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Counting my blessings

I can't help but count the many blessings in my life today.  

Lots of beautiful, fresh snow blanketed our warm (9 degrees F) Fairbanks morning as I drove to church this morning. I was looking forward to spending my morning in the Christmas spirit as I celebrated the birth of Christ with everyone else at church.  The service was wonderful, and afterwards I quietly slipped out before classes were over to head to the rink.

The snow was still falling as I was driving to the rink for our first "In-house" competition in years and annual Fairbanks Skating Club holiday recital.*  I was looking forward to seeing all of my lovely skaters and watch them perform. They had all worked so hard over the past couple of months, and this was going to be the culmination of all of our efforts. 


It was a simple miscalculation on my part though. I was driving in the right had lane and remembered the lane was ending and  that I would need to merge back into traffic. Seeing as there was another car behind me on my left into the lane I needed to merge into, I put on my brakes.  A simple miscalculation on a road covered in freshly fallen snow on top of ice leads to some swerving...and then if not corrected, which this time it wasn't unfortunately...leads to a collision...into the snow covered median. I guess we all have our firsts. But this is when the counting of my blessings comes into play.

1). No one else was behind me, so it was just a one-car accident.
2). The airbags didn't deploy. I guess I wasn't going fast enough.
3). I wasn't hurt at all.
4). I wasn't nervous to call my husband to tell him because I knew he would be loving and not judgmental. 
5). I was still able to turn my car on and drive the rest of the way to the rink.
6). I didn't get pulled over for not having my lights on as I drove the rest of the way to the rink  (they got busted with the collision).
7). We have two cars
8). Neither my husband or I have to go into work this week.
9). There was no one else involved in the accident. I know I already said this, but I am SO GRATEFUL for this!

This is not how I planned to spend my Sabbath day. But I was shown so much love today by my skaters, my husband, and the Lord. The Lord really does have a hand in our lives every. single. day.  I am grateful for this Christmas week that I can celebrate his birth and his Atonement here on Earth. Without Him and his works, I would be lost. 


I guess that's what I get for leaving church early.... 
:) 

*I normally don't work on Sundays because Sundays are a day of rest from our weekly labors, a day for us to serve others and to worship the Lord. Today I decided to go to the competition our small rink was putting on because if I didn't go, I don't know how the event could have occurred. For a competition we need three judges, and we only have two coaches including myself.  We already had to scramble to get another judge, so my missing this event was just not going to sit well. But I am glad I was able to serve our skating community and watch all of the wonderful skating today.

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