In October 2020, a week or so after I moved to Boise, I got in a car accident.
In July 2020, the Lord one day took me to a dealer a ways out of my way (Max Motors in Belton, MO). On the way, the Lord gave me an idea of what I was looking for: a blue 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. When I got there and started looking at it, the Lord started talking to me about what I was supposed to pay for it. It was listed for $21,000. The Lord told me that I needed at least $6,000 for my trade and that the out-the-door price wasn’t supposed to be over $18,500. If you know the 2020 car market, you know that what the Lord had laid out would be a miracle.
Lo and behold, through the Lord’s leading and the strategies for negotiation from the book Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, the dealer finally agreed to the terms. A MIRACLE!
I got nervous because that would have been the biggest purchase I had done up to that point, and I had just paid off my car. I asked them to hold the offer for me till the end of the day (which they were not happy about), and I proceeded to my grandmother’s house, where I was living during that season.
I wanted to talk it through and wanted to make sure it was the right thing to do, but I should have trusted the obvious miracle that the Lord had already done.
When I got to my grandmother’s house, she quickly talked me out of it. She encouraged no more debt and said that the car I was driving was great. In her defense, her logic was sound, but it was not advice led by the Holy Spirit. I should have followed where the Lord was clearly leading, but I let outside counsel override the Lord’s will.
Back to the accident in Boise. I was on my way from church at Capital Church in Meridian to my home in Boise.
I was unfamiliar with the traffic lights at this particular intersection. I moved forward even though the light was for the turning lane to my left. I stopped midway through the intersection, but when the other side’s turning lane saw what I did and waved me on, I proceeded. The car behind them didn’t see what was happening and went through the intersection, and I hit the back quarter panel of their SUV. No one was seriously hurt. It totaled my car.
A few days later as I was shopping for a replacement vehicle, the Lord spoke to me: “If you would have bought the car that I planned for you to be in, the emergency collision avoidance system would have prevented the accident.”
I had liability-only insurance, so I needed to take out a loan anyway to replace it. I spent about $11,000 on a 2014 Civic. Because I didn’t listen to the Lord’s leading a few months prior, I ended up in a much larger financial pickle than if I would have just trusted Him with the purchase of that Subaru.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
Have you ever let good advice talk you out of something the Lord was clearly leading you into? What happened?
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