Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

‘I Knew Where the Light Was’: Military Vet Blinded by Suicide Bomber Recalls His Powerful Journey of Finding Hope in the Darkness

Image Source: YouTube/Ryan Ferguson
Image Source: YouTube/Ryan Ferguson
Share Tweet
By Will Maule
Author

March 13, 2018

Scotty and Tiffany Smiley are an extraordinary couple. Scotty, founder of Hope Unseen ministries, is a military veteran who has endured more suffering than most could ever begin to imagine.

In April 2005, he was severely injured when he spotted a suspicious looking vehicle approach his military base in Mosul, Iraq. Before he had time to react, a suicide bomber self-detonated right in front of him. Shrapnel pierced through his eyes as he was knocked unconscious by the blast.

“Sure enough, someone had come in and blown themselves up. It was the worst day of my life,” Scotty’s wife, Tiffany, said in a recent video shared by Hope Unseen. “I had no idea what was yet to come.”

In the powerful video testimony, Scotty, who had aspirations of becoming a Delta Force operator, described that fateful day when his life was changed forever.

“I was deployed to Mosul. On April 6, 2005, I found a suspicious vehicle,” he said. “The last thing I remember seeing was a man raising his hands in the air as he exploded. I woke up over a week later in Walter Reed Army Medical Center, blind the rest of my life.”

Tiffany recalled a senior army official calling her to break the news of the attack. He informed her that Scotty had been blinded.

“This strong leader just broke down and started sobbing on the phone to me,” Tiffany explained. “That was the moment that I knew that my world changed.”

Scotty had to try and get to grips with his new life without sight. For an active military man and a gifted leader, this was excruciatingly difficult.

“That darkness just overwhelmed me. I felt I couldn’t do anything,” he said. “Being able to do anything you wanted to do, and now you can’t even move. Let alone, you can’t see, you will never be able to see again. I chose to be angry at my wife, my family, my friends, at everyone.”

“As a result, I just got deeper and deeper and darker and darker,” he added. “I felt the heaviness of what it was gonna take. It was easy to be a cheerleader but so much harder to really feel that pain and burden.”

But despite Scotty finding himself in an ever-deepening pit of despair, he knew that there was a hope and a light — God.

“In the darkest, deepest depression that I was in, I knew where the light was,” Scotty said. “I knew what the truth was. For me, it was to make a choice to choose Him. When I didn’t, it was dark.”

Then, a beautifully simple encounter with a child brought Scotty back into a place of hope and breathed life back into his bones.

“It was when a little boy, who I taught Sunday school, came to my door and I just began to cry,” he said. “There still may be a purpose for me if a little boy still looked up to me. That could be a reason to continue to live. It forced me to choose to love and to ask for forgiveness.”

Scotty knew that despite his disability, he had to fight to find the Lord.

“I knew that if I didn’t have true hope and faith in God, then loving my wife and finding a true purpose life would almost be all for nothing,” he explained.

Now a gifted author and speaker, Scotty can truly say that despite all the heartache and pain, God has been good to him and his family.

“For me, I wouldn’t change anything that has occurred,” he said. “The blessing that God has given us is that he uses us if we want to be used.”

“Scotty and I aren’t just surviving, we’re genuinely happy, joyful and grateful for this life that we have,” added Tiffany. “God has shown me that my happiness and my joy, it doesn’t come from my circumstances. It comes from my heart, and from the beauty that he shows us through pain and heartache.”

“No, this isn’t the life I would have ever said I wanted,” Tiffany continued. “But it is the perfect life for us.”

Learn more about Scotty’s ministry and book “Hope Unseen” by visiting his website here.

(H/T: Hope Unseen)

Latest

  • Faith

    ‘I Have No Fear’: 3 Doors Down Singer Announces Stage 4 Cancer, Delivers Bold Message, Call For Prayer

  • News

    ‘Bring Jesus Up!’: Sean Duffy Hangs Portrait of Jesus in Office, Calls for Original to Be Rehung After Being Sidelined During Biden Admin

  • Faith

    ‘God Saved Him’: Paula White-Cain on Trump’s Faith, Her White House Role and Why She Believes America Fell Into ‘Trouble’

  • Faith

    CeCe Winans Reveals ‘The One Thing’ She’d Do Differently as a Parent: ‘If I Could Go Back’

  • News

    Hollywood Actor’s ‘Demonic Attack,’ ‘Insane’ God Encounter Shock Him Into Belief


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent Posts

  • ‘I Have No Fear’: 3 Doors Down Singer Announces Stage 4 Cancer, Delivers Bold Message, Call For Prayer
  • ‘Bring Jesus Up!’: Sean Duffy Hangs Portrait of Jesus in Office, Calls for Original to Be Rehung After Being Sidelined During Biden Admin
  • ‘God Saved Him’: Paula White-Cain on Trump’s Faith, Her White House Role and Why She Believes America Fell Into ‘Trouble’
  • CeCe Winans Reveals ‘The One Thing’ She’d Do Differently as a Parent: ‘If I Could Go Back’
  • Hollywood Actor’s ‘Demonic Attack,’ ‘Insane’ God Encounter Shock Him Into Belief

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • Culture
  • culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.