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"Even if I can't figure it out, I know that God has a purpose for it, even if I never completely understand what it may be."

(Traverse City, Michigan)—Imagine hearing the news that your daughter and her friends were in a horrific car accident and one of the only survivors was your daughter, now in a coma. Then imagine keeping vigil over her for five long weeks, praying for her broken, bandaged, comatose body, all the while grieving with the parents of her friends who were killed in the accident. The gut-wrenching funerals; visits to the cemetery. Battling the irrational guilt that your daughter was spared while your friends' children were not. Asking God the big "Why?" and because you love Him so much and you know He loves you, ultimately surrendering to Him, trusting Him implicitly.

Finally, imagine that at the end of five weeks the girl you thought was your daughter wakes up from her coma and tells you she's not your daughter. She is the friend of your daughter who, disguised by her swollen and bruised face, was mistaken for your daughter by rescuers and hospital officials. Your daughter is dead. She died the night of the accident and is now buried beneath a tombstone carrying a different name.

Such is the true story of Whitney Cerak in what the AP labeled a "stunning identity mix-up."

The fatal car wreck happened on April 26, 2006, and although Whitney has recovered from her injuries and is on track to graduate from Taylor next year, she was compelled to document her experience in a newly released book entitled, Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope.

"Even if I can't figure it out, I know that God has a purpose for it, even if I never completely understand what it may be," said Whitney, whose father Newell is a pastor. Newell, and his wife Colleen, were astounded to learn that the girl who had survived the accident was their daughter Whitney. After all, they had believed they had buried their daughter weeks before the mix-up was discovered.

Don and Susie Van Ryn were the parents who had sat by Whitney's bedside for weeks believing it was their daughter Laura. Both families are reportedly deeply committed Christians.

The book, according to a report in the Christian Post, is a book about healing and how God has sustained two families through His grace.

Used by Permission of Breaking Christian News www.breakingchristiannews.com / John Flesher - AP/Christian Post