It was a quiet evening in June. I was cleaning up after dinner and my husband was getting our baby boy ready for bed. Life. Was. Goooooood. Though if I’m being honest, I’m sure I didn’t necessarily think so since I’ve been known to over-dramatizing things (not that my husband would EVER confirm this preposterous notion).
I digress…
While cleaning, I felt what can only be described as an earthquake. The entire house shook and rattled. My husband ran into the kitchen holding our son, and we met each other with matching looks of horror and perplexity.
Turns out a car drove full speed into our house. Of course…?
We stepped outside and sure enough, there it was. Half a car out on our lawn, the other half suspended in mid-air through a car-shaped hole in our basement.
So here’s what happened:
- The car hanging out of our house actually belonged to our neighbour from across the street
- This neighbour was completely sober
- She meant to back into her own driveway
- She realized she was going forward and meant to slam the breaks
- She slammed the gas pedal even harder instead
- She had recently lost a dear friend to cancer; her mind was preoccupied
- Thankfully, she walked away without a scratch
We had not been living in our home for even a full year when this freak accident took place.
As the damage was assessed and we took inventory of our home, one thing was clear: our lives were spared that day.
For awhile, I was in a state of shock. The thought of what could have been… all the what if’s that run through your head rent-free in the aftermath of any accident… it was scary to think about!
So this is where my head went: Had the accident taken place just a few minutes later, my husband and I would have been sitting on the couch in our usual cozy spots, probably watching the Habs game or a new episode of The Office.
I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious…
– M.G.S.
The car rammed through the outer wall of our basement family room punching a 100 lbs window through the other side. That window then flew across the room, landing on a couch where we usually sit. It’s likely that we would have absorbed the force of that window.
Not to overdramatize (because, y’all know that’s not my vibe), but we truly were minutes away from that reality. Thank God that wasn’t the case.
The entire basement had to be renovated, and the exterior of our house refinished as well due to car-sized damage to brick and siding.
Thank you Lord for home insurance.
We had only JUST moved into our home less than a year before. We were finally out of boxes and had arranged everything exactly how we wanted it to be. So this surprise reno definitely was not what we wanted, not what we’d planned. It wasn’t well timed, nor did it make sense!
A few months later, it really did turn out lovely and we were so happy with the finished work. The insurance was fair in their appraisals, which made our newly-renovated home a true gift.
First Easy Takeaway: there are a lot of places one could park their vehicle. A neighbour’s basement is most certainly not on one of them.
So what’s the point of all this besides a bit of blockbuster entertainment with a side of shock value?
For awhile, I asked God that very questions. What was the point of that?! Sometimes things in life just happen. I don’t believe God is the cause of all of it, but anything we experience is allowed by God. So why did God allow that?
Well, it took a few more years to see the big picture.
In my last blog post, I shared about a big opportunity my husband had to start a new job, in a new town. So when he was offered a pastoring position at Meadow Brook Church, we knew we had to sell our house because we weren’t about to add a 10-hour commute to our daily lives.
And there it was. Our big picture.
Second Easy Takeaway: If you know anything about real estate (of which I possess nearly zero knowledge), you know that unless there are extreme fluctuations in the market, it’s wise to sit on a piece of real estate for awhile before selling for profit. Unless you’re flipping a fixer-upper, it’s not likely that you’ll turn a huge profit if you try selling within only a few years of buying.
God’s Providence
I find this to be increasingly true:
Those who leave everything in God’s hands, will eventually see God’s hand in everything.
I derive a lot, and I mean SO MUCH comfort in seeing God working in the tiny details of my life. In those little things that seem inconsequential… I KNOW He is doing a work for my good, and His glory.
Our freak accident ended up increasing the value of our home significantly. Less than two years later, we made the life-changing decision to move our family 10 hours away for a new ministry opportunity.
We only lived in our first home for three years when all was said and done. But the ripple effects of that woman driving into our house are still felt every single day of my life.
You see, when we finally decided to move to a new town, we couldn’t have known what a sizeable downpayment would mean to us. Compared to Montreal’s market, the market in our town was laughable six years ago (in case you’re unaware, it’s terrifying today).
Because the house we bought cost significantly less than what we sold for, we were able to drop an entire income (I was teaching then) and take on a mortgage that could be supported by one salary.
It was a big priority for us to have a parent home while our children are young, but making that happen in Montreal felt like an impossibility. I love of all these tiny, but wild details God orchestrated to make this dream come true. I’ve been home with our babes ever since!
Ok yes, so I do complain about #momlife a fair bit, but that’s not the point here! Don’t @ me!
Friend, please hear my heart in this: Sometimes it feels like you’re living under a storm cloud. Like you can’t catch a break. You keep facing set backs, breakdowns, meltdowns, and attacks from the devil that just don’t make sense. Like a car driving into your house?
Sometimes God delivers us from our troubles on our timeline. But sometimes He doesn’t. Sometimes He works things out in ways we couldn’t have imagined. Because His ways are not our ways! And as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are His ways higher than ours. (Isaiah 55:9)
What’s really really really cool, is CHOOSING to leave those things in His hands, and then seeing His hand work out all the details… in His time. FOR. HIS. GLORY!
So rather than staring at half a car hanging out your basement and thinking, am I cursed?
Ask instead, God, what are you working out in all this?! He will NOT disappoint. He is faithful and true and He’s always for your good.
From The Overflow 