Blessings amid affliction

I apologize for not posting since forever! School has been difficult and demanding, and now that school is out, I can finally take a breath and update my blog.

I have been meaning to update about all of the wedding planning, the obstacles I've endured in applying for dental school, how I managed to make a 4.0 this semester, my dieting & weight loss involved in fitting in my wedding dress, etc., but right now I need to blog about the scary experience from last night.



I left for Houston after church on Sunday to coordinate wedding things with family, and also to get to hang out with them one last time as an unmarried woman. It was a great few days to relax and plan. I started my journey back to Baton Rouge yesterday at 7pm so I could get back and be well rested enough to go to my good friend Kharis Veazey's Bridesmaid Luncheon this afternoon.

The drive was going great! I was making good time, I wasn't tired, I didn't need to stop or anything. However, there was an area where I didn't know the speed limit, so I just decided to follow someone who was going 80 in the leftmost lane. I passed signs for Vidor, then...I see red and blue flashing lights behind me! Yikes!! I was getting pulled over for speeding for the first time ever!!! I made my way to the rightmost lane and was slowing down when suddenly...the lane ended. My car took a dip into the overgrown grass and the underside of the front of my car took a hit on the edge of the concrete. Immediately the oil light came on and I could smell transmission fluid.

I got back onto the shoulder of the road, and the officer came up to my window and told me to shut off the car, which I did. He asked me why I was speeding, yadda ya, and I sort of mustered out that I was just following traffic. I was so jolted. I guess I looked alone and helpless enough that he decided not to write me a ticket, just a warning (blessing!). He called a wrecker service while I called my dad and told him what happened. Luckily my dad knows someone in our church who is from Vidor, so he gave him a call and arranged a home for me to stay at for the night (blessing!). The tower came within minutes, and he told me it would be a courteousy tow. Again, I probably looked alone and helpless enough for him to not charge me for towing (blessing!). Also, the family I was staying with knows a mechanic in the local congregation, so the car was delivered to the home of a sweet older couple who are now doing all they can for my car (blessing!). My dad's friend's sister came to pick me up and take me to their home. My phone, which was on the verge of running out of battery throughout the entire process of making phone calls and coordinating things, also didn't die until I was safe in a comfy bed last night (blessing!)

So now I am in the Crowly home. They are so hospitable and accommodating. I am so thankful that this experience is not what it could have been--the cop writing me up for speeding (and also for my license plate lights being out! didn't know that!), the tower charging me for a tow (could have been $125), my car being taken to an expensive mechanic (beaucoup dollars and beaucoup cents), and me staying at a hotel. Not to mention how I'd ever find my way around in a strange city.

I am so extremely blessed and well taken care of. I received a lot of comfort from the scriptures as I lay in the big comfortable bed that was provided for me last night. I read in 1 Nephi 17:1-2, which says:

1. And it came to pass that we did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth. And we did travel and ^awade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our ^bwomen did bear children in the wilderness.
2. And so great were the ^ablessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon ^braw ^cmeat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings.

How great are the blessings of the Lord! Nephi and his family, though struggling with their trials in the wilderness, still recognized their blessings and thanked the Lord for what He had provided them. I am blessed.