Positives out of negatives

Page 286 of this book has
my chapter, "A Message at Stake."

Eighteen years ago today (October 11) my family was almost killed by a drinking driver. By coincidence, but also appropriately, this week I received my author copies of the newest "Chicken Soup for the Soul" anthology, subtitled "Think Possible."  My piece, one of 101 in the book, tells how Proverbs 3:25-26 helped me decide to bring positives out of this negative experience by speaking to convicted DUI offenders, urging them to drive sober from now on.

There's a detail in my story you may find fun, about a hidden blue plastic "it's a boy" plant stake I noticed in the potted chrysanthemum that somebody brought to express their concern and care. I was 50 years old the year of the accident, with no plans to enlarge the family.

Instead, the son who received the most injuries that night, enlarged the family. From his marriage came two delightful little grandsons, now  nine months and two years. We had lunch with them today, and as I fed the baby his pureed food (I think it was carrots) he lifted his arms and said "mmm, mmm, mmm" all the way through.

Life doesn't always offer us "mmm-good" experiences. The wreck was traumatic and frustrating. But we lived, by the grace of God, who can lead us to redeem our pain.

During my writing career I have contributed to about two dozen books. This is my fifth time in the best-selling Chicken Soup anthologies since 2006.  Other titles I'm in are those for "Chicken Soup 2," "New Mom's Soul," "Caregiver's Soul" and "Here Comes the Bride."  The book uses writers from a broad spectrum of belief systems, but I'm grateful that I can represent Christ through this avenue. My message is not about a "positive attitude," per se, as much as trusting God to bring good out of difficult circumstances. Or as the scripture I cited in my essay says (it's also one that I have marked "Oct. 11, 1997" in the margin of my Bible):
Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
For the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.

Framed faith

We call it our “Faith Box,” the 7x12-inch glass-fronted display case that hangs above the piano. It’s full now of tiny things that remind us of faith-stretching times of our lives.

A small bag of broken auto glass from our wrecked family car (bottom row, second from right) represents the October night in 1997 when we came within inches of a head-on, fatal crash caused by a speeding, drinking driver. Instead, he “T-boned” us, destroying our car and leaving us injured but alive. A few years later the nightmare became my call to action. I began speaking to convicted drunk drivers.

By their body language, most reveal their disgust for being required as part of their sentencing to attend this non-profit “educational panel” featuring drunk driver victims. Yet afterwards, some come up and thank me graciously for telling our story and those of friends, like our former neighbor and babysitter, Angela. She had grown up to be an excellent violinist and music teacher. A wrong-way drunk driver near Albany, Ore., killed her at 31. She became one of an estimated 15,000 a year killed by alcohol- or drug-impaired drivers.

Other tokens in our box don’t have such sobering connections. A tiny paper scroll labeled “mortgage” represents the joyful day we paid off our home loan early. Another paper simply said “Mammo—Psalm 90” for the Bible passage that carried me through uncertainty with a cancer biopsy. A single wrapped Lifesaver ® candy represents my husband surviving a river-tubing accident-- a story our children had not heard until we assembled the Faith Box. One holds a little acorn pin, given my husband one year for an “Outstanding Teacher” award. Tiny books represent the profound privilege I’ve had to write published books. Even my daughter added to the Faith Box, slipping in a note about how money came for her to participate in a junior high class field trip to Washington, D.C.

Some friends inspired our “Faith Box” after telling how they framed the first dollar they earned after working off a large debt. Later, in reading Joshua 4, I read of how the Israelites, while miraculously crossing the river bed of the halted Jordan into Canaan, gathered river stones and restacked them as a “faith memorial” for future generations. Gathering our own tokens of faith-events, we created our current box.

It’s good to remember milestones, just as long as we don’t get stuck in the memories. That’s why I embrace this principle: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I [God] am doing a new thing!” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

God is still in the business of offering fresh starts. After an auto wreck…or a personal or business wreck. I’m a different person because of these faith-moments, and that’s a good thing.