Blessed by a car accident...

What??? Did I really just say that?  I know of at least one person that could say "I told you so", but I know she won't. If she reads this, she will probably just smile...and think "I told you so!"

It was not my intention to let so much time pass before continuing with my update. So here are the "refresher" links just in case you are like me and forget everything. Part 1 and Part 2.

I can remember the DAY we bought the new car...of course being able to look back at the blog helps. It was a pretty car. That, along with the obscene amount of money that it cost helped to fuel my anger. I was NOT happy about having to buy a new car! It is pretty, just a little different. You can see photos of it in this album...somewhere. I have not had a chance to update the 365 blog in a LONG time.

Ok...now back to the BLESSING part of the story...it totally washes out my anger. There is a song out by Laura Story called Blessings

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

I will add a YouTube video at the end of this post. Anyway, I was driving down the road one day, and this song came on. I was still wallowing, but actually listened to the words...sometimes I tend to tune things out, and just go through the motions. This should shock NONE of you! I actually listened to the words of the song, instead of just singing along.  What if your blessings come through car accidents? I thought could this car accident just be a blessing in disguise? I thought about the fact that we knew Marc was going to change jobs. I was frustrated with his slowness to act. That was a blessing! He had a job with a 14 year job history when we had to finance a new car. blessing Remember that obscene amount that the car cost? Well, we had bought an extended warranty, GAP coverage, coverage incase Marc lost his job, AND death coverage. Obviously, when you drive the car less than a year those coverages don't get used. Guess what? We got a refund check after the insurance paid off the complete balance for my car. blessing The new car cost about $10,000 less, and is about $150 less per month, because we didn't have an upside down trade-in. blessing I was able to replace 2 car seats and get it refunded 100%, twice! They were almost 5 years old, and you are supposed to replace them after 5 years. blessing The money from the refunds has helped us supplement income while Marc is in the training phase of his new job. blessing I was coming up on the costly 30,000 mile maintenance service. Now I get to drive 30,000 more miles before that service. blessing That is a lot of "blessings", but not nearly all of them. I feel like I am thinking more clearly, and not under the financial stress that I felt before the accident.


 In all honesty, if there is a time to be stressed, it would be now. Marc put in his notice at Mattress Giant on April 14th. He was officially "released" the next day. He started at Mattress Firm the following Wednesday. Our health coverage expired at the end of the month. We COBRAed the kids, but it was just not possible to cover us too. I am not stressed!


He is in training, so he doesn't have the LONG retail hours. He has been able to attend almost all of Caleb's baseball games this year. He has been able to watch movies with the kids. He has been able to play various games outside with the kids. He got to have Easter with us, and he got the day off to celebrate Josh's birthday. This would not have been possible at all at Mattress Giant. I am not stressed! It is all in God's hands. If HE can bless me through a car accident, then HE can bless me through a much needed job change. 


How can I be angry about anything when over and over again I am seeing little blessings? I still have pain from the accident. The amount of migraines I have has increased from 1 every other month, to 2-3 a week. The pain is only physical, but will take a while to fully recover. My own pain softened my heart toward the other driver. She really took the brunt of the accident. The initial impact was my front driver side and her front passenger side. I eventually skidded to a stop while she spun around and hit the back of my car. Aside from whiplash, my body position never really changed. She had two impacts and a  spin. I can imagine she was in A LOT more pain than I was. I know she would be feeling it longer. I went to the ER first, then straight to my chiropractor. He did x-rays, so he could adjust me accordingly, and change my rehab. Not everyone has that privilege. My medical expenses will eventually be reimbursed. Chances are, hers will not. That is because she was at fault, and it wasn't her car. Most people don't carry insurance that would cover injuries to the at fault driver if it was not her car. So...as I prayed for my own recovery and anger, I also prayed for "that girl"...that is what I called her at first, even though I knew her name. As God worked more on my heart, I prayed for her by name. Throughout this time, my anger went away.

Mentally, I am still nervous when I drive through intersections. I know in time that will pass, but I am not about to speed through an intersection anymore. Just yesterday, I was sitting at a red light at the intersection where the accident occurred. In the short time of my red light I saw 8...yes that is EIGHT illegal left turns. You better believe I made sure there were no illegal left turns before I drove through that intersection.

Where are we now? I would like to say pain free, but that is not the case. I have good days, and bad days. My good days are starting to outnumber my bad days. I have not built back up to the running routine that I had before the accident. Now it is getting hot, so I probably won't get back up to that point until the cooler fall temps. Vacuuming gives me muscle spasms. I had to just sit back during a lot of Caleb's baseball practices. I couldn't really practice with him at home, but he did just fine. I feel like I have missed a lot of activity, but it has given me a chance to just slow down.

Marc is almost out of training. Mattress Firm is opening a new store, and he is going to be an assistant manager at that store. Can we say BIG BLESSING? He gets to skip a few of those lower positions as well as  a few weeks of training. Hopefully, it won't be long before he is a full on manager again. We do not know when he will be eligible for health insurance. The policy is 90 days, but they might make it sooner since he will be on the sales floor by Saturday. Whatever....I am not in the least bit worried.

I AM BLESSED!!!!!

Now here is a video of the song...don't forget to pause the playlist music