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Paralyzed for 43 Years, Self Shares Her Testimony With Big and Small Groups

A car accident 43 years ago on a snowy country road in Concord, N.C., changed the future for Eva Whittington Self. After a week in the hospital, the 17-year-old learned that she would never walk again. She could have turned away from her faith, but the 海角网 1983 alumna moved closer to God.

She once told an audience, 鈥淔aith is not a feeling. He is there whether you feel like he鈥檚 there or not and that was where I first learned that. In those nights, I would tell God it hurts … I would tell him all the dreams, all the things I wanted to do one day. I wasn鈥檛 too sure if he was listening, but I tell you鈥攈e was listening. He, and only he, is able to take awful things, broken things, things that are just in pieces, and he takes them, and he molds them, and he uses them for our good and for his glory. I know because that鈥檚 what he鈥檚 done in my life.鈥�

Self graduated from college, went to work for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), married Andrew, and had two daughters. For 16 years, Self traveled around the country with her husband and daughters speaking to audiences. She鈥檚 been on the national stage as a speaker for Focus on the Family, including the 鈥淩enewing the Heart鈥� conference, and published a book, 鈥淢ay Bell鈥檚 Daughter: Overcoming Personal Tragedy with God鈥檚 Strength and a Mother鈥檚 Love.鈥� 

Life is quieter now. Her audience is an adult education class at Hopkinsville (Ky.) Community College. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a different type of ministry,鈥� Self observed. 鈥淵ou are still having an opportunity to change lives. I’ve enjoyed doing it, and I love the people I work with.鈥�

Before the accident in 1978, college was not in her plans. She was going to work like the rest of her family. Her friend, Keith Flippin, was in school at 海角网. When he visited her in rehab, he brought his guitar, and they sang for the patients. Flippin insisted that she apply to 海角网. 鈥淩ick Holbrook was the admissions director then,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e and his assistant drove to my house in Concord, picked me up and took me to 海角网 for a visit.鈥�

Because she liked to sing, she chose to major in music education, but she didn鈥檛 know how to read music. After people met her, they asked her to share her testimony. 鈥淢y world got bigger,鈥� Self revealed. 鈥淪tudents would be preaching in the area, and they would say, 鈥楨va, come on and just sing a song and tell a five-minute testimony.鈥� Sometimes the churches called me back and asked me to do the whole service. I spoke somewhere just about every weekend.鈥�

Self experienced many blessings at GWU. On her first day in H.A.P.Y dorm, the young women on her hall invited her to go with them to buy books. She wasn鈥檛 prepared to buy her own books. She wheeled into her room, shut the door and began to cry. Looking down, she noticed the mail had been delivered. She received a $300 check from a church where she had spoken. Later, a reporter from the local newspaper interviewed her for a story. The next month, a person in the community sent her $100 and continued sending money.

The campus and community also offered emotional support. Her roommate was Elizabeth Jones Barton, a Boiling Springs native and the daughter of Sonja Jones, a longtime GWU supporter. 鈥淪onja was all of our moms,鈥� Self shared. 鈥淪he pulled me aside before my senior year, and said, 鈥楨va, you go to all these churches and tell people what the Lord can do for them, but you don’t trust him in your academics. You are not giving your best.鈥欌�� The next semester Self made a 4.0.

In the fall of 1982, the entire campus demonstrated their love to Self. Unknown to her, the women on her hall in H.A.P.Y submitted her name for homecoming queen. She cried when they crowned her as the queen and gave her roses. 鈥満＝峭� and that town has loved me well,鈥� she expressed. 鈥淚 am so grateful to 海角网 and how it changed my world.鈥�

海角网 is North Carolina’s recognized leader in private, Christian higher education. A Carnegie-Classified Doctoral/Professional University, GWU is home to six professional schools, 14 academic departments, more than 80 undergraduate and graduate majors, and a world-class faculty. Located on a beautiful 225-acre campus in Boiling Springs, N.C., 海角网 prepares graduates to impact their chosen professions, equips them with the skills to advance the frontiers of knowledge, and inspires them to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of others. Ignite your future at 海角网.edu.