It's been a year

a year since our motorcycle accident

I've been thinking about this a little bit lately. Did you know that our motorcycle accident happened 4 years exactly (to the DAY) from when we rolled our car off the highway? And i'm overwhelmed:
1. with a huge fear to be on the road on August 15 ever again
2. and most importantly: i'm mostly overwhelmed with gratitude at how good our God is.

Here i am in Utah, watching beautiful sunsets, inhaling dry air, enjoying cool evenings, and surrounded by mountain ranges on 3 sides. Here i am, with scars on both sides of my ankle, but otherwise in one piece - my leg has been restored so i can enjoy all the active things i once did. For some reason, God has a greater interest in preserving my life than taking me to be with him in heaven. This perplexes me - if is love for me is so great - which it is - wouldn't he be fine with either one? wouldn't he rather bring me to him sooner?

Well, honestly, i'm so glad and really really really grateful that he has an interest in preserving my life. I mean, both of those accidents are not accidents that people so easily survive, and Landon and i walked away from both of them, literally (well, i sort of hopped away from the last one). And both times, as the vehicle stopped moving, the adrenalie was pumping, and i realized we were both fine, my first reaction was of praise. God is good. He is always present. I am so grateful.

I've decided that in this next week, i want to introduce you to a blog a day. There are some blogs that i read that greatly move or inspire me, and i want to share them with you. Today, I want to introduce you to Nie.

I started reading Stephanie's blog right after my accident last year. She and her husband were in a devistating plane crash on the very same day as our motorcycle crash. I'm not sure how i found her blog - i don't ever search for blogs to read - i have enough already - but i think that perhaps God gave me hers to encourage me and to call me to pray for her and her family. She and her husband and children were so heavy on my heart and in my prayers during that time that i was healing from our crash. While Stephanie was hospitalized, her sister, Crystal (who is also an incredible blogger and who watched over Nie's children for the months she was hospitalized), would update her blog with posts about Stephanie's recovery. I have been so moved and inspired by Stephanie and by Crystal during this last year. Seeing Stephanie's healing and her family restored reminds me again of God's amazing hand of healing and of restoring. Knowing her story compells me to praise.

Awhile ago i put a "button" on the right hand of my blog with a link to Nie's blog if you want to check it out.