September 24th of 1991 I was on my way to work and it was raining, really hard. An eighteen-wheeler pulled over into my lane and hit my car. When it hit me it knocked me across the median into oncoming traffic and two other cars hit me. At that point, they pronounced me dead at the scene. I had a brain aneurysm. My skull had cracked. My head had swollen. This eye here (pointing to right eye) had loosened from the socket. The bone here in my face had broken. My back in nine places was broken. I was paralyzed just from my waist down. My Mother was driving and she heard on the radio “fatal car accident on Battlefield Parkway”. They didn’t say my name. They didn’t say it was a male. They didn’t say the kind of car that I was driving. They were just saying fatal car accident to re-route people around the scene. She turned to my brother who was in the car with her and said; “That’s Jonathan.” She knew immediately. She turned around and she went to the hospital. I am so thankful that I was raised in a household that believed in the power of prayer and that believed in the power of Jesus Christ.
One of the doctors came out and put his arm her and said; “I’m sorry. We did all that we could do.” She wasn’t taking “no” for an answer. She just began to pray again. The lady that was cleaning me up ran for help. I began to strangle. I was strangling on blood. I wound up in the trauma unit and from that point was in a coma but had a heartbeat.
I had no feeling from just above my waist down, none. They did all of their stuff and I had no feelings at all, none.
One day a lady from my Mother’s church (Sister Christine) came to see me there at the hospital. She went to put her hand on my leg and I knew that it would be there for an hour if she stayed. That’s just how she was and I moved my leg over. My Mother said; “What just happened?” I thought; “Oh no. Why would you tell her that?” My Mother said; “You just moved your leg.” I said; “I just moved my leg.” And I moved the other one. All of the feelings came back. The next day I was gone. The policy was “we can’t let you walk out. You have to be in a wheelchair. We have to push you through.” I said; “I’m not getting in the wheelchair. You all expected me to be paralyzed for the rest of my life but God pulled me through it. I’m not getting in the wheelchair.” So, I walked through. I knew that Satan’s goal for me was to destroy me. They were going to do surgery on my back. God had healed me and I knew that I was healed. No, if, and's or buts, I knew that I was healed. They were going to do surgery here on my face. They said that I would never see out of my right eye again. They were going to have to do some reconstructive surgery here with the sinus cavities and all. I wouldn’t let them do anything. I wouldn’t let them do anything. God healed me. When I got saved, how I knew that I was saved, not just because I had asked but how I knew was that I began to love people. Just everywhere, I loved people. I have always known that He loves people. But I realized that day that He loved me specifically.
I travel with Young Harmony. It’s a Trio. We travel nationwide singing. You can count on every concert I share my testimony and remind others that no matter their circumstance, there’s still hope. I have actually got a brand new CD. I wrote all of the lyrics but I co-wrote the music with some of the guys from Journey (the band) and one of the guys from Hall and Oats. Dove award nominations, the Grammy award nominations, stuff like that and many others, none of that is important to me. It’s not about the awards here but what God has blessed me to be able to do and share about Him.
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