Total Loss

I rolled to my side and tried to wiggle myself back into sleep, something gnawing at my mind. Had I imagined Matt standing by the window? Glancing towards the clock and catching the digital glow of 12:47, I pulled the covers up over my shoulder and under my chin.

Matt hadn't been imaginary, and he spoke, peering through the blinds, as slurred in speech as I was in mind, "Our truck isn't in front of our house. Someone else's car is."

"Do you need me?" I asked, leaving no room for an affirmative answer.

We'd only been in bed for a half an hour, and something had woken me from that sweet, deep sleep that is hard for a mother to shake. After he'd left the bedroom, headed outside, I let his words sink in:

Our truck isn't in front of our house.

Someone else's car is.

Pulling on a pair of pants, I walked out onto the front porch, locking the deadbolt behind me. Our neighbor was in the street talking to Matt, and a Mercedes was in front of our house, facing the wrong direction, where our truck should have been parked.

My mind foggy with unfamiliarity, I left the porch and looked down the street. Our truck was in a different neighbors' front yard, smashed, sixty feet from where it had been before when we fell to sleep.

Now having watched the security footage and heard the neighbor's account, here's the way the story goes:

• At 12:31 a.m. on Monday morning, a Mercedes plowed into our truck, which was parked on the street in front of our home. The driver and his passenger, climbed out of their car, ignored my neighbor's pleas to stay until the police arrived, and ran off down the road.

• The police ran the plates and found that the owner of the Mercedes lives just a couple of blocks down in the direction that the Mercedes had been headed, which is also the direction that the driver and passenger went when they left the scene.

• The next day the owner reported the car as stolen.

We're still in the process of working with the police, the security footage, the owner's insurance, our insurance, and the neighbors to insist that someone else take responsibility of our truck being totaled, but as this unideal situation has unfolded, here's what I KNOW:

As we lost precious hours of sleep emptying Matt's truck to prepare for the tow truck, my mind wandered over the laws that had been broken: Speeding, fleeing the scene, likely driving under the influence... When the Bible lists out the Fruits of the Spirit at the end of Galatians 5 it concludes with, "Against such, there is no law!" If we let the Holy Spirit, God, control our lives, we'll find how life works best, and there's no law against kindness and self-control. I am as guilty of breaking God's law as the man who totaled our truck. We are both sinful messes left to ourselves, but God extends something better to both of us, to everyone. He extends forgiveness and life-changing love.

Romans 5:3-5 says, "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."

I was full of questions following the accident. I know that all things work together for good, and I know that we have been obedient to what God has asked us to do, and I know that He gives good and perfect gifts, so why was our truck smashed into our neighbor's front yard? I found myself curious, not angry.

Our church is about to start putting together Bibles and sending them around the world, and we're excitedly committing our finances to getting God's Word out, but now we're going to have to spend thousands of dollars to replace a truck that didn't need to be replaced??

I was calm about it all, but I didn't understand.

Then, on Thursday, I got the mail. An envelope from Optima (or was it Anthem?) almost made it to the recycle pile (we haven't had them for insurance for years), but I ripped my pointer finger through the top of the envelope and scanned the top sheet. "..... our mistake.... $1,900.00... enclosed check..."

If you called, or texted, or saw me on Thursday, you've already heard this story. I couldn't shut up about it. God wrote us a $1,900.00 check following our accident, when I thought we may have to pay some out of pocket to replace our business truck.

Do we know everything He's doing through the accident? No, I'm sure we don't.

But, He is faithful... good... kind... worthy of all of our praise.

Glorying in tribulations,
Amanda