I live 45 minutes from IDES so I have a long drive each day. I drive backroads to avoid the traffic. Usually, the only traffic I am concerned with is the deer crossing the road ahead. In March, as I was driving home, I saw nothing ahead, so I looked down to pick up something. I looked back up seconds later, saw a flash of white, then crashed into an SUV that ran the stop sign at the road I was crossing. I spent most of the next month working from home while I recovered from a fractured sternum. Although the ordeal was not pleasant, I quickly realized that I was blessed to have survived the accident. Had I been driving even a few seconds faster, the SUV would have hit me on the driver's side.Witnesses said he had to have been going at least 70 mph. The chance that I would have survived that impact are pretty slim.

Since the accident, I find myself being very reflective. I think about verses like:

Ephesians 5:15,16 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Titus 2:3-5 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

I want to live out those verses. I want my life to count for something. I want to make a difference to those around me. Most of my life I have tried to live that way. But sometimes that can be overwhelming when I try to do too much on my own. Lucy LaMar, one of my coworkers, reminded me that it doesn't have to be. She said not to be "so busy living FOR God that you forget to live WITH God". When I am living WITH God, He helps me do all those things.

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for 1 am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

I want to live my life WITH Jesus. When that happens, my life will make a difference-not because of me, but because of Him. Will you join me?