CAR ACCIDENT …

OK, so I thought that yesterday’s post on “no sleep” would be my reminder of my powerlessness and inadequacies and of God’s great goodness and sovereignty. (And I hope it was.)

But now I think I can top that …

Guess what? The city I am in had a relatively big snowstorm hit yesterday and so I knew that the roads would be icy and treacherous. THUS … I left myself an HOUR AND A HALF to drive literally four miles to the mediation site. I figured that even if I had to sit in the parking lot for an hour, I would do my part to not inconvenience the parties or advisors.

So off I went. In my BORROWED (from a friend) SUV. Driving SOOOOOOOOOOO slowly (under 3 mph!), carefully NOT braking hard, not turning hard … being very, very, VERY careful …

Driving down a TWO-LANE VERY BUSY street with CONSTANT TRAFFIC coming in the opposite direction because it was commuting time …

I feel the back end of the SUV just start to SWING OUT.
For no reason.
Seriously–I hadn’t accelerate, braked, turned … I had done nothing.
It just started to SWING and then, of course, SPIN COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTROL.

Now–here’s the thing …
To my friends who so graciously and generously loaned me the car, I can honestly say the quick story: I “pouffed” into snow in the ditch; didn’t make any contact with ANYTHING; had to be towed out; and went on my merry way. (Of course we would completely pay for ANY damage if any had occurred since it was all 100% my responsibility. But seriously–pouf. Snow. Stuck. Towed out.)

But to you guys, I can tell you this …
I have never been in a car that spun out of control–more or less a huge SUV. (It was TERRIFYING!)

Immediately, I remembered what I’d always heard/read about winter driving safety (“turn INTO the spin! everyone tries to correct OUT of the spin and that’s when things get even worse!”) … so even though it was SOOOOOOO counterintuitive, I DID turn into the spin. (freaky! scary! SOOOOOOOOOO scary because what I wanted was to NOT be spinning out of control like that!!!)

And the car spun & spun–IN THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC LANE THAT HAD BEEN CONSTANTLY FILLED WITH CARS.
But in that MOMENT?
A gap.
A big, huge, spinning-SUV-sized GAP.

(Can you say with me, “Thank You, God!”)

And the SUV spun across the oncoming lane and it did “pouf” into the snow in the ditch …
Except, when the police arrived, we all gasped …
 Because literally INCHES from the car, smack-dab in the middle of the rear-view window, there was a HUGE METAL POLE in the ditch …
And the front of the car and the passenger side were framed in by TREES …

None of which I had any contact with whatsoever.

It was as though God parallel-parked this “out of control” (but–not to be too hokey–not out of His control!) car right between the trees and metal pole.

I was shaking. And immediately VERY cold (it’s like 10 degrees below zero here).
But I was not hurt.
I had not hit oncoming cars (which surely “SHOULD” have happened).
I had not damaged my friend’s car (which we absolutely would’ve made right–but would’ve been incredibly expensive).

Yes, I had to push back the start time of the mediation an hour because even with the NINETY MINUTE “cushion” I had given myself … I still needed more time to get towed out and get to the site and try to UN-hyper-adrenalate.

But all in all–
Can you think of a more apt and precious reminder of God’s goodness to me?
Why He would bless me so, I can only attribute to His merciful compassion …
AND TO YOUR PRAYERS.

Honestly–one of my first thoughts was, “People are praying for this mediation. Praying for me. This is all an answer to their faithful prayers. Thank you, God.”

And BOY! Was it hard to switch gears, stop freaking out, and work all day to serve these parties well.
But I did my best. And that’s all we can ever do, right?

Please do pray for us all–especially these precious parties–as we work tonight and reconvene in the morning.

Thank you, friends!

Much love,
Tara B.