October 23 started off as a typical Saturday morning for 21-year-old Meredith Walker.
As she prepared to spend the day out with friends, she was not to know that she would be fighting for her life in the intensive care unit of Nepean Hospital a mere 24 hours later.
Meredith, who attends St Paul's Castle Hill, sustained horrific injuries to her feet, legs and pelvis when the rock ledge she was sitting on in Wentworth Falls collapsed underneath her, sending her plummeting 25 metres.
Airlifted to safety by a Careflight helicopter, Meredith was rushed to hospital.
Her friends and family were thankful she had survived as they started to come to terms with her injuries.
However the development of embolisms in her lungs the following morning had doctors fearing the worst.
Friends and family who had been praying for Meredith's wounds to mend the night before were now praying for her life.
Among them were the members of Meredith's Bible Study group.
Rhiannon Bevan, Claire Harrison, Alex Tekell and Natasha Percy were overjoyed when Meredith's condition stabilised and then improved over the following days, an answer to the hundreds of prayers that had been said for her, many by people who had never met her.
Within a week, Meredith had moved from intensive care to a ward and the slow process of healing began.
During Meredith's seven weeks in hospital, the group's Tuesday night Bible Study was held around her bed.
Leader Natasha Percy says it was an unusual but meaningful time for the group, who wouldn't have had it any other way.
"Meredith means a lot to us, so Bible Study without her wasn't an option."
All the regular features " prayer, supper and the studies the girls had been doing on the beatitudes - were included, intermingled with beeping machines and nurses popping in and out.
"Bible study was a really special time because I had so much going on in my mind and it meant I could vocalise what I'd been learning about God," Meredith recalls.
Alex says the experience helped her to grow in her understanding of prayer.
"Mez was a true testimony to me of how powerful God is and how, even though we take Him for granted, He really is in control of our lives."
As Bible Study resumes for 2005, the group now meets at Meredith's home, where she is making steady progress.
