We all have struggles, sometimes things happen that we just don't understand why God would allow them to happen. As Romans 8:28 tells us And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Sometimes you need to open your heart, mind and eyes to see the blessings that God bestows on us because they don't always come at the best of times, but if you don't look for the good in even in the worst situations, you can miss so much.

I had been praying and doing everything I could to get my brother to turn around his life. It had been a few months since the trouble began, he told me he had gone too far, and God could never forgive him. I prayed with him that night and begin praying diligently for God would lead him back to him and to give me guidance as to what to do.

He had been much better, he seemed to have turned around but he reverted back one night and I remember praying through my tears for God to somehow show him his power because I knew that he needed proof that God was in control. It was that night that I really gave him over completely to God. Though I know that God used me to help him, I tried to do more than what God had planned for me to do.

It started out as a normal Saturday. I took my brother to his guitar lesson as usual but after his lesson is when everything changed. When he came out he put his guitar in the back seat and we took off for the house as we usually did. That day though, there was more traffic than normal and it was backed up several blocks from someone trying to turn. I didn't think much about it, this was fairly normal but what wasn't normal was the guy that took his eyes off the road for just a couple of seconds. I remember hearing the screeching tires. We had been sitting there for a minute, it never occurred to me that he was actually going to hit me! As I looked in my rear view mirror, the split second before he hit, I remember saying Lord don't let me hit the car in front of me and somehow I didn't. As he hit me at 35-40, my foot went all the way to the floor on the brake and my car didn't budge. Everything was tossed around the car, I had to hunt for my insurance card but Everyone was ok, no injuries which was the first blessing.

When we got home, and began to look at the car, we realized exactly how lucky we really were. The seats were stuck back farther than they were suppose to be and the trunk was really messed up. On the outside it just looks like a little damage to the bumper. That day my brother realized that God had been with us and kept us safe, that was the second blessing. He also noticed that the guy that hit us was praying, I think it was the first time he had seen someone praying outside of Church besides me and it really made him realize that people really do pray, that was the third blessing.

Now we get to the answer to my prayer. When he put his guitar in the back seat, this was not normal, he always put it in the trunk, if it had been in the trunk, it would have been badly damaged. He couldn't tell me why he had done it either. It showed him that God does guide us even when we are not aware of it. The second thing is everything in the car went flying. There was nothing sitting where it had before, except for his guitar. His guitar didn't even budge. When he realized that, his mouth dropped open and he didn't know what to say. When I asked him what he had done for God to deserve such blessings, he didn't know. I know that God loves him and he knew how important the guitar was to him. He saw Gods power that day and it will be forever engraved in his mind.

I laugh now as I look back and remember thinking "God it is going to have to be really big for him to know it is from you!" Well God did answer my prayer in a big way, I just wish he had not wrecked my car in the process

I thank God that we came through the wreck safely but I thank him for the wreck, for the "really big" way he showed us his power. I do pray that the guy that hit me, that his prayer was answered that day. I pray that God has blessed him too for he will never know how that wreck changed our lives for the good.

So next time things seem to just keep going wrong, remember to step back and look with your heart for the blessings. Never give up on God, he hears your prayers, when things seem to go from bad to worse, remember to look for the blessings. It would have been so easy to overlook this answered prayer, if I had not already looked at it as a blessing, I would not have been looking for the good and completely overlooked something that has changed my families lives forever.

My God is an Awesome God and I know he protects me and answers my prayers.

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