aken from Warrior Hope compiled by Liesel Parkinson.
Just before deploying to Afghanistan in 2007, Derek attended a week-long Christian Mission with his wife, in London. The focus of the conference was to inspire an outreach in London; this would be preceded by a 40 day fast which everyone attending the conference was urged to participate in. Derek was deployed to Helmand Province with the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters a few days later.
Three months passed until a conversation with his wife reminded him of the commitment the community had made to begin fasting. He said that while, humanly speaking, he thought fasting while on operations in the desert would be impossible, he felt a burning desire in his spirit to take the call to fast seriously.
He asked his wife to pray that he would have the strength to fast and to still fulfil his obligations as a soldier. He decided to allow himself only water and just a few biscuits each day. Incredibly, he was able to sustain this while still playing a full part in all the missions his unit conducted during this time. On 18 July 2007, 40 days after he had begun, he completed his fast.
Six hours later he was injured by a roadside bomb while out on patrol in his vehicle. He explained, “God was preparing me through the fast for the battle I would face, it was a spiritual as well as an emotional battle.”
Later Derek would remember the moments after he was thrown from the vehicle on the day of his injury. There struggling to breathe in a pool of his own blood knowing that at least one of his legs had gone, he looked up to the sky as fear washed over him and prayed, confessing his sins and praying, “Dear Lord, if it is your plan to use me to be your servant then please give me life again.”
The improvised bomb that had cost Derek his legs was filled with hundreds of ball bearings, nails and metal and the force of the explosion had hurled him 13 metres onto bare rocks, this meant he sustained 24 other injuries as well as losing his legs. The fact that he had survived was a miracle.
Over the weeks and months that followed, prayer and praise would be the powerful tool that sustained and carried both Derek and his wife, through their ordeal. Derek’s physical wounds also healed much faster than expected, meaning that he was discharged after only three weeks in hospital in order to continue his recovery in the military rehabilitation centre at Headley Court. He went on to represent Britain in the 2012 Paralympic Games, setting two British records, and winning gold in the F57/58 discus at the IPC Athletics European Championships. *Photo credit: https://www.pexels.com/@fotios-photos