Life is a gift. Not a given. :)

Do you have any fears?
Maybe, you're afraid of heights? Flying, snakes, spiders, the evil that lurks...afraid of being alone. The list goes on. For me, my greatest fear is getting into a car accident. (Yes, that is a confession that I think anyone can relate to:))

Yesterday that fear became a reality for me.
Mom and I had errands to run yesterday before a photo shoot with Aaron (the wonderful young man I am courting :) and when we finally went to go get him all the way over at ASU in Tempe, mom said to me, "Amanda, I think you should drive. You need more practice on the freeway". So I did. (I had been driving all day but really didn't want to drive on the freeway ..)
We were in the Kia, so not a big vehicle at all. Merging onto the freeway went fine. Changing lanes, fine. But the whole time I was driving on the freeway, I just had this weird feeling. Like, I should not have been driving. I felt in my heart, 'today, we're going to get into an accident'.

So, we're driving along. Going the speed limit ;) and all of the sudden this guy in his 'Fancy-shmancy-car' cut me off. Didn't turn his blinker on or anything. He just merged right on over causing me to swerve into the other lane....right into a semi. Yes, an 18wheeler. . I had no other choice but to swerve. If I had even slowed down just a bit, the guy would have hit the front of the car causing our car to glide over hitting still the semi which would have hit the rear of the car forcing us to more than likely fishtail and causing a bigger mess than what it was....From the time that we made contact with the semi to the time that the officer approached my window, I wasn't there. I don't know where I was. But, I wasn't there. I remember stopping after our car popped off the semi and coming to a complete stop in the middle lane. But how I made it over to the gore area and making it over there without smashing into any other cars...don't remember that. Its as if God was literally moving the car and stopped any other cars from coming. I just remember trembling uncontrollably and calling Aaron to let him know that we would not be coming. Then dad called me. (All this time mom was on the phone). All I could say was "I'm so sorry dad! I ruined your car!" And of course, he says its fine and that he doesn't care about the car, only that mom and I are okay. Which only made me sob even more because that shows the undeniable love my daddy has for his girls. :)

As I sat there and felt God's calming hand, I realized that He spared our lives. And everyone around us. Which made me cry again because that's when you come to that knowing of "God spared our lives. We're alive." We have absolutely no injuries. Which is another miracle because the doors are totally torn.

Thankfully the cop didn't ticket anyone nor did he sight anyone. They also say its my fault (which, ramming into the semi is, but the reason I had to swerve..not so much). He just gave me a warning.

The truck driver didn't even know what happened but once I told him he was totally irate that the drive the cut me off did that..but all the same saying that he's just glad we're okay. ;)

Aaron's mom did drive all the way over to ASU to bring him over (as planned) but, only because she knew that he would not be at peace until he saw mom and I. So, we just spent the evening together. Which was nice. :)

So this Thanksgiving..I'm thankful for life! Anything you can be thankful for, the good, the bad,..no matter what, I'm thankful for it!

I do hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving and a beautiful weekend!
God Bless,
Mandie

'O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endures for ever.'
Psalm 136:1 :)