Whitney Archibald rocking climbing accident

Whitney, surrounded by her family, recovers in the hospital after her 30-foot fall.

Courtesy of Whitney Archibald.

Whitney Archibald’s life changed forever when she fell 30 feet while rock climbing outdoors with family. She landed flat on her back; the impact broke most of the major bones in her torso and caused a compound fracture in her wrist. She lay in intense pain, hardly able to breathe, for 12 minutes until emergency responders arrived.

Whitney was recently a guest on the Magnify podcast and shared several miracles she experienced following her accident.

1. ‘The End of My Shame’

Whitney never lost consciousness during the accident. She said she was thinking very clearly, like her senses were heightened.

“The first thought that went through my head was, ‘What an idiot.’ That’s the first word I said, idiot. I felt so stupid for making this basic mistake. I’ve been climbing for about 30 years, and I knew better,” Whitney remembers.

She felt shame and blame for not setting up the ropes correctly. But then a different emotion filled her heart.

“I immediately felt the presence of the Lord with me. He immediately assured me that I am human, and humans make mistakes, and that I could not dwell on this. I get emotional thinking about the experience because it was such a sacred experience,” Whitney says. “That was the end of my shame and that awful feeling of inadequacy. I just felt His grace and His love for me at that moment. … That was the first of the great blessings that I got after the fall.”

2. Not Her Time to Go

Soon after falling, Whitney wiggled her fingers and toes and confirmed she wasn’t paralyzed. But she did wonder for a moment if she would live.

“I told [the Lord] if this is the time that I need to go, I’m ready. I have done my best. I hope this isn’t the end, but I know it might be,” Whitney says. But she then received immediate reassurance from the Spirit that she wasn’t going to die.

“I knew I was going to survive. … I still couldn’t breathe. … I felt on fire, like my whole torso was just flaming. … But it was amazing that in such a time of uncertainty, I could be absolutely certain I was going to survive. … I was not scared. … I knew I would be there for my kids,” Whitney says.

3. A Whitney-Shaped Clearing

Whitney’s sister took a picture of the ground where Whitney had fallen. When the family later looked at the picture, they noticed another miracle.

“We realized … I had fallen basically in the only Whitney-shaped clearing in the area. I had rocks all around my head [and] to the side of my body, but I just hit flat ground, which was very miraculous,” she says.

Whitney didn’t have a concussion or even a scratch or bruise on her head. “The only way I can explain that is that angels cradled my head on the way down,” she says.

4. A New Capacity to Love

An ambulance was able to drive up the trail to where Whitney was. The care the first responders showed touched Whitney deeply.

“I’ve had people take care of me before, [but] this was a different experience,” she says. “Having the connection with the Lord that I did at that time, I could almost tangibly see the love just pouring off of them. And the words came to my mind, ‘This is the pure love of Christ.’”

Whitney felt a deep love for her caretakers in return. She was hospitalized for almost a month and felt “so much love” for everyone caring for her.

“I had this new capacity to love because I had been shown this pure love,” she says. “I tapped into this Christlike love that I had … caught [a] glimpse of before for my children and for my family. But this intensified it, and it’s something I hope that I will always carry with me. It’s kind of like a little superpower I got—a little blessing.”