A horrible car crash left Rita Ronchi broken and barely alive. But answering a massive wave of prayers, God, in His love and mercy, reached down and touched Ronchi, changing her forever.

On June 4, 2006, a car crash in Wentworth, Wis., left 17-year-old Rita Ronchi of Superior, Wis., with only a 1 percent chance of survival. Even if she did live, doctors doubted that the brain trauma she’d endured would allow her to function.

Paul Walsh / Living Stones News After surviving a nearly fatal car accident five years ago, Rita Ronchi of Superior, Wis., knows the awesome power of God’s healing touch first hand. Paul Walsh / Living Stones News Rita Ronchi (right) kept busy participating in sports such as volleyball at Northwestern High School in Maple, Wis., before her car accident. But during her long recovery, Ronchi discovered new talents in areas such as drawing and writing.

Now, at 22, Ronchi doesn’t remember the events of the fateful day that changed her life forever. She’s had much to overcome, including surgeries, learning to walk on a new leg and ongoing therapy. But through it all, Ronchi has come to believe that in God’s Divine Order nothing is left to chance. He has created a special plan for her mirroring that of the blind man in John 9:4 in the Bible: “That the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Ronchi is cheerful and adamant talking about her circumstances.

“I am grateful for this happening,” she said, a surprising statement coming from a young woman whose life was physically altered. “I do believe this happened for a reason; so I could see how precious life really, really is -- and what has true value.”

Athletic, dynamic and driven, Ronchi was a junior at Northwestern High School in Maple, Wis., in 2006. She focused heavily on sports, pushing to excel in basketball, dance, softball and especially volleyball. She had even been selected to travel to Hawaii as part of a volleyball competition that included 300 other outstanding players from throughout the country.

“I thought I was training for Hawaii,” she said of her steady sports schedule, “but I was actually training to survive.”

While driving home from a volleyball tournament in Duluth, Minn., Ronchi suffered the head-on collision that left her life hanging by a thread. She sustained a profound, traumatic brain injury, an above-knee amputation of her right leg, multiple fractures, a collapsed left lung, lacerations and even a stroke that caused paralysis to the left side of her body. She was infused with 22 units of blood and lay comatose for 30 days.

Thus began a vigil in which countless people began to pray, and God revealed His power.

Dinah Johnson, Ronchi’s aunt, began a CaringBridge journal for Ronchi nine hours after the accident. “It is by the grace of God that Rita is alive!” Johnson wrote after her niece had been through an initial four hours of surgery in which doctors fought to stabilize her compound fractures, insert a rod into her left femur and re-inflate her lungs.

A large sign went up along U.S. Highway 2 in Wisconsin where Ronchi’s family then lived. “Pray for Rita” it said, and people did. Even complete strangers stopped in and asked, “Who is Rita, and why am I praying for her?”

Ronchi later learned details about the night it took more than an hour to free her from the wreck.

“They said there was blood everywhere. I just kept bleeding,” Ronchi said.

Ronchi’s cousin Brandi Musch remembered the horrors of that night.

“There were times when she didn’t even have a pulse,” she said.

Dozens of family members, friends, pastors and medical personnel stayed by Ronchi’s side.

“They were letting people into her room two or three at a time to see her, but it felt like (the doctors) were really just giving us a chance to say goodbye,” Musch said.

In the CaringBridge journal, Johnson continued to trust and praise God as she posted updates.

“As much as WE want Rita to be a part of our lives, she is truly God’s child first,” Johnson wrote. “And when God is your first Father, we need to trust in Him that He knows what is best.”

She said she reminded herself to do this by repeating Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

And slowly, those paths were set right.

Weeks after the accident, Dr. Skip Silvestrini arrived to perform a test that would determine whether Ronchi had enough brain function to warrant rehabilitation. The test results weren’t encouraging. Family and friends continued to pray, and for some unexplainable reason, Silvestrini decided to return and administer the test again. During the second test, he recognized cognitive abilities that would allow Ronchi into a rehabilitation program at Duluth’s Miller Dwan Hospital.

On July 5, a month after the crash, Ronchi was released from Duluth’s St. Luke’s Hospital to Miller Dwan for further care.

“That was huge,” Ronchi said. “I would have had to go to a nursing home otherwise.”

Despite the fact that doctors had no medical explanation for her recovery, and some even thought she would remain in a vegetative state, Ronchi survived and began to thrive physically, mentally and spiritually.

“My brain started to wake up,” she said.

And except for having no recollection of the accident itself, Ronchi said, “God saved my brain completely. He saved every memory. I’m so grateful.” She even remembered how to play many pieces on the piano.

She believes God guided Silverstrini to return to perform the second test that day, and she also credits the doctor for helping her grasp another lease on life. Through nearly nine months of inpatient care, Ronchi regained physical and mental capabilities enough to return to Northwestern and graduate with her high school class -- two weeks to a year from the date of the accident.

As her recovery progressed, Ronchi grew profoundly aware of God’s handiwork in orchestrating her survival, including the specifically skilled people who happened upon the scene of the accident and lent aid, the strangers who stopped to meet her and pray, the overwhelming show of support and love by family and community members, as well as talented medical personnel such as Silverstrini.

And even though Ronchi believed in God before the accident, she said that it wasn’t until August two years ago that she began to really see how following Him made sense of everything.

“That’s when God’s superness started unfolding,” Ronchi said. “I believe He saved me to share this story. More every day I believe in Divine Order. Everything is in His plan; nothing is coincidence.”

Mark Pavola, lead pastor of Bayside Baptist Church in Superior where Ronchi attends, said, “She has been a tremendous blessing for the entire body at Bayside. God is really working in her life. Almost weekly she has a testimony to share of someone she’s met or spoken to about her story. Her excitement for sharing this good news is amazing.”

Many people wonder why God allows suffering. Pavola said, “Rita not only gives an answer, she’s a living answer.”

He explained that while God didn’t cause her suffering, He is turning it to His glory.

“Her life is a picture of why God allows things we don’t understand or wouldn’t choose. God turns them and uses them,” Pavola said.

Ronchi is more than optimistic. She is confident that God is opening new doors by helping her uncover new talents, abilities and opportunities. She has discovered a great love for things she didn’t care about or realize she had a talent for when her life was focused on sports -- things such as drawing, scrapbooking, writing and playing the piano.

“I truly took every gift for granted,” Ronchi said. “I said I hated piano. Little did I know how much I loved it.”

She has also continued the CaringBridge journal begun by her aunt and is thinking of eventually writing a memoir. Ronchi rejoices at the ways in which God has allowed her to overcome the obstacles of her earlier injuries.

“The brain injury is out! The stroke is out! The amputation is out!” she said with a smile. “God took away some things, but I’ve gained in other things. I’ve been able to slow down and find out what the true values in life are.”

That is especially true of the friendships she has formed since her accident.

Iva is a woman Ronchi met in the locker room during one of her therapy sessions. The first time they met, Ronchi asked, “How are you?”

The soft-spoken woman’s reply stuck and has now become Ronchi’s own motto: “I’m blessed to have another day to live because there are those who did not get another day to live.”