Lead Me Lord I'll Follow

I am getting to the point where I have less and less optimism about medical school. Last night I prayed for direction. I don't know what else to do to give me that little extra push to get me accepted. It is so frustrating and the thought of having to apply again and go through another year of this makes me sick- literally, my stomach starts to cramp up. Then at about 2 o'clock this morning, I woke up with "Daystar" in my head. I haven't heard that song in forever, and to be honest, I was never really a big fan of it. But the words are perfect and I'm making it my prayer.

"Lead me Lord, I'll follow Anywhere You open up the door.
Let me know Your wisdom. Show me things I've never seen before.
Lord, I want to be Your witness. You can take what's wrong and make it right.
Daystar shine down on me Let Your love shine through me in the night."

That embodies exactly what I need and long for. I want Him to lead me in the direction I'm supposed to be going. I want to know His plan for this part of my life. If I'm not meant to be in school right now, somehow let me know so that I can have peace with it. And through it all, I want to give glory to His name. All that I have accomplished so far, and all that I will accomplish, will be through Him and I want to be a walking billboard for God's glory. So I continue to pray, hoping God will speak to me and give me a glimpse into his plan.

Great News!

This whole ordeal with my car wreck has been such an awesome reminder that God is in control. First, we took some pics of the damage to my car, so here they are.

This is my poor baby :(

A close up of where my door almost got peeled off my car!

This is a pic from the side that shows how the door was bowed out at the top. At least we got a nice little breeze while driving :)

So here's a recap- the day I got a $400 check in the mail for the wreck I was in back in December, I was in another wreck that did the damage pictured above. We tried to file with the other driver's insurance, and they told us he didn't have any. So we were devistated. My husband is a financial adviser, and lately, people aren't willing to invest- we knew we wouldn't be able to afford a car and we didn't know what we were going to do. Our answer- turn to God. Two days later, the insurance company found the other driver in their system, and the claim was filed.

So now you're up-to-date and here's the most recent news. Last Wednesday, we found out the insurance company found their client 100% at fault and I would be receiving a check for the full amount of the damages. Saturday- 1 month and 1 day since the accident- I received a check in the mail for $4089. We went looking for cars for a while, but had no luck. Yesterday was my court date for the ticket I received from the accident- I plead not guilty because the ticket was for crossing a marked no passing zone which I did not do- and I won and the whole thing was dismissed. Since we had already taken the afternoon off, Drew and I decided to go looking for cars. We drove to a small car lot/body shop outside of Sapulpa to look at a Mitshubishi Montero Sport we found online. Once we drove it, we didn't like it at all, it drove really rough. I felt like I was driving through the wilderness or something. He had another car that I liked the looks of, but looked to pricey. I thought, what the heck, we're here I might as well ask. It was a 2003 Isuzu Axiom with 56,000 miles and he was asking $6,900 but would come down to $6,500. (Two things are important here- after looking at many different cars, a 2003 with that low of miles is almost unheard of. Most of them have closer or more than 100,000 miles. Secondly, we were looking for a car around the $5-6,000 range so we wouldn't have to take out a loan.) Unfortunately, the car had a flat tire so we couldn't drive it. He told us if we wanted to come back, he could have it ready in an hour and a half or so. So we went home and did some research on the car. According to the Kelly Blue Book, it was worth $6,900 in excellent condition, $6,500 in good condition, and $5,500 in fair condition. So we printed that off and took it with us to drive the car. We drove it and loved it! It was much nicer than any other car we had looked at for that price. When we got back to his place, Drew was in bargaining mode. He showed him the print off we had, and the guy said he'd come down to $5,500. Then Drew showed him my car and asked if he would give us anything for it- but we wanted to keep the tire because they are almost brand new. Since he also runs a body shop, he said he could fix it and sell it for a pretty good price, and he would give us $1,500 for it! I almost hugged him right then and there- we were hoping for around $800-$1,000 but expecting more like $500! So of course we took it- I have a new car! Even more, there was a guy there looking at the car we had driven earlier, but when he heard what we were doing, he said he would buy mine for the $1,500 and pay the guy to fix it up- so everyone won! And, we still might get $700 more from the insurance company for renting a car for the past month. I truly believe that God orchestrated every single aspect of this whole ordeal. We have not had to spend a single dime, I got a newer nicer car than I had, and we could end up as much as $1,100 on top. Here's a pic of the new car!

We absolutely love it! And on top of everything else, this whole situation has really opened up Drew and mine's communication about God. We went to church and we both prayed, but we never really talked about God in our daily lives until all this. I cannot say I have enjoyed this whole thing- most of the time it has been a real pain- but, in the end, God proved himself once again and everything has worked out for the better.

Court Date

Today is my court date to fight the ticket I got from my wreck. I'm really nervous because even though we have a lawyer, I'm not sure she is really on my side. When I was trying to talk to her the first time, I said "There is no evidence to support the ticket, and aren't you supposed to be innocent until PROVEN guilty?" She said no and just went on asking me questions. So I'm trying to be confident, because God has definately had control over this entire situatioin thus far, but my nerves are starting to creep in. Wish me luck!

Praise God!

I talked to the insurance company, and they are paying for my car! They said I should have a check for the price of the damages in 7-10 business days! And even better, the check will be in my name, so Drew and I can choose if we want to get it fixed or use the money to get another vehicle. This is such a blessing, and it comes in perfect time. Last night, Drew and I were going over our finances and it didn't seem likely that we would be able to pay for a car right now. Since Drew is a financial advisor, things are not exactly in our favor right now, with the economy and all. But we decided to give it to God, realizing it's out of our control. Then today I find out they are paying for my car, and I found a car online that we may be able to pay cash for- meaning we wouldn't have an additional payment!

God is good!

Still Waiting...

It will be a month on Friday since my wreck, and here's what I know- nothing. Last week, the other guy's insurance company asked me to take my car to a certain body shop to get an estimate, and they will decide from there if they are going to make me an offer. I don't really understand that, are they wanting to see how much it costs first before they say yes or no? That doesn't really seem right.

The first place we took my car to said it had $4600 in damages and was $50 short of being totalled. The second place said $3800 in damages and 85% totalled. The place that the insurance company wanted to use said $4000 in damages and 95% totalled. I'm not really sure what all that means, but hopefully it's a good thing?

So basically, I'm just still waiting. That's the story of my life.

One Week Later...

Well, here's an update on the car situation. I was filling out the paperwork Monday afternoon saying I was hit by an uninsured driver and the result would be the other guy's license being suspended. I called the company he said he was insured through one more time just to double check, and they found him- he has insurance! So I filed a claim and now we just wait and see. Since we both got tickets, it is possible for the insurance companies to say the wreck was 50/50 so that neither of them have to pay anything. I know our insurance company has denied his claim, and I have no idea when we will hear from his. I asked them yesterday what the time line was, and they said they haven't been able to get a hold of their client (the guy who hit me) yet, and they can't do anything until they get his statement. I told them good luck, he doesn't seem to answer or return messages. As far as my car goes, we took it to one body shop that said it was $50 short of being totaled (and that was using some "refurbished" parts) but another said it was 85% damaged and it had to be 95% damaged to consider it totaled. But they both said once they got in there, it would probably be considered totaled. So now I'm driving my dad's truck and praying that his insurance company approves the claim and they pay for my car. We'll see!

A Cursed Friday the 13th

Where to begin? 2 months ago (December 18th to be exact) I was over at Hillcrest for new employee orientation (I had to go through orientation when I transferred). I was in the parking garage and a saw a car that was trying to turn around so I stopped. The lady was backing up, obviously in a hurry because she didn't see me in my bright yellow Nissan Xterra, so I started honking. It was no use, she backed right into me. I got out of the car and she was in a panic. She asked me if she could just give me her information and go on because she was there to see her mother who had a stroke while they were eating lunch with each other. Being the trusting, naive person that I am, I agreed. To make a long story short, she didn't have a driver's license and she was excluded from their auto insurance because of it. After a long, drawn out process of arguing with their insurance company, they agreed to pay for the damage because they were missing one form to officially exclude her as a driver. Finally! We thought the stress was over.

Fast forward to last Friday, the 13th. I had ordered Drew an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins for Valentine's Day. I went to pick it up after work, and on my way home, I was hit by a young guy pulling out of a QT parking lot. I called 911 immediately where I was transferred to the Tulsa Police Dispatcher. I sat there and let the phone ring for so long, that I hung up and called 911 again. (How sad is that? Thank God I wasn't hurt!) They finally answered and 20 minutes later, the officer arrived. As soon as he walked up, he started yelling at me because we hadn't moved our vehicles. FYI- Oklahoma now has a law that if no one is injured, you are supposed to remove your vehicles from the road. I didn't know this, and I actually thought the exact opposite, that you weren't supposed to move anything until the cops get there. So we move into the QT parking lot and each give our statements. The other guy told the officer that he had insurance, but that he didn't have it with him because he had just renewed his tag. So we both got a ticket (mine for crossing into the yellow triangle thing to get into the turn lane, his for exited the parking lot unsafely) and went on our way. Drew and I tried to call and file a claim with his insurance that evening, and they had no one on file by that name, so they said we had to have his policy number. I called him twice Friday night and twice Saturday before he called me back. When I told him what I needed, he put me on hold for 20 minutes before I finally hung up. He hasn't answered any of my called since then. So Drew and I are afraid he was lying about his insurance, and he doesn't have any. Wonderful. Literally, the day I get a check in the mail for the last wreck, I get into another with a presumably uninsured driver. The difference is, this time almost totalled my car. I'm going to get an estimate on my lunch break, then we'll see what our course of action will be.

Much less drastic, but continuing with the Friday the 13th curse- I was late for work that day because my clock reset itself to eastern pacific time and my dog ripped out his toenail and bled everywhere when I went home for lunch. Seriously, I think I might call in sick and stay in bed all day the next Friday the 13th.