Walking with the Savior - Testimonies of Jesus Christ in Christian Lives
Christian guests share their stories, testimonies, and journey with the Savior Jesus Christ. Also on Youtube: bit.ly/44Pm0Ug Testimonies range from lifetime believers to inmates transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. Come join us as real life, everyday saints, share their modern day testimony of the Savior.
Walking with the Savior - Testimonies of Jesus Christ in Christian Lives
How God Helped Me Survive 4 DEVASTATING Accidents: Brandon Sulser Powerful Testimony
Discover the transformative power of faith as Brandon Soler shares his incredible journey of overcoming tragedy through Christ’s strength. In this heartfelt episode of "Walking with the Savior," host John Merrill Kirkman welcomes Brandon, who recounts facing four life-altering accidents that tested him mentally, physically, and spiritually. Despite unimaginable challenges—a traumatic head injury at 12, a broken neck at 18, near-death in an ATV accident at 30, and a devastating head-on collision at 34—Brandon found hope, redemption, and purpose through the love of Jesus Christ.
Brandon’s story is a powerful testament to the grace of God and the resilience of the human spirit. He opens up about learning to trust in God’s plan, finding strength in prayer, and transforming pain into purpose. Today, he dedicates his life to helping others press forward and conquer their challenges by finding their unique gifts and leaning on the Savior. This episode will inspire you to face your own Goliaths, embrace faith, and walk closer with Jesus Christ.
Tune in to hear Brandon’s moving testimony of Jesus Christ and learn how the gospel can refine, uplift, and guide us through even the darkest trials. Let his story encourage you to trust in God’s timing and find strength in His presence. Don’t miss this empowering conversation about faith, redemption, and the life-changing love of Jesus Christ! 🙏
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00:00 Introduction and Guest Overview
00:51 Brandon's First Accident at Age 12
05:02 The Spiritual Journey Begins
17:53 The Second Accident: Breaking His Neck
26:44 The Third Accident: ATV Incident
35:59 The Fourth Accident: Head-On Collision
37:45 Lessons Learned and Moving Forward
44:17 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Email John: thisisjesusinmylife@gmail.com
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Welcome everybody to this week's episode of walking with the Savior podcast I'm your host John Merrill Kirkman and on this podcast we interview guests where we talk of Christ We preach of Christ and we podcast of Christ so that we can all come unto Christ this week We're blessed to have a special guest Brandon Seltzer and his incredible story of overcoming four tragic life changing Accidents. At 12 years old, he had a head injury a mountain biking accident and had to relearn to talk at 18 years old, he broke his neck in a, in a lake accident. At 30 years old, he had an a TV accident where froze to death. At 34, he had a serious head on. Collision despite all this, now he helps people press forward through their challenges to slay their Goliaths by looking unto Christ. Let's jump in with Brandon.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Brandon, why don't we just start with your four life changing accidents.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Geez, well, uh, you got four hours
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Okay. What happened at 12?
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:accidents um, you know, and they, they have challenged me to the core that made me question at times what this life's about. have broken me mentally, spiritually and physically and through it all, it was either, uh, A bittering or bettering experience and luckily through, uh, through Christ and, and, reaching out to him, not to say that I did that all the time, but when I did, I found it to be a and refining experience instead of a paralyzing one. Uh, but God, where do I start, John? I, it's, I've been challenged, I think most of my life and it started at the age of 12. Yeah. So I had just moved from, uh, Colorado uh, moved to Utah and trying to fit in. Back then, the Boy Scouts were really popular, and, and, uh, loved the outdoors, and so I was introduced to my new Boy Scout, uh, and my parents, uh, warned me and, and counseled me, never guys out there, and women, never, um, question your mother's intuition. Um, my mom warned me several times, Brandon, wear your helmet. And I, I chose, I chose not to now, you know, to give you a little story on this, you know, oftentimes, and maybe out there, those that are listening, You probably have heard something like this. Your parents say, you know, so and so, in my example, Brandon, just use your head, wear your helmet. And um, I did use my head and my head was telling me I didn't need to wear a helmet. And you know, there's a story on that, that we can go, we can really dive into about the head and, and, and what lives in the head. And mostly ego. And, you know, my, my, my favorite definition of ego is it edges God out. not a part, God's not a part of that decision making. It's the ego. It's, it's all natural man. And, um, as a young man, even at the age of 12, I wanted to fit in. And that's what my head wanted. And, and so I followed it. And, so to placate my parents, I packed a helmet. I brought it. I just didn't wear it. And that's long, long story short, short, we go up, you know, um, Wasatch front for those that maybe aren't aware of Utah and the beautiful Wasatch front. It's, a beautiful mountain range. And, uh, this mountain biking trail. Was about seven miles, um, in distance and we were going to go up one Canyon and camp out and beautiful, by the way, it's, um, it's called North Canyon. And then we were going to, bike down Mueller Park Canyon the next day. And it's beautiful. You've got, maple trees, you've got pine trees, you've got high mountain meadows with aspen and it's just a beautiful place. So we get up there and uh, everything goes great and, and uh, we camp out there at night and We woke up as a troop and had breakfast and then on our way down, we raced back down to down the mountain, man. That was the fun part. And I had new found friends that would, I'd watched him crash off their bikes and, you know, we, we'd laugh and kind of rib each other a little bit. And, but there was a moment where I had a kind of a spiritual impression for me to kind of slow down and. And I let the Boy Scout troop, my new friends, that I, um, I'm trying to get to know over the weeks. And I told them, just go ahead without me, I'm going to take a moment. And so I did. And uh, basically got off my bike and said a prayer and, um, which is really unusual to be honest with
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Yeah.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:especially at the age of 12, you
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Yeah.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:12 year olds don't think that way. And, But for some reason, I don't know what, I just moved to, um, and I got back up on my bike and I, in the book, it mentions I just felt something was going to happen. Just that, that feeling. And as I biked down to the base of the trail and, My house was a few blocks away, I decided, or about a mile or so away, I decided to just race down the hill and, and meet my Boy Scout troop and everybody, um, at our houses down, down, down the canyon. As I was going down, I blacked out. And, uh, for, for what reason, I have no idea. Uh, but that's when my first trial started. And, um, it changed my life quite dramatically. When I blacked out, the corner of my head tagged corner of a concrete curb. And, uh, you know, heads aren't made to take that type of trauma. And, um, I woke up with, you know, bleeding out of my head. And, um, I don't know how long I was out, but I was out for some time. Um, and when I opened my eyes, I saw The Voice Got Troop in my leaders around me and the lady who heard my crash, which is a few, I think a few hundred yards away, um, from inside and she's the one that called and, and, um, uh, that's when my journey started on, uh, proving myself
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Hmm.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:and, and really striving to, um, fight to make meaning out of a hard, hard adversity that I didn't know, at the time how difficult it was going to be. Now, I, uh, was, I, I had a, I know I had a really cool experience on the other side because what I remember telling everybody was how excited I was about the people I saw and, and who I met. And the friends and everyone and and I couldn't stop talking about that even though I was in bad shape and bleeding
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:At what point is this, this talking? Is this when you woke up on the sidewalk or the curb or whatever?
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Yeah.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:up in this experience, blood coming everywhere, and you start talking about
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Yeah,
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:people on the other side of the veil. Is that what you're referring to?
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Like how
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Oh, wow.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Like i'm bleeding out of my head and
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:traumatized. Yeah.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:and shocked and And I'm not even thinking about that. I'm thinking about the people I saw
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Wow.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:and, and the paramedics like Brandon, you're, um, you're in shock. You need to calm down. You have plenty of time to tell your story. So I kind of took a deep breath and loaded me in the and, uh, I went down or rushed down to the hospital. Um, and that's where I met my parents, they're waiting for me and thing I said is about the accident, but mom and dad, I've got a story to tell you and they were excited to hear it. Um, as I was getting ready to talk about it, doctor came in and the x ray technician came in and said, Brandon, we were going to give you an x ray, um, just to make sure to see if you're okay. And so hour or two or, you know, a period of time passed and they roll me out in a chair and my mom and dad, you know, for, you know, this amount of time they're thinking, okay, Brandon, what is he saying? What's the story? And so they were eager to hear it. And I went to go say it. And in the book, I, I, I wrote something along the lines of, I was about ready to really like. it all out something beautiful, and it's like someone went in there and just hit that delete button and erased it
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Oh boy.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:and I kept on fighting. I kept on fighting to just To think about something that would get me back into what, what I was feeling, but, um, the thoughts were gone.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Mm-hmm
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:one thing I did know is that the beginning of our heartache is also the beginning of his. And I'm
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Mm
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:about our loving Heavenly Father and our Savior. And knew of a surety how much God loves us.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:mm
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:And how we have a special plan. Each one of us have a unique identity and purpose and a role to play in mortality to bring about his work and. It strengthened my faith, but it was just a feeling. I don't remember, but it was a feeling. And I believe looking back at it, I think I needed that because I didn't know at the time, but God knew really how tough my life was going to get after, after this.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:mm
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:And so it was, it was, it was a, was a special witness in a way where. I could feel it, I forgot it, but I could feel that love, that
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:mm-hmm It's kind of like he armored you up for the future a little bit.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Yeah, you did. And night I get discharged back home, and night I'm, I'm literally fighting for my life.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Hmm.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:I, I'm on my deathbed. It literally feels like I'm going to die. And my parents reassuring me that, Brandon, the doctor said, you just had a bad concussion, you're okay. But I'm looking at my parents and I'm like, No. feel like I'm dying and I'm fighting for my spirit to stay in my kingdom, you know, my, my, my temple. And my parents saw that and I was about as white as a ghost and they knew that something wasn't right. And so I asked my dad and my dad offered me a, you know, a blessing and, and pray for me. And he gave me a powerful blessing that night. And prayed that God's hand essentially would, uh, prevent me from passing and, and, and, and to strengthen me through that night. I slept for maybe a few hours and morning came and I was getting progressively worse. But after my dad gave me that prayer, it didn't feel like I was fighting death. And so went back into the hospital and they look at me and like, Whoa, you have really regressed.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Oh.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:let's, let's look at this more carefully. And, and so I think it was a, a CAT scan. put me in and I'm in this CAT scan and you know, it's, like you're, it's, it's, it's, it's pretty intimidating for those who have been through CAT scans. And. I heard a lot of loud noises and clicking and as they're scanning my head and I can hear two of the, uh, Um, CAT scan technicians are already going yelling at each other. And they're saying some poor soul has literally seconds to live if we don't do something about it. And I realized they're talking about me. And they're freaking out. And so, they put me on a stretcher, and they wheel me out of, out of the x ray room and the emergency room, they're rushing me, uh, to a helicopter pad, they call it Life Flight, take off and take me to a hospital that handles this type of trauma. And, um, Yeah, that's, that's a little freaky to hear that and knowing that I could die any minute. Um, but with the faith that my parents had and blessing that I had that night prior, I didn't feel like, uh, God, you know, he wasn't, if he saved my life that night, he wasn't going to take it during the flight to the hospital.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Hmm.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Long story short, I have many, many hours of major, um, head surgery. Um, and, uh, I woke up from that and. Um, in the book, it shows the photos and everything and how, how bad that looked. If, if recall, but, um, what I do remember of that experience is the surgeons, they all came into the house. I mean, the house, my room, and they just said, went in to save your life. It's your life, your son's life, uh, but we went, but when we went in, we realized that someone had beat us to us, beat us to it. And I remember him saying this, I'm not a spiritual individual, but I don't know how else, um, to explain this. He said, your son, when he had his head accident, his main artery broke inside of his head. It was completely severed. Because of the, the, just the, the horrible trauma that my head suffered with that concrete curb. And it said, usually you die within hours. And, the pressure builds up inside your skull and pushes your brain down your spinal cord. And, and, and it's, you know, it's game over.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:and he said it was literally like the finger of God was keeping that blood vessel from from not bleeding They looked at it and they saw that a blood clot had developed and I remember him saying something along the lines of we think It developed the night prior. Well, I'm looking at my dad. My dad's looking at me. That's the time Me and my dad prayed intensively for the Lord to help me. And that's when he intervened and showed that miracle. Now, look, for those that are listening, trust me. I I'll say things like, wow, that's crazy. And, but I know someone else has been through something similar and why didn't he get saved and all I know is that when we pray, we ask for the father's will to be fulfilled. For me, I was, I was wanting to be saved if it was his will. Now he could have easily taken me if he wanted to, but it wasn't will. Um, and because of that, we witnessed a miracle, but that didn't save me from heartache afterwards. It took me four to five years to really learn how to speak fluently again.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:um, I was really in dire straits afterwards. Struggled immensely.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:So he Man, this is just accident number one, brother.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Yeah. I know. Mm hmm.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Give us a over, give us an overview of your other three.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Okay. Yeah. Maybe I won't go into detail because like I said, I could, I could, I could, I could speak for hours on this. Um, so by the time I got over my first accident, was when I was a junior to senior in high school. And I'm getting kind of my groove back. I'm speaking is coming more fluently, giving my confidence back. Um, I, I, I'm not struggling with depression, anxiety, schooling is becoming much easier. It's like, finally, I'm getting Brandon back to where I was.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Yeah,
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Uh, and I loved it. working out like crazy. Um, I was reading the scriptures that our bodies are a temple to God, and so I wanted to honor it and I worked out like crazy. I remember just, just, this is interesting, just anecdotally with my neck accident, remember working out the gym and it was, I, it was a religion for me. I, I, it was like something overcame me where. I just had to get strong. Now, I did. You know, when I'm standing, I was, I was 6'2 and benching 350 pounds.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:you were strong.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:dude. I remember three months, about three months or so, give or take, before I broke my neck. I was walking out of the gym and the Holy Ghost hit me like a ton of bricks. And it was just a feeling that Brandon, you got to work out your neck and not knowing why and not really having your neck muscle kind of stand out of, muscles you'd like to, you know, get strong. And, and, um, anyway, I followed that prompting and put a lot of muscle around my neck. And, you know, as the months went on and I had that accident, the doctor told me that's what saved my life. Now, my neck, my, my, my neck accident happened when I was 18. I just graduated high school. And we went down to Lake Powell. Beautiful, big, beautiful, uh, lake down in, uh, southern Utah. And, um, it was a, we were down there for about a week, and on the second to last day we were there, we went up a canyon called Moki Canyon, and it's known for some big sand hills. And when I saw them, I just wanted to play it safe and, uh, and so I thought I'm just going to run down the hill, uh, with my friends. And as I was running down the hill, my legs got tangled up in the sand. And when I'm about ready to dive into the water, when I got tripped up. And I fought for every last inch to readjust my body, uh, so that I could dive further enough into the lake to prevent anything from happening. Uh, unfortunately that didn't happen. And I dove a shallow sand bank that I didn't see and immediately broke my neck and was flipped 360 degrees out of the water over to further in the lake and sinking, like I was sinking and, was conscious through the whole thing. And, It was some of the worst sounds that, anyone could hear, because, just picture this, John, I, I had my dear family with me, my friends and their family, and they witnessed what they thought was the death of Brandon. It was so violent. They thought surely no one's going to live through that. And. I could hear my mom screaming for me, uh, seeing her son drowned. And I thought, wow, these are the worst words I'm going to hear I'm called home. I didn't think I was going to make it. Uh, my friends swam up to me and. And, and, and flip me over and, and, know, that was a hard lesson And could talk two hours about what happened the amazing stories that happened there. But safe enough to say my life changed completely, absolutely completely. There was people on that trip and family that I thought that my life was going to be like that. But what I didn't understand is that God was. Kind of like the C. S. Lewis analogy, if you've heard it, um, how, know, God is remodeling your house. And that was a huge remodeling stage for me. I wanted to be Content being that version of Brandon, but God wanted me to be more. And, uh, so I was lifelighted out of there. And, uh, know, the lifelight are like, Brandon, do we know you? We've seen you before. And I'm joking, but, uh, you know, I've got frequent flyer miles, I think, with lifelight. The helicopter service here. have to cash those in sometime. But anyway, so I'm, they picked me up and they fly me into Salt Lake International Airport to get operated on. And, and in this flight, the, the nurse isn't even looking at me. just know it's bad and I'm just crying and I'm thinking this, John, life, I don't know if life can get worse than this. And I kid you not, a bolt of lightning struck the airplane when I was about, I don't think my life can get worse than this. And it freaked me out. It scared the nurse. The pilot's like, Oh, that happens sometimes. We're okay. I guess you're flying through a Thunderhead. I almost took that as literally like, okay, God's telling me, you're in my hands. I'm going to care for you, but yes, I can make it worse. And it was almost like, okay, I'll stop complaining. At least until I'm on ground and, you know, went in, got operated on. And yeah, I had to figure out how to live my life, um, rolling and pressing forward. And, um, that was a hard lesson to learn. It still is. I'm reminded every, every day I can't run away from it. It's, it's, it's just part of me.,
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:For the,
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:from
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:For the listener out there who might be tuning on without the video. Basically you mean you're, you're living with a wheelchair now for, for the rest of your life.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:I don't know if you guys can see, but like, I mean, here's, here's my wheelchair right here.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Yeah.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Yeah.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Cruising around. Amen. I love that. Hmm. Hmm.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:can go, John. I can either press forward or I can roll backward. And really in life, aren't we all like that? When hardships come our way, we have two directions. We can fall back or we can roll backwards, either negativity, shame, um, darkness. Trust me, I've been there. Or I can press forward towards hope, love, um, God. And that's what I chose to do. And so I was getting ready to get my, um, I was into construction trades. And so in high school, I was, I loved working with my hands. I love building things. I just love building. And after I broke my neck, I'm like, okay, um, I can't envision me up on a roof, pounding nails in a wheelchair. That's just not going to happen. Um, God, you know that I love building things and I kept on thinking, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And it took some time. I had to really think it out, but God was taking me direction saying, Brandon, I know you're good at building, but I want you to build more than just houses. And I felt compelled to get my degree in psychology and, and to be a counselor. I knew God wanted me to build lives because he was building mine. And so many lessons I've learned. why I wrote a book about it. A lot of it's in there. And, and so I got my degree. Um, and got my master's degree in, in counseling. Well, after I got that degree, I thought, you know what, I'm gonna celebrate. And I love the outdoors, and so I put hand controls on my ATV. And I thought, okay, going to go. And once I graduate, I'm going to go in the back of the mountains at the Wasatch front, and I'm going to just enjoy God's paradise and yes. And for me, so close to God when I'm in his creations and just the solitude of, of, of the high ground. You know, we, we read in the old Testament and Moses and all those great prophets that they came in with God. We're not in the low ground, but in the high, up the mountains. And so that, this was my opportunity to do that. I went way back that I told my parents I'll be back in a few hours. Well, you got hand controls on and I've got short sleeve shirt, short sleeve, shorts. I've got binoculars around me, my phone and a drink of water and off I go. Now, maybe some of you are thinking, man, parents are crazy for allowing you to do that. You guys don't know me. If I put my mind to something, there's no way no one's going to tell me no. And they just knew, okay, we've done enough. with Brandon. If that's what Brandon wants to do, go for it. And so I did, but I got way, way back up in the high country. And this is my own stomping grounds. I used to hunt. I used to camp up there with my friends, but I found a new road and there was a fork in the road. Now just think about this with your viewers. you guys ever had situation in your life where you came up to a fork, and I mean a little fork, like a big decision to make, and, or a tempting decision where you know that on the right side would lead you back home to the safety of But on the left side for me It was tempting. It looked like this could take me to a beautiful meadow that I've always wanted to go down to. So I thought for a minute and Berra, um, once said that when you see a fork in the road, take it. And so I took it. Horrible advice, by the way. Horrible advice. So I took it and it became a horrible trap. Um, it got really, really steep and it turned into a single track trail. And at, at the bottom of this trail, it stopped abruptly and there was a big cliff with a drop off of the creek running down at the bottom. And I thought, oh, great. And so I tried as good as I could with my quadriplegic strength. That's what I am. my condition. Um, quadriplegic. So just for those that don't know what that is, I'm paralyzed from the neck on down. can move my wrist but not my fingers. And so I have a limited upper body. Um, and so all the strength I can, I moved that. Side by side, the ATP I was in and up I went. As I'm going up the hill, my two front wheels popped up in the air. I went over a pine tree root, and I immediately rolled backwards. And, um, rolled on my side, upside down, and I'm about ready to go over the cliff, thinking, ah, this is going to be a bad way to go. And, um, The ATV gets shoved miraculously into a strand of aspen trees that were happening to be growing right next to the cliff and it caught me from not going over. And so almost over the cliff and not quite and I'm just shouting hallelujah because here I am, I'm alive and hanging upside down. So I said, all right, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay. I went to go grab my phone my phone was detached from me. Me rolling it. And I saw my phone, it was like four or five feet away, but I couldn't grab it.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Mmm. Oh
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:until someone comes down here and sees my predicament and it'll flip me over. And off I go. I was trying to be as optimistic as I could. An hour went by. No, nothing. Another hour went by nothing, but I could hear thunder coming from the distance. And. And about that time I had a really cool visitor and those were red ants and they started crawling all over me I guess when I rolled my ATV I demolished their home. And so they're walking all over me as if to tell me, Brandon, we're sorry about your predicament, but intend to harvest you alive. You know, so they're eating, biting me and just, you know, inflicting all sorts of pain. And like, okay, and then it started to rain
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:my goodness.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:then I thought, okay, this, this is, this is bad. And then it started to snow.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:What?
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:uh, let's see, June 30th. And well, gee, usually that's, it's warm. That should be a warm time of year in Utah.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Yeah.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:it should be, but that was, it was a freak storm and I was 9, 800 feet in the snow. up in elevation. I was up in the
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Yeah, that's way up there. That's way up there.
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:it started to snow and it started to freeze to death and I started to die. And I slowly was freezing to death. Scary, scary, scary thing. And um, battled the adversary through that, by the way, and, and, and talked about that in the book and Um, but suffice it to say is this, is that at my weakest moment, I wanted to give, give it in and, and just give up and think about this for you guys that are, that are listening to this, at your weakest moment, that's when the adversary attacks, I really believe. And, and, um, I was about ready to do something stupid. And that was to, was going in and out of consciousness and I knew I could force myself into just giving up the ghost and. And, and stop suffering. But as I was about to do that, I had a very powerful spiritual impression as if the Holy Ghost was lit up inside of me and it said, Brandon, this isn't your call. is mine. I'm going to decide how and when you go, Brandon, breathe. And so I started breathing, and I felt a warmth that I couldn't deny. And so I started breathing, and it took a while to get strength back into my lungs. And, long story short, I don't know how long I held on, but as long as I could. The last words I said was, Father, take me or save me. And, uh, next thing I know is I wake up a day and a half later. In, um, intensive
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Oh, wow. I
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:was shocked. Opened my eyes, I thought I'd see, you know, the Savior and the angels and all that good stuff. I saw nurses, and I thought, well, this is interesting. And, uh, realized that I had been found. Um, miraculous story on how I was found, but yeah, that was interesting. Um, so, overcame that and, and, uh, wrote about that and, and, um, It was a miraculous way of how they found me. I had hundreds and hundreds of people looking for me and, and the gentleman that did find me was really led, amazingly by, by, by the spirit. Um, he had a blessing many, many, many years ago when he was a young man that literally said that if he remained faithful, that he would have the opportunity to raise somebody from the dead. actually
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:oh,
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:blessing. is And he thought, if I joined the Davis County search and rescue department, maybe that's where I will fulfill that promise that God gave to me. And so here I am up on the hill thinking maybe God has forgotten me or is not listening to my prayers. But in God's wisdom and in his foreordination, he answered my prayer before I even gave it, 20 years later, or 20 years before my accident, this gentleman who was given this blessing where it said that he would raise somebody from the dead. Um, time would come in his life that he would do that if he remained, know, a good faithful Son of God and so here he is he's directed right to me and he sees me And he's like, oh my gosh, this is it And so god already answered my prayer so many years before this had ever happened and it just blows my mind And he, you know, he showed me all that, which is really cool. Um, and then my last one, I, I, I was, at the time I was working at, it's called Intermountain Medical Center, and it's um, it's a rehab facility for individuals going through life changing conditions and accidents. And I was a counselor there, people find meaning, find purpose, find strength through their challenges. And I did that and I loved it for six, five, five or six years. Um, one, one, one morning going to work in December, um, driving southbound on, on the highway. was hit head on by someone going northbound on a southbound highway, um, which is crazy and never happens, but it happened to me and it demolished my face. And, I had facial reconstruction and wasn't able to get back to work after that. And, um, it was another kind of remodeling where God was directing me towards something else. And, and again, God has always wanted me to build people. And I think what he was doing is he knew that I wasn't going to change course. So he directed it and, uh, directed it for me. And, and so from that, I learned that, Hey. I'm going to build my own practice. I'm going to build my own practice and I'm going to call it press forward coaching, and I'm going to help people, um, defeat their Goliaths and help them be refined and glorified through their challenges like I've had to learn to do. And, and so that's what I've been doing ever since. Uh, but. That's a little bit about some of my adversities. At least, just a Reader's Digest
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:So what have you learned about facing a Goliath with the Savior? What could you share about that?
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Well, just think about David. How did David defeat Goliath? David knew his cause. You know, I think it's the same in your life that you're struggling like, okay, why are you afraid of this? Like, is there not a cause? That's what he says, I think, in the Old Testament. And David knew his cause. He knew who he was. He knew that he was a son of God. And not only that, David knew his gifts. He knew that God gave him a gift and he could throw a rock like nobody's business. So he knew his cause and he knew his God given gifts. And he went out there and slayed Goliath. That's what I, that's what I mean. I, I, I help people find their purpose, their cause, and utilize their God given gifts so that they can be refined and glorified through challenges that, Really want them to these challenges The adversary wants us to be defeated and paralyzed by him by ever since the word God gives us challenges because he wants us to number one prove ourselves. So we prove our faith But these challenges also do something else They give us great rewards. They give us empathy. They give us Education that we wouldn't get anywhere else And they enable us to connect closer to God than we otherwise could have without it. And that's been my story. Um, every one of my accidents has, has helped me. closer to God. And in my book though, there was a time after my accident where I ran from him. Um, I had a, I had a police record if you could believe that or not, in high school, did things all for the wrong reasons because I was running away from myself. And, um, it took a lot of, uh, lessons learned and patience on God's part to, Help me, uh, redirect and change course.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:How has your view of the Savior changed through these massive journey experiences where you've had to come to rely on him? How has your view of the Savior changed and evolved?
brandon-sulser_1_02-04-2025_180709:Yeah, um, it's amazing how much God, the Savior, how much patience He has on us, us. He is so lovingly patient. He'll allow us to go out and, and, and maybe Make the wrong decisions knowing that okay if that's what you want Well, you're going to learn from that and you're going to see that it's not giving you happiness But he's never going to run away from you He's always going to be there and all he's wanting is you just got to reach out And what i've learned and what my accidents have taught me is that man My savior is always there, but I have to reach out and once I reach for him He reaches back and he pulls me up You And I've realized how kind, how patient he is with us, because we, we, we tend to learn things a lot slower than I'm sure, you know, he would otherwise like. But one thing I've learned, I wrote about this in the book, is that what we think is failures in life, and we shame ourself for it, God sees it as experience. We learn from it. This is, this is how we grow. And, and these experiences that we go through isn't to damn us, that's, that's on us. It can actually, actually have the ability to uplift, refine, and make you better person. But it's only possible through God's help. And, you know, I have faith, and some will say, well then, gee, Brandon, um, but you're not walking, you haven't been healed. Well, you know, you gotta trust in the process, and one thing I've learned is that God doesn't always answer your prayers, but one thing He does is He'll give you the strength to be able to get through them. And for me, that's been evident every day of my life. I mean, it takes me three to four hours to get ready in the morning. that's with home health help. Um, I need God's strength everywhere I go. And I think because of that, it's made me the, who I am. I, Brandon you see today, wouldn't it be the Brandon you would have saw if he wasn't tried. I think I still would have loved God, but I wouldn't have been the man you see or you're hearing from. And that's one thing that's beautiful about it. And. You know, you hear people that, that say, well, you know, if I could go back, I would change things. I wouldn't change things. They would say that. Man, I would. a minute, I would, because it's not easy being a quadriplegic. But what I wouldn't change is what has taught me and, and, and the connections I've made with God. And because of that, I'm grateful that I can't. Um, I trust that God knows best. Um, yeah. all of this too, um, after I wrote my book, there was one thing still missing in my life, and that was the love of my life. And, uh, luckily I was able to make that happen, and been happily married for going on almost four years now. And, uh, I owe God all of that, because, um, I didn't know where to find her, and I found her miraculously. Well, she found me, and, uh, it's really kind of a cool story. But, um, I just know this, is that when you rely on God, God enables great things to happen in your life and you just need to press forward.
john_1_02-04-2025_180710:Thank you so much for coming on, brother, and sharing your testimony and your story and for helping us to face our giants wherever they may be and to, to help us root our eyes on Jesus Christ to walk through our journeys and our trials and our struggles as well. And so I want to thank you so much for sharing this and encourage everybody. To look to Christ in the struggle to look to Christ to slay our Giants and to look to Christ as we Walk daily through our challenges. Thank you everybody for joining us this week on walking with the Savior. We'll see you next week