Spared

Ugh.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I wish I wasn’t writing this post.

But, here goes.

The Short Story: Lily and I were in a car accident on Tuesday. Nobody was hurt {in either our car or the other person’s car}. Our car, however, sustained some “fatal” injuries, if you will – it’s completely totaled.

The Long Story: I’m gonna do my best not to ramble, but here’s basically what happened.

Lily and I were on our way to a church playgroup a little before 10:00 Tuesday morning. It was at a park we had never visited, in an unfamiliar area of a neighboring town. We had turned onto the road leading to the park and ahead of us was a big construction-type truck parked in the road doing some work on a tree.

Up ahead, I noticed the road curved off to the left. There were no cars coming, so I pulled around the truck, intent on getting back around to my side of the road before any other cars came around that bend.

It wasn’t until I came around the front of the truck that I was able to see the stop sign and the intersection, but at that point, it was too late. I slammed on my brakes but it wasn’t enough to keep me from hitting the side of another car crossing the road on the intersection in front of me.

One second I was driving along listening to Lily’s happy babble from the backseat, the next we were spinning completely out of control through the intersection, headed straight for a telephone pole. We missed the pole by inches – it grazed our sideview mirror.

The next few minutes were honestly a blur. I remember running around to the backseat to find Lily safely snuggled in her carseat, without so much as a scratch on her. I remember just holding her, crying and shaking and thinking over and over, “This can not be happening.”

I called Dave, the ambulance and police came, and I was relieved to hear that nobody was hurt in the other car either. Since I was feeling fine, we opted not to go to the hospital with the ambulance and instead headed to my OB office to make sure everything was fine with the baby.

Even now, I can’t think about what happened without getting choked up. When I think about how close we were to being seriously injured – or worse – I can’t help but just praise God for His hand of protection on us. If something had happened to Lily or our unborn baby, I don’t know if I could have ever forgiven myself.

I know being a believer doesn’t guarantee that God will keep you from harm, and we would have chosen to praise Him regardless of the outcome, but we are so incredibly grateful that He chose to bring us through this unscathed.

If you could, there are a few things I’d ask for you to pray for:

1. Pray that we would have a right and godly response to the circumstances surrounding the accident. Had that truck not been parked so close to the stop sign, blocking my view the way it was, this almost certainly would never have happened. Regardless, I was issued a ticket for failing to heed a traffic signal. While everything in me wants to cry, “That’s so unfair!” I also recognize that being angry and bitter won’t change what happened. It’s possible that we may be able to have the ticket revoked, but even if that doesn’t happen, I need to be prepared to accept the circumstances humbly, and move on.
      A view of the truck that was parked in front of the stop sign..and the back of our car being towed away 
   
2. Pray for me as I  work through the emotions following the crash. The biggest struggle I’m having right now is with fear. At the moment, I don’t feel like I ever want to get behind the driver’s seat of a car again, especially not with my child in the back seat. I know it’s normal to feel apprehensive, but I don’t want to let that fear take root in my life and control me.
   
3. Pray that no complications develop with my pregnancy due to the accident. We had an ultrasound yesterday and everything looked great. I’ve had no bleeding or cramping and don’t even have a mark or a bruise on my stomach from the seatbelt, but just continue to pray that everything will go well.

Thanks so much for your prayers! Naturally I am a little disheartened about our ruined vehicle and my no-longer-spotlessly-perfect driving record, but those are such small things compared to the health and safety of my two precious little girls!