So, today I literally had one of those “life flashing before my eyes” moments.  Okay, maybe it wasn’t that serious but it was close.

I was leaving the gym and headed for home, Kinsley was in the backseat, it was drizzling outside and had been most of the morning, and I pulled up a red light.  I was looking down in my lap doing something, which obviously wasn’t important considering what happened next, because I don’t even remember what I was doing.  There was only one car in front of me and I was sitting in the inside lane of traffic.  There was a turn lane to my left, a median, and then two more lanes of traffic going the opposite direction.

I hear the sound of screeching tires on wet pavement and I look up and to my left just in time to see a Chevy truck (not a small truck, mind you) spinning uncontrollably toward me and rocks spinning toward the van.  He spun around once, his back tires went up on the median, and I just knew he was going to hit me.  But he didn’t!!  When he hit the median, the truck toppled a little and then landed flat, facing the wrong way in the street.  If I had been in the turn lane, he would have hit me.  Believe me, there is nothing scarier than seeing a truck spinning out of control toward you and having nowhere to go.  The truck was not damaged, did not hit anyone, and just turned around and took off.  I literally started shaking and crying in the car, thanking God for sparing us.  Then it hit me that I had prayed not even 20 minutes earlier while exercising in the gym that the Lord would place his angels around our cars and keep us safe as we travel.  God is good and faithful and our prayers do make a difference!

We are reading a book in our Bible Fellowship Group at church called “A Praying Life” by Paul Miller.  I think through reading this book, I have been challenged to pray more than I ever have before and just to be real with God as I pray.  I also have been more aware than ever of how God is answering those prayers.  This is seriously one of the best books on prayer I have ever read.  Let me give you a few quotes that have impacted me:

“I am starting to see there is a difference between ‘saying prayers’ and honest praying.  Both can sound the same on the outside, but the former it too often motivated by a sense of obligation and guilt; whereas the latter is motivated by a conviction that I am completely helpless to ‘do life’ on my own.”

“Learning to pray doesn’t offer you a less busy life; it offers you a less busy heart.”

Needless to say, its great and has challenged me in so many ways.  Here are a few more updates about things going on in our lives:

-We found out that our appraisal here in Kentucky was wrong on some things.  Rather than go through the appeal process and push back the closing date, we negotiated a lower price and called it a done deal.

-We have a BIG outreach coming up at University of the Cumberlands.  We are bringing in the Maze, an illusionist who questions what is true and how students may be being deceived, and shares the Gospel through this.  They have not had anything like this before, so please pray that the room is filled and overflowing, and that it leads to many great spiritual conversations that ultimately end in people coming to know the Lord personally.

-We have been packing, packing, and packing some more.  Thanks to our neighbors and those FREE boxes the Lord led us to on the side of the road, we have not had to buy any boxes yet!!

Thanks for praying and know that we are praying for you too!