Everything Happens for a Reason

While driving to Ohio on Friday there was a sign that told of a McDonalds at the next exit. It was lunch time, my kids were starving and the van could use a fill up so I decided to stop for lunch and gas. I get off the exit and notice there is an arrow pointing to the right underneath the McDonalds logo. I didnt notice the 6 centimeter words underneath that which read (what I am assuming was) 5 miles!!!

Yup, I missed that little bit of information and wouldn't you know there was no where to turn around. We were driving down a road with a median and McDonalds was no where in sight. I kept driving until I saw another sign that said "McDonalds Straight Ahead." At this point I figured I might as well keep going.

We finally made it there after going through two more traffic lights and I was really agitated. I mean, seriously, what possessed them to advertise a McDonalds at the exit when it wasn't really at the exit. I had to drive 10 miles out of the way just to get McDonalds and then there was a huge line of traffic blocking the gas station so I decided to wait a while on that. All I could think was, "I have to write a blog about the insanity of this."

That was until I reached a traffic jam... you are probably thinking, why did that change her mind??? Well, I will tell you.

It didn't take long to get traffic moving along again, maybe 15 minutes or so. And honestly, at the time I didn't put two and two together. I thought my luck was just being really crappy for the day. Afterall, I was the idiot that wanted to drive 12 hours with 5 kids from warm and sunny Georgia to cold and snowy Ohio.

I later realized though that everything happens for a reason. There was an accident on the expressway, that was the hold up. Had I not had to drive 10 miles out of my way and stop at another gas station further up the highway then I very well could have been in that accident.

It is not always apparent to see in the moment but we always have to remember there is a plan. It may seem pretty crappy at times and it may not be the plan you were hoping for but everything happens for a reason.

A similar thing happened to me just the other night. I went out to dinner with my sister and my kids. Our server sucked, to say the least, and we had to wait a really long time for them to make more soup. I still tipped him more than 10% because my kids did make a decent sized mess on the floor though. Anyways, on my way home I got stopped in traffic yet again. I seriously sat at a stand still for 45 minutes. I only knew there was an accident because I could see about 4 or 5 sets of flashing lights and a tow truck went zooming past me in the breakdown lane.

Do you see where I am going with this story??? Had we not had crappy service I could have been driving with my five kids at the time of the accident. I could have been in that accident and I am so greatful that it took me an hour to drive just a few miles rather than to have something happen to me or one of my children in a car accident.