Safely in His arms

I used to think it was Larry's fault. I mean, he was driving when we were in the rollover, when we were in the thirty car pileup, and the time we hit a deer somewhere in the Blue Mountains on the way home from Thanksgiving. But if I'm going to be honest with myself I have to confess that, to date, I've been in six car accidents. Only the three of which Larry was even in the car. So now, if I look at it objectivly, Larry has only been in a car accident when I was in the car with HIM. What does that tell me? After I hit my second deer, mom concluded that I must have a deer magnet hooked to the front of my car. Being in six accidents and being found to have"no fault" in any of them I've come to the firm conclusion that I don't have a deer magnet, I have an idiot magnet!!

Our latest in the string of accidents happened yesterday on the way home from church. Ally and I were driving home after church and came to an intersection in our small town. Most of the intersections in this town are not marked with stop signs so I usually slow down automaticly. But yesterday as I'm driving through this intersection I get about five feet into the intersection and see a car out of the corner of my eye coming from the opposite direction. He hadn't yet entered the intersection and I hoped he would slow down or stop, but he didn't, he was barreling forward and a few seconds after I saw him, I realized he was going to hit us. He hit us broadside on the passenger side, right where Ally was sitting and we rolled, I think, one full time. It's interesting how fast and how slow these things happen. It seemed like such short time from the time I saw him until he hit us. It happened so fast. But then as we were in the van rolling, time seemed to slow down and Ally and I had a sort of conversation as were rolling. Ally said "mom what's happening?" I said "they hit us, Ally are you buckled in?" Ally: (panicked) "yes" Me: "okay, just don't move and hang on". During this brief time I had turned around in my seat en-roll to make sure for myself that she was indeed buckled in. (Which I am paying for today). After that we landed on the same side we had been hit on and came to a stop. Ally was so scared, but I told her it was going to be okay, that we were both okay. I put the car in park, turned off the engine, unlocked the doors and told Ally "okay, we're going out the back" The driver side was up in the air and too high to crawl out of, plus none of the windows on that side of the car were blown out so that left the back of the car as the only possible escape route. I had to bang on the window to have someone standing outside open the back for us. So, dodging broken glass, Ally and I crawled over the seats and out the back of the car. I had a few blankets in the car from our volleyball tournament the day before, which was good because Ally never wears a coat anywhere. So I wrapped her up, checked on the other cars occupants then sat with Ally while we waited for help. I called Larry first thing and he came to wait with us and drive us home after the police took our statement. Our van is mostly totaled. I went and saw it today, (which was very unsettling).

For all of our misfortune, I can't forget how blessed we have been through this entire thing. Ally and I came away mostly unharmed, we did each have a minor cut on one foot, which considering the extent of the damage to the car was surprising. We didn't have any facial wounds even though glass was flying everywhere.

As I was considering everything that happened to us yesterday, Jess was quick to point out that the Lord cannot take away the agency of the other driver but that he can cushion the consequenses of the other drivers actions for us. And it's true! The accident was so surreal, I didn't feel like I was in a car that was rolling over, there was no jostling or bumping. Just a feeling of floating through the air. I'm mildly sore today but Ally has no after effects at all. We were both carried through safely in His arms, and for that I am grateful.