it it goes both ways.

You bless others with your gifts and talents as you and you're in community, and they will bless you too.

So I just want to encourage if you're not in a community to take that step.

Um we have groups and lots of other great ways to get involved.

And the second uh word of encouragement is God is a God of mercy.

He is so full of mercy, and he is so full of love for us.

And that that day, that experience was a very personal experience for me of God's mercy and his love and his peace that surpasses understanding.

And he wants you to experience him in a very personal way, like the way he met me.

And I just encourage you, you can't do it all on your own.

You can't do much on your own, actually.

So let him love you, let him be merciful to you, and just sit and receive that mercy that he has for you because he loves you and he just wants you to experience him in that way.

Amen.

Amen.

Melissa, thank you for sharing your love and your story with us this morning.

Can we thank her?

So we're gonna transition back to a time of worship now.

And as you sing to the Lord, or you are simply sitting in his presence, reflect on what the Spirit of God might be speaking to you this morning through the testimony of God's peace and mercy that you heard.

Where were you encouraged or inspired?

What's one thing that you want to do this week as a result?

As you heard the story of what God has done, what might be God showing you that he wants you to know about him or about his people?

So would you stand with me as we pray?

And then we'll go back into worship.

Oh merciful God, thank you for protecting Melissa.

Thank you for protecting both her body and her mind.

God, thank you that she is standing here in the process of recovery.

But Lord, we believe for full healing because that's what we see that you are doing.

So, God, thank you that you have had mercy on her, and thank you that you are now using her story of faith of what you have done to inspire others.

Oh God, would you lead each of us to know what you want us to know about you this morning?

God, would you bring that to mind?

Would you guide us and would you guide our very next step to know you more and to step more into your community?

Lord, reveal yourself in this time of worship and may you be glorified by our singing.

In Jesus' name, amen.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded.

And hey, we'd love to connect with you.

Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.