Jeremiah 29:11

If I set up my post option correctly, this will post 6:01 PM on Wednesday January 27. That will be exactly one week to the minute that the 911 call was placed to APD that we had been in a car accident. The fire department arrived while Katie was still on the phone. At that point Katie and I were still desperately trying to get Mattie May out of the back seat. She was scared and crying like she had never cried before. She wanted someone to hold her. The doors wouldn't open. But once Lolo remembered that only her door unlocks when the vehicle was put in park, we were able to get to her and calm her. We were not able to hold her because AFD wanted her to remain in her car seat just in case there were injuries that we couldn't see.

Still at this point, Katie and I were so dazed we really didn't understand what had happened. What did happen? I managed to get Frank on the phone and tell him we had been in a wreck. Even though he was four hours away, he had to know and know right then. We were on one of the main streets of town right at one of the busiest intersections. I didn't want someone to see us, then call him and scare him. That was my job!

What had happened? I had hit the car in front of me, but why? The damage to the back of his suburban wasn't too bad. The front of my Yukon was a bit worse. I was stopped at a red light, my foot firmly on the brake. How could I have hit the person in front of me? An airman still in his fatigues stuck his head in the passenger side door and asked if we were all OK. I told him we were but that I had not been able to ask the person in front of me if they were OK. That's when he told me that he was that person and he was fine but that he was going to check on the girl in the car behind me. Behind me? That was the first time I saw her car, a Dodge Challenger.

That is not a very big car. How on earth did she hit me so hard.

About that time is when the police officer put his head in the front passenger door and asked if I was OK. Again, I told him yes. His response startled me, "Ma'am, you have just been hit by a drunk driver, are you sure everyone is OK?"

What? It was 6:00 in the evening. Someone was already drunk? Is that really possible? I try to be a rational person after a wreck. Unfortunately, I have been in a few. Nothing more really than minor fender benders. This person was drunk? All of the sudden I got mad, very mad.

I have had a week to think about the events of that night. We were on our way to church. Mattie May was so happy because we were going to have lasagna at Manna and More. It would be the first one we went to since the Christmas and New Year breaks. We would get to visit with our friends, our church family that we love so much. Then Mattie May would go to Bible class and Katie and I would go to HIP together for the first time in a long time. Katie had been teaching class on Wednesday nights and I had been going to HIP by myself.

This past week I have been thinking about scripture. Mainly focusing on Jeremiah 29:11. I am not good at remembering scripture. I think of a passage, but I usually don't know what book or chapter it is in. Or I will see a scripture listed and have to look it up to know what it says. But I am good at finding it. I knew this passage, but had to look it up to see where it was. Jeremiah 29:11- "For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

So, why us? Why were we in this wreck, a horrible wreck? Because of Jeremiah 29:11. He has plans. Not just for me, but for all of us. All of us that were involved in that wreck. All of you that are reading my little blog. All of those you find a reason tell my story to. It may take us time to figure out the plans He has. We may never figure it out. My grandmother will soon be 94 and she says she is still trying to figure out what he plans for her and why she is still here in her earthly home. But He does have plans! Great plans!

This past week I have had many people ask me about the wreck, especially since I have my pretty new collar. Almost everyone I tell my story to usually has a story too, about themselves, a friend or family that was in an "accident" with a drunk driver. And I have discovered something, nobody ever walks away. Their stories are always of devastating injuries or death. I have not been told a single story where all the persons involved walked away.

This wreck has been constantly on my mind the past week, whether it is thinking of my aches and pains, going over insurance papers, or just going through my mind trying to figure out if there was anything I could have done to have avoided the entire mess, it has been there. I realized last night that I have been able to share God's love for us through this story. Was that His plan? Maybe. Maybe not. It is not for me to question.

I told you I have never been good at remembering scripture. I think I have allowed this to keep me from sharing God's word with others. But not any more. I am not afraid anymore! I can use the events of last week to show how much he cares, how much He loves us. How He kept us safe in that wreck.