Accidents Happen and So Do Angels

Yesterday morning our entire family got into an accident.

A 15-passenger van accident.

We were on our way to school.  The roads were icy.  It was snowing. And because of the weather, traffic was heavier than usual.

We were all listening to a podcast on the Mormon Channel.  So everyone was chilling.  Our six year old daughter had fallen asleep on the very back bench, next to our fourteen year old who was staring at the floor while listening.  Our other children were in La La, too.

And while coming down a slight incline in the snowy, icy road I felt - ever so slight - a tug and pull from the back end. 

Now I have had felt my share of tugs and pulls from this enormous van I drive religiously.  One time, just a couple months ago, also while on the way to school, and also on an icy, cold day, the tug and pull was not so slight and we slid and spun 90 degrees into the oncoming lane of traffic and abruptly stopped at the curb.  We were looking directly into the welcoming arms of a cement wall, blocking an oncoming lane of traffic, but amazingly we hit nothing.  No one was hurt. No doubt we were protected that morning.  We remembered for days the protecting hand of God.

But unlike the HUGE tugs I've experienced, yesterday morning the tug and pull was ever so slight.  But when I felt it, I knew what was coming.  And boy, was I glad that my husband was driving.  He has a much cooler head than I when it comes to stuff like careening completely out of control with your most precious cargo in tow.

About 10 seconds after feeling the pull I heard my husband say, "Hold on!"

My gut was right.  And all I could see was a boulder the size of Volkswagon refusing to move out of our way.  "Phew," I remember thinking, "at least it's not oncoming traffic!" BOOM!

Within seconds, we found ourselves at one with this rock. The under carriage of our van lodged at the top of the boulder.  We looked like a teeter totter, but without the movement. Parts of our van were rolling off down the road.  Our daughter woke up and started crying.  My husband calmly asked, "Is everyone okay? Get the kids out of the van. I'll call your dad."

And the very moment 11 pairs of feet set foot on the snow-packed ground (okay 10, because our baby doesn't walk yet), God had already sent angels.

A man came and found a place for us to be protected from the elements.  A woman who appeared just seconds after the crash, graciously offered her car drove me and six of our children home.  Several others who drove by stopped and asked if they could to take our children to school. And while the tow truck was trying to figure how to extract a van from a boulder, a HUGE forklift truck just happened to come by.  It was the only way our van could become dislodged.

None of us were hurt.  The airbags didn't go off.  We didn't crash into anyone.  And had we hit the boulder in any other way, we would have rolled.

No doubt that God's protecting hand was over our family.

And over all those who were His angels.

Because I believe that when accidents happen, God will send angels.