On April 15, 2013, Rebekah Gregory’s life was turned upside down as a bomb went off three feet from where she was sitting with her son at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
Rebekah survived, but the moment of the explosion was just the beginning of her struggle. Countless surgeries and a leg amputation later, the struggle continues.
“It truly is amazing the lengths they had to go through to put me back together again. It was like life blew up in my face, but not only that I was in pieces. For months I had surgeries where they would pick pieces of shrapnel out of my body.”
During her recovery, Rebekah says she leaned on God and He showed her so much more than she could have seen on her own.
“For 26 years of my life, I expected to put two feet on the ground and go about my day. When I couldn’t do that anymore, my priorities really shifted and instead of being angry I was thankful that I had that daily reminder of how short life is.”
Rebekah’s son survived due because her legs had shielded him from the blast. However, Rebekah later found out that another young boy, around her son’s age, had died. She still wrestles with survivor’s guilt to this day.
“Why did I only lose one of my legs? Why did my little boy make it when the other one didn’t?”
Rebekah says she drove herself crazy asking those questions, but she has determined to only look forward towards the future God has for her.
“I try to talk about my story in hopes of helping someone else. That is my way of honoring the people who didn’t get to go on and do the same thing. We can ask why and what if a hundred times, but really we need to be asking ourselves what can I do now with what I’ve been given? I never go back before the bombing, all I have is now.”
Rebekah Gregory is a woman and mother whose life was forever changed due to the bombings at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. This act of terrorism may have claimed her leg, but it could not claim her spirit. She is now a powerful motivational speaker who encourages people all across the country with her message of faith and hope. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her son, daughter, and her college-sweetheart-turned-husband, Chris Varney.
Key Scripture: Hebrews 12
Featured Songs: Trust in You – Lauren Daigle; Unfinished – Mandisa; Desert Song – Hillsong
Taking my life back
