After I recovered from the shock of what just happened, I looked around the van. My glass of water had not even fallen out of the cup holder. I immediately thanked the Lord that Katherine was not with me as she usually is on Fridays. I climbed out the passenger door, the police & ambulance came, I unloaded my Target bags and the car seat & stroller onto the median, and my dad picked me up and took me home. I have minor scratches on my arm from the airbag, and where the seat belt dug into me, and I'm a little sore. The van is dented, but doesn't look too bad to me (we'll see what the insurance company says). I only saw the lady who hit me briefly, and I have no idea if she was taken to the hospital or not. Her car was crunched in pretty badly in the front, and there were pieces of her car lying all over the road.
Since it happened on a Friday, the police report won't be ready until Monday, and the insurance company can't start the claim. Andrew came home from work, we got a rental car, I went to the chiropractor, made dinner and watched a movie with my mom while Andrew went to work at the high school football game.
When I had a few minutes by myself to really think about what happened, I remembered what had taken place just the night before. I started a 12 week class at church called "Hearing From God." At the end of the night, we were to write down the question, "Lord, what do you want me to hear from You tonight?" and then write anything we felt like He was saying. I always have a song going through my head, even when I'm talking or reading or praying. It's distracting at times, but that night I wrote down "It's okay if you always have a song in your head. Just listen to the words - it's Me speaking to you." The song in my hand changed at that moment, and I wrote "You don't have to worry, and don't you be afraid...my life is in Your hands." I thought at the time, yes, that's a great song, but there's nothing difficult going on in our lives right now. Thanks, anyway, for the words. Then, Friday afternoon in the quiet moment, the song came back, and I said, "Thank you, Lord. My life is in Your hands."
Now, this takes me down a different road of thoughts...Andrew & I sang in the Chorale in college, and we were one of many couples who met in Chorale and got married. There are several couples from the time we were in the Choral that have experienced great loss in their lives just since we all graduated. One guy was in a swimming accident in January and is paralized from the next down (they have 3 children). Another couple got pregnant with triplets last year, lost one of the babies when they were born, and the other two are just now finishing up with surgeries from being premature. Another couple has had four miscarriages and will not ever be able to have children of their own. Just a few weeks ago, a different couple's four year old son got caught under a lawn mower and his leg had to be amputated. These are just the problems of our friends from Chorale. On Monday of this week, our District Superintendent and his wife were in a terrible car accident. His pelvis was broken, and she suffered extensive damage and is still in ICU. So, it makes me ask why God has chosen to let Andrew & I suffer so little in comparison. It's certainly not because we follow Him more than the others - they all have strong faith in God.
All I can do is thank the Lord that so far in our lives, the struggles we've had have only been minor inconveniences.
