Burned But Not Broken

Kendra:

Welcome to Becoming the Oak: Rooted in Christ. I'm your host, Kendra, and today I'm joined by my good friend Amy, who is here to share her story of becoming. Amy, thank you so much for being willing to come and share your story with us today.

Amy:

Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to it.

Kendra:

I am too. This will be a lot of fun. Before we get into your story, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Amy:

I grew up in Utah and loved playing sports and spending time with my family. Now I live up in Wyoming with my husband and our eight children. We have a little bit of land where we like to pretend we're farmers.

We have cows, horses, dogs, and all the chickens. We're kind of pretend farmers, but we try. It's fun.

Kendra:

I love that. That's more than what I'm doing here. My dream is to live on more land than I'm living on now.

Anyway, let's get into your story a little bit.

Amy:

This story started about three years ago, in February of 2023. It was a Sunday night, and we wanted to make a fun treat. It was cold outside and dark, so we decided to make scones.

At the time we were working on a big addition to our house, so the kitchen was under construction. I had a skillet on the kitchen table and I was deep frying the scones while making sure the kids stayed away from it.

My three-year-old was across the table trying to pour himself a glass of milk. My husband was sitting next to me, so I said, “Brock, grab the baby.”

When he stood up to grab him, he tripped over the cord connected to the skillet and it dumped the entire pan of hot oil directly onto my lap.

Kendra:

No!

Amy:

It was complete chaos. The oil poured all over my lap, down my legs, and onto my belly. I was wearing a skirt because it was Sunday, and that actually ended up being a huge miracle because it caught some of the oil.

But it still burned my legs, my arms, and my hands as I tried to get it off of me.

Amy:

I ran to the bathroom because all I could think about was getting rid of the heat. The burning was like nothing I could imagine.

I jumped into the bathtub and turned the water as cold as it would go. The water was running on my legs and I was literally peeling the skin off while sitting there and piling it on the side of the bathtub.

The kids were standing there wondering what in the world was happening.

The cold water helped for a little while, but it quickly became clear it wasn't going to be enough.

My husband is a physician and he said, “There’s nothing we can do here. We have to get you to the hospital.”

Before we left, I asked him to give me a blessing. I don't remember much about the blessing. I just knew this was bad.

Then we drove to the hospital.

Kendra:

What was going through your mind at that point? You were obviously in shock.

Amy:

Honestly, most of my brain power was focused on trying to get the burning to stop. The pain was so deep.

Looking back, the fact that I asked for a blessing tells me I felt like I needed God in that moment because I had no other way to make it stop.

Eventually they gave me medication at the hospital and I fell asleep.

The next thing I knew, I woke up and they told me I was in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah Burn Center. I was so grateful to be there because I have a lot of family in Utah.

The other option was flying me to Denver, where I hardly know anyone. Having family support ended up being a huge part of my healing process.

Later I even learned that the burn unit had become full shortly after I arrived. If my accident had happened later, I wouldn't have had that option.

Amy:

Later that night I woke up again in my hospital room. My arms, hands, and legs were completely bandaged. It was about two o’clock in the morning.

The pain wasn't quite as bad, but this time my mind was clear enough to start processing what had happened.

I started crying.

I was alone in the dark, crying and thinking about my husband. He had accidentally tripped over the cord and had to send his wife to a burn unit in another state. I wondered what he was thinking.

I thought about my kids and how scared they must have been when I left. For all they knew, maybe their mom was dying.

I didn’t have my phone or my glasses, so I couldn’t contact anyone. It was a very lonely moment.

Amy:

Eventually my thoughts started shifting toward Christ and the pain He experienced during the Atonement.

Not long before the accident, a friend had invited me to read The Infinite Atonement. I had just finished studying it, and it was the deepest study I had ever done about the Atonement.

Because I had spent time studying it beforehand, that understanding came to my mind in that moment.

And suddenly I started to feel some peace in the middle of all the chaos.

Amy:

I couldn't sleep, so I turned on the TV. BYUtv came on and a devotional was playing.

The speaker was Sister Ardeth Kapp. I didn’t even know who she was at the time.

But right when I turned it on, she was quoting Mosiah 24:13–16. It’s the story where the Lord tells His people they will still have to go through their trial, but He will strengthen them and ease their burdens.

He also says they will become witnesses of Him because of what they go through.

When I heard that, I thought, “Okay, somehow the Lord is going to turn this horrible, painful experience into something that will allow me to witness His goodness.”

I had just turned the TV on and that was the message playing. It felt like a direct answer.

Amy:

Every day in the burn unit they did something called wound care.

I would get into the shower and soak my bandages before peeling them off. Then the nurse would scrub the burns to remove the damaged skin before applying ointment and new bandages.

It was the most painful part of the day.

But I kept reminding myself that God was with me and people were praying for me.

It was the first time I truly felt the power of other people’s prayers. You always say, “I'll pray for you,” but when you're the one in that situation, you realize those prayers really do bring strength.

Amy:

I knew that if I could yoke myself to Christ like it talks about in Matthew—“My yoke is easy and my burden is light”—then He would give me the strength to get through it.

The burns were real. The pain was very real.

But the peace of Christ was there too.

Kendra:

What did joy look like for you before the accident compared to now?

Amy:

Before, joy was more about things going smoothly. Everyone was getting along and life felt easy.

Now joy means staying connected to Christ. Keeping covenants, reading scriptures, and praying.

When I stay connected to Him, my peace doesn’t disappear as easily.

Amy:

One other thing this experience taught me was about ministering.

My injuries were very visible. Everyone could see that I needed help.

But it made me think about how many people around us are struggling with things we can't see. Because of that, I want to be more aware and listen to the Spirit so I can notice when someone might need help.

Amy:

If someone feels like joy is really far away, I would say start small.

Do the small things that yoke you to Christ—prayer, scriptures, and surrounding yourself with people who are trying to do the same thing.

Even when it feels like nothing is happening, those small steps matter.