March Madness...

That phrase has a whole different meaning for us now! March has been a pretty insane month of some big trials for the King household.

Early Tuesday morning on March 8th I (Brittany) was driving along on the freeway to swing by Autoliv to drop off Tyler's work pager to him. There had been a bad snow storm the day before, but this morning was clear and sunny and traffic was moving smoothly at normal speed. As I moved to the far left lane I noticed an accident up ahead, and just as I thought I would move over to avoid the cars pulled over ahead I hit black ice and lost control of the car. It was total slow motion after that. I was terrified and knew there was nothing I could do to stop at this point. I was sliding so quickly towards the other cars, and all I could think (since I had never been in any kind of accident before) was "I'M GOING TO DIE!"

Before I knew it I was slamming in to the first car, the air bag exploded, and then I felt another jolt as I hit the next car. I screamed for what felt like forever. The hot air and dust from the air bag felt like it was choking me and I couldn't get my door open for fresh air. The highway patrolman finally got to my car to check on me. He had to yell at me to get me to snap out of my panicked screaming. He asked me if I was okay. I looked around I checked my face, arms, chest, legs.
Amazingly, I did feel okay.

When the paramedics arrived to check on us they opened my passenger door to help me out. Until now I hadn't noticed that my passenger seat was totally broken, but the EMT was lifting off salt bags that were piled on it. He asked me, "Were these here before?" I explained to him that they weren't, but they had been piled in the back of my car to weigh it down during the winter. His eyes bugged out, and I didn't understand what the big deal was. He explained how it didn't make any sense how these salt bags slid into my right, front passenger seat while my car was sliding to the left side and slamming in to the other cars at 75 mph. If even one of those bags had hit the back of my seat my back would have been broken. If one had hit me in the head, I would be dead. Immediately I was saying a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for sending an angel to be with me that morning.

I walked away with a lot of bruises and pain, but nothing broken. Unfortunately my cute little car that I hadn't even had a year yet was a goner.

But you know what they say, "Bad things happen in threes."

The next week Tyler was stopped in a parking lot and an old lady back in to his bumper. We were annoyed but laughed. It was so ridiculous that this would happen now! But she paid to have Ty's bumper fixed up and he got to drive around this totally sweet 2011 Dodge Truck for a few days. No big deal.

Tyler got his car back and it looked brand new. Not even 3 days later Tyler was stopped in a line of cars at a stop light coming to pick me up after work. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw a car coming up behind him. He thought as he looked back that the car was going too fast. He knew the car was not stopping. Sure enough this girl slammed in to Tyler, Tyler slammed in to the next car, and that car pushed in to the next car. Total Mess! Thankfully, Tyler was also being watched over and walked away with only bruises and a busted knuckle. But his car was also deemed totaled.

This month has been quite a trial. I felt so hopeless. I found myself feeling so frustrated and angry. I sat down one night and just cried, thinking "How can this all really be happening?" We got married in the temple, we pay our tithing, we go to church and read our scriptures and we try our best to live so righteously. Why was this all happening? What had we done wrong to be so punished? I opened my scriptures and looked up versus on Trials. As I read I began to feel the love of the Lord. I realized that we were not being punished for anything. This life here on earth is a test. Will we stay faithful through life's ups and downs? Will we stay close to the Lord when things get hard? Will we endure to the end? I knew then that my answer to these questions would be "YES!"
I wouldn't let this shake my faith.

These scriptures from Ether 12 really uplifted me!

v6. I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

v12. For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them.

And we have seen miracles! Through our trials this month we have been blessed with amazing friends and family that have been angels in our time of need. The Lord has truly blessed us. We are so grateful!