When God wrecks your car . . .

This past few weeks we had a terrible snow storm that kept us in our homes for several days. I decided to hunker down and enjoy the slow pace because we usually go go go all the time. Five or Six days out we decided to head out. The roads were not yet perfect and our van was in desperate need of new tires. As we were going there was a truck buried in a snowbank. I looked at it and told my husband that God had really protected us. The next thought from the Holy Spirit was, "Would you still praise God if that was you in the snowbank?" I thought about that and started praying and telling God that my children, my life, my influence, my time, my car were His and whatever He wanted to do was ok with me." As I prayed that last part our van swerved and landed in a snowbank and trees and well, a wreck. A man came along and pulled us out. It was worse than we hoped. We took the van down to our local body shop where a church member works and they decided to keep it. Our insurance gave us a car, it is so awesome! Heated seats, nice tires, woodgrain on the inside! It's beautiful! As we were int he snowbank waiting for our tow truck I told God thank you for wrecking us. Not thank you for what He was going to do but thank you for wrecking us and no matter what happened I was going to praise Him.

Let me tell you some things that were wrong with our van.
1. Bald Tires
2. Radiator was dying
3. Needed an alignment

The tires alone were over $100 each. The front tires were the worst. We have been trying to save for tires but haven't been able to get very far. Well, when we wrecked we had a $500 deductible. So there went the tire money and then some! The radiator went completely when we wrecked. And something else that gets messed up when you replace the radiator went bad. So the insurance fixed that. And we got an alignment because the whole thing got hit out of alignment worse than it was.

The church member told us that they worked out our deductible and it was $150. But here's the clincher: We decided to pay tithe this week, knowing that if we did we would not have enough for the deductible but trusting God to take care of it. A gentleman in the church gave us $100. Then another one gave us $60. That's $10 extra for the deductible. Then another man gave us a $200 walmart gift card for groceries! That will pay for 2 weeks worth of groceries or more! I'l tell you what . . . YOU CANNOT OUT-GIVE GOD! Be faithful.

So not only do we have our needs met, but we have 2 new tires, a new radiator, an alignment and a few other things fixed on our car and all for $350 less than we were originally told! I'll tell you what, it wasn't easy to thank God for wrecking our van, but it's so much easier now. When God allows bad things to happen thank Him because He is going to use it for our good and for His glory! If you are going to thank Him for the good He is going to do from it, you need to thank Him for the bad that brought the good!