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Faith Column: God’s plans to heal

Kelly Knez/For the Craig Daily Press

Every summer, Bear River Young Life takes youths on adventures. This summer, one of our trips was a backpacking trip with six youths and two leaders. Kelly Knez, a 2014 MCHS graduate, was on the trip and had an amazing experience. I asked her to write about it for my column this time around.

— David Pressgrove, BRYL area director

The morning started out dark…very dark. I was cold, tired, and at an insanely early time in the morning (we later found out we started at 4 a.m.) I was not in the mood to be hiking. It was day four of our weeklong backpacking trip through the Rocky Mountains; my legs were sore, my back was hurting from my pack and I was extremely tired.



We hiked for at least an hour in the dusk and the terrain started to get more and more rough. Our guides — Hope and Josh — then instructed us to take off our packs and rest for a short while. I remember the sun was starting to brighten the sky even though it was not yet visible. We then continued our hike, and we had to make our own switchbacks because of the steepness of the mountain. The mountain got more and more steep, and we climbed over huge boulders to reach our destination, which we guessed was the peak. About 300 feet from the peak, I randomly tripped over a jagged rock, contorting my knee in an awkward way in the process. My first thought was that I had injured my knee internally because of the searing pain that I suddenly felt. Behind me, I heard Hope gasp and ask me if I was all right. As I turned to answer, I looked down at my knee to assess the damage. Hope and I saw it at the same time. I had sliced the top of my knee open on the rock, and a river of blood was rushing down my leg. At first, I was a little dazed, not really knowing what was happening.

I was terrified at first. How bad was it? Was I going to be OK? I was sitting on the peak of a mountain, so how was I supposed to get down? Hope grabbed my hand and started to pray for me and my knee. She prayed for courage, asking God to give me strength and to take away my fear. She also prayed for God’s healing touch to help and expedite my healing process. I started to feel more at ease and realized I would truly come out of this alive … maybe without a knee but at least alive.



Brittany, a leader in our group, is a nursing student and came to offer any help she could. Looking at the gash that would not stop bleeding, Brittany and Josh both thought that it was deep and wide enough that it would require quite a few stitches. I wondered if my trip was going to be cut short.

Josh wrapped it in gauze and then layered an Ace bandage around my knee to provide pressure and keep the gauze in place. I was a little lightheaded, but I stood up and was ready to finish the hike.

Using a satellite phone, Josh called base camp and asked for someone to check out my knee when we reached our next campsite. Our group made our way downhill to the campsite, and since the bandage was super tight, my knee was fine the whole way down.

At camp, the bandage and gauze were removed from my knee. We were amazed to see the two sides of the incision were completely back together. There was no longer a gash; it had completely closed! I had it checked out by a medic, and he thought that I would be fine and that stitches weren’t necessary.

I was extremely joyous after hearing this news and was ecstatic knowing that my trip wasn’t over. The cut was still present but didn’t stop me from doing anything else I wanted to do. Sure, it was still painful, but I got to stay on the trip and participate in all the activities I wanted to. I would pray for my knee every day, and it got better and hurt less every day.

After returning home, I also learned that our area Young Life director had been praying for my knee during that week, as well, not because he knew what had happened but because he felt that he should. I am completely convinced that prayer healed my knee. God had a greater plan for me, and He didn’t want me to have to leave our trip.

Today, I have a very prominent scar on the top of my knee. Some people say that it looks weird and gross and ask me what happened. I actually love this scar because it is a constant reminder to me about God’s amazing and wondrous powers and gives me the opportunity for me to share this story with everyone I meet.


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