Saturday, I had posted on facebook about my bad day.
I was wrong.
It was actually small inconvenient moments
on a good day.
A day that the Lord had made.
I typically try to steer clear of a negative attitude,
but on Saturday, I let pessimism get the best of me.
Later, the more I thought about it,
the more I realized just how blessed I was on Saturday.
And how foolish I was to focus on the negative aspects and translate that into my whole day.
There were plenty of things to be thankful for.
So many blessings.
Let me just tell you what happened,
and you can see for yourself how God protected us and blessed us...
It all started with milk, or rather the lack thereof. I have to have milk with my coffee, ahem, I mean coffee with my milk. ;) And we were out. Matt had left for work at 5:30am. It was 7:30, as I sat in the kitchen on Saturday morning debating whether I wanted to run to the grocery stores 3 miles down the road and pick some up, or drive slightly out of my way to Dunkin' Donuts and pick some up on the way to church. The easier choice won (not having to get the kids in and out of the car and run into a store), and so it was a no brainer.. Dunkin' Douts.
So at 8:45, I got my much needed cappuccino (like that? needed? ha!) plus a 1/2 dozen donuts, for energy of course! :) As I was about ready to leave Dunkin' my friend who was setting up with me texted and said she was stuck by a train. That's ok., because I was only a few miles away. No biggie. I was thinking about my plan for the day as I was leaving the parking lot and pulled up to Rt 119.
Lots of traffic. Typical for 119. I waited, and waited, and Oh! An opening! I can make it! I left off the clutch and gunned it so I could get into traffic. But what I didn't realize, was that I was in the wrong gear. I had committed, so I quickly put it into first and stepped on the gas. I don't know how I missed it, or actually how I hit it, but I slammed into a curb. Sounds silly right? But my car is very low, and the curb was very high. The front tire went up over it with ease, and the car frame slammed down on it. Then the back tire went over and the car slammed down again. I don't know what traffic was doing around me while this was happening, because all I could think was, where in the world did that curb come from?! and I had just ruined my alignment that I got 3 weeks prior! I think the cars that I pulled in front of were very gracious. Even though when I had initially started to pull out there was plenty of room. A wrong gear and a curb made me cut them off. I was still in shock that I had hit the curb and was driving slowly (thankfully) in bewilderment.
The light in front of me at the 119 and I-65 intersection turned red. I pressed the brake. It went to the floor, easily. We didn't stop. I pressed the brake again, and again with ease it rested on the floor of the car. We weren't stopping. Now, you know how things can fly through your mind so quickly when something bad is happening? Like how everything around you goes in super slow motion but you can think at the speed of light? All I could think was, I have the most precious cargo in my car, I can't stop, and I'm going through one of the busiest intersections in town. I immediately began to downshift into lower gears and got the car to slow down. I pulled into the right turning lane, because thankfully, that's where I needed to be to get to church. And eventually, we slowly rolled through the stop. You know what I mean, the kind of stop you typically make at a stop sign when you're turning right. ;)
There is something amazing about this next part. There were no cars in front of me, and no cars behind me, and there was one car in the turning lane across from me wanting to turn down the same road I was going on. I pulled out into thick traffic, but when I got to the light, there was hardly anybody around me. Did they all pull around me yelling obscenities when I pulled out initially? Did they pull into other businesses before the light? I don't know. Because as I said before, my mind was preoccupied with trying to stop my car and not to kill my family. The car that was trying to turn left onto my road didn't turn either. And I've been at that light before, it's left turn yield on green; there is no red light at that left turn lane when the straight-away lights are green. But for whatever reason, he didn't turn.
So here I am on Oak Mountain Road with no traffic around me. This is a very strange sight, especially since Oak Mountain is a state park that is always hopping on the weekends in the fall. Traffic getting off of I-65 would use this road to get back to the state park. But it was empty.
My oldest son kept on encouraging me that we were going to be okay, God protected us, and it could've been much worse. I kept replying, but we have no brakes. Sometimes you just need to shut your mouth and listen to your kids. Some of the most profound, truth-telling statements come out of those little mouths.
I had two decisions to make. Pull off to the side of the road, and call AAA, and have no way of getting home (did I mention that my cell phone is basically dead and can't hold a charge for any real length of time? Calling AAA would've drained it.) OR continue driving and stop by downshifting and using the emergency brake and drive the 3 miles to church where there would be plenty of people who could help me. I chose going to church, and I prayed like a mad woman. :) I knew I'd be driving on the only two roads that lead to the entrance of this side of Oak Mountain Park, but I didn't know what else to do. So we continued slowly. Here is the amazing thing. There was no traffic in front of or behind me the entire way to the church. None. At the first stop sign (the entrance into the state park) there were two cars. But both of them turned down the road I was turning off of. If you don't live around this area, you don't know what a huge blessing that was. I couldn't believe it. The next stop sign, there was absolutely no traffic. And then, there I was, pulling into the church parking lot. I stopped the car with the emergency brake as I pulled into a space.
I got out and looked underneath of the car. If brake fluid was blood splatter, you would've thought that there was a mass murder under there. Brake fluid filled the inside of the wheel well and was dripping off of the underside of the car and tire.
I looked up and saw my friend who had texted me earlier pulling into the parking lot. And I let the floodgates open. I had made it. God had protected us. And I had a friend who hugged me, prayed over me, and let me know that everything was going to be okay.
And there are so many other blessings...
A gentleman from our church towed me for free.
His son is going to work on my car for free.
A friend went out of her way to take us home where we could be comfortable.
Friends prayed for us,
And my family was safe!!
It makes my complaints about a bent up Shutterfly book,
Health insurance issues,
And fire ant bites seem silly.
My negativity had kept me blind to the bigger picture.
My son was right.
We were okay.
God had protected us.
And it could've been much worse.
And as my dad reminded me,
"God is good all the time, and all the time God is good."
A lesson learned at very little expense.
Negativity will only make you feel horrible.
There is absolutely no benefit to it.
None.
On the other hand,
A positive attitude and
Seeing the blessings through trials
will give you a happy, joyful heart.
There is no better feeling than joy.
And no one, nor any circumstance can take that away from you,
Unless you let it.
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