Praying through it all

"First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men"  1 Timothy 2:1

I have to confess, I haven't been praying as fervently lately as I ought.  I've been praying consistently, just not fervently.  Sometimes as I've felt the Lord nudge me to pray for others, I won't stop and do it right then, sometimes I do.  I've been haphazardly approaching prayer.  It's ridiculous.  It's not okay.  As I look back on the past week's events, I realize a few things, first...I'm an idiot.  I take prayer for granted and I ought to be consistently praying without ceasing, and second....taking the time to stop and pray with a friend is often more powerful and certainly more meaningful than a hug and a pat on the back.

Here's my week in review....I'll try to be brief so as not to bore you, but I pray....that as you read you will Praise Him with me, He is amazingly wonderful and altogether worthy!  Our God is all-powerful and all-sufficient.  He supplies our needs, He creates needs we don't even know we have, and then meets them in ways we certainly could never deserve.  He is good!


6:45 pm last Sunday, I hadn't heard from Micah in a while and I thought that he and our oldest should almost be home, so I sent him a text asking if he was okay.  I didn't hear back as quickly as I normally do, which is weird, because my husband and I communicate very well.  So, after a few minutes, I felt the Lord leading me to pray for them.  So, I did...asking for protection and for them to return safely home.

7:08pm, I get a call.  "Well, we've been in an accident, and we were hit on Joseph's side of the car."

Words you DO NOT want to hear.  A long pause, and then, "He seems fine, the EMS are checking him out now...I'll call you back."

Well.  Instantly I started praying again.  Not knowing what to think.  Finally I got a call back, it was my sweet boy....I just needed to hear him speak to me, just to know he was okay.

His head his the glass and the black part that separates the rear window, and you can never be too careful with possible head injury. The EMS checked him out while Micah got his ticket and and the information he needed.  They told my husband if he mentioned his head felt funny or he became nauseated we needed to take him to the ER for a formal evaluation.

So, they piled in the crashed Civic, which was drivable...but not pretty....and headed this way.    I get a call, and my husband sounds uneasy.  He told me our son started complaining that he felt like he may throw up, and his head felt "weird."  To the ER they went.  I am SO thankful for the Lord's provision of friends.  With one text, a sweet sister in Christ was on her way over here and stayed with our youngest two so I could go and be with them at the hospital.

Before I left, she reached for my hand and  said, "Let's pray"  So, we did, me full of nerves and tears..my three year old loudly interrupting, but we prayed.

That drive to the hospital took forever.  I called my in-laws asking for prayer and then spent the rest of the silence in prayer myself.  By the time I made it to the hospital they were finishing up his CT Scan.  Within 20 minutes we were being discharged.  He was fine, just shaken up.

8:45 pm that night, we were all home.  A little shaken...but I can honestly say our hearts were overflowing with gratitude.

My husband and I got our oldest settled, they had told us to keep him up a few more hours...and then we prayed together for the Lord's mercy throughout this ordeal.  Often the accident isn't the toughest part.  It's dealing with insurance, figuring out about the car and repairs.  Injury claims, hospital bills.  

On Tuesday, my husband dropped the Civic off at the insurance body shop around 10:30.  We had no idea how long this mess would take, so we had been praying asking the Lord to work out all the details and to protect us.

By Tuesday afternoon at 4:30, we received a call.  RIP Civic.  2005-2012.  The car could not be salvaged, because though it appeared minor, the damage was substantial (frame damage).

So, now we had to hunt for a new car.   A good car isn't easy to find.  Well, okay...a good cheap car isn't easy to find. 

Wednesday at 9:30 am, we met at the insurance body repair place and received a check for our car, above and beyond anything we ever expected.  Apparently, it pays to keep the interior of your car in great shape!

We were searching all over for a good deal on a reliable older car that we could pay cash for, everyone's dream right?  Just not always a reality because they are hard to find.

Well, our dreams sometimes are outdone by God's reality.  We could not have ever imagined how the Lord would direct us to a car that wasn't even for sale, and yet...the owners  willingly sold it to us, and for less than Blue Book value and about $600 less that what we settled for with insurance.

Thursday around 5:15, we went and bought the car.  Friday at 8:30 we transferred tags and title.  Added the car to our insurance and got our rate lowered.

Then Friday afternoon, because my sweet husband had been wanting a larger TV for our bedroom, I took  took our oldest to buy one...because the Lord provided above and beyond anything we could have ever imagined.

Saturday, we took our "new" old car on a date.

And here I am....a dork who doesn't pray like I should....totally unworthy of God's blessings, and yet...He is God and He overflows His goodness and grace into my life...just because of WHO He IS!!!

This week was a whirlwind, but it was amazing.  On top of all that, we were able to teach through this with our oldest.  It was a living example of God's protection, provision and faithfulness.  It was a tremendous blessing to be able to use something so real and so "bad" in our sons' eyes...to show him the goodness of our God!!

And, thank you to all of you who read my status on facebook and stopped and prayed.  Thank you to my church family who called, emailed, texted and prayed.  Thank you to my family (be it by marriage, not blood...but stronger because of Christ) for being there to lean on and trust for prayers.  

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."  1 Thes. 5:16-18