Dude, Where's My Car?!

So. My car got stolen last weekend. Or maybe it just up and drove itself away.  Either way, I walked out to go to the store with my friend Krystal (she and her daughter were over visiting!) and I had the weird and heart-sinking moment of "umm...where's my car?" I thought that surely, I was just being a tired mom and was having trouble seeing correctly.  Or maybe, in a moment of "Sarah's lost in her own world again" I had parked the car in a different spot.  Neeeeeoooo.  Not so much.  There were three cars in the lot and none of them were mine.  Long story short, someone had to have hot wired my car and drove off.  I really wish that I could have been there to watch him/her get in the car without keys.  And I really wish I could have been in the thief's head when he thought it'd be a great idea to choose the car with all the baby paraphernalia in it.  Or, when the car turned on, was he sufficiently awakened by the old school "Creed" CD...

 that was left on a very loud volume in my cd player?  Ohhhh, maybe he pulled a shawn/gus and screamed like a girl.  Maybe it was a girl.  But I digress.....

ANYWAY.

All this to say, I can honestly say that I am glad my car was taken. Thankful, even.  And...I don't think it's because I am crazy (other things I say might indicate that I am, but...we won't go there right now).  I am thankful because I believe in a sovereign God who allows all things for His good and perfect plan.  He is a God who wants our good.  He is a God who answers prayer. He is a God who works mysteriously.  He has a sense of humor, yes, yes He does.  He likes to do more even than we ask of Him for His glory. 

SO.  Will I know why our car got stolen?  Maybe.  Maybe not!  Will I be able to see what the Lord was doing in the end?  Possibly.  I do know that I prayed for Joshua's protection at work that day (he has to be careful lifting with his back injury).  I also know that nothing except an emergency would have prompted him to find coverage and come home from work (he's a hard worker, dat man o'mine!), and when he did come home to be with me that night (ok, I was a little creeped out) his back was actually hurting.  We woke up the next morning to find out it had been a busy night at his work.  Maybe, God was protecting him from blowing his back out again with a bad lift! 
I could go on and on with all the "maybes" about why God allowed this to happen but I don't need to "figure it out" to be able to trust and thank Him. 

In the event already, I have a list of praises:
-I wasn't alone when I found my car missing...my friend Krystal had a hard morning with her little one (God's providence?) and wanted to come visit me.  I happily invited her over as I was also having a hard morning with my little one.  Krystal was a great support and helped keep my mind in a good place.
(this is a pic of our little ones helping each other out of their hard day)

-We lost the infant car seat that was in the back seat...a borrowed carseat.  However, weeks earlier, said carseat was damaged on the plane ride to my family's and so they gave us information to get a voucher to replace it.  This is awesome b/c our renter's insurance won't cover the carseat!
-The jogging stroller that was in the trunk of the car was also a sad loss...but...a sweet couple from our church offered us theirs as they don't use it anymore.  inCREDIBLY generous of them!...
-My car was in need of new struts and tires and we hadn't been able to replace them yet ....now we're glad we didn't replace them!
-Free rental car with insurance for 30 days! (I'll try to ignore the fact that it's a chevy) ;)

The above praises are mostly material praises...I also am thankful for this event because it has brought Joshua and I together in prayer and praise for what we have been given.  For the amazing blessings the Lord gives us every day. The fact that we are breathing and wake up each morning is a blessing. The oldschool song that has the phrase "you give and take away...but still my heart will say 'blessed be the name of the Lord!'" has been in my head this week.  I really don't enjoy the corny sounding tune, but those lyrics ring true to me.   There is nothing that we have that is good, that isn't from the Lord.  We cannot or should not hold tightly to what we "have" because it isn't ours.  So...

I thank the Lord for little Mariusz (Polish name for Mario...yes...I named my car after it's salesman) that I have been blessed to drive for 6 years.  I thank him that He is working in our lives, our hearts through this.  I thank him for how he's already taken care of us and I am SO excited to see how he continues to provide for our needs! 

Psalm 121:7-8 "The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."