As far as I know, no one has ever changed the rules of the colors of the traffic lights. 

Red means stop, Green means go, Yellow means clear the intersection.

So...Monday, as I approached a traffic signal it was yellow.  I knew it would be red by the time I got to it, and it was, so I STOPPED.

The car behind me also STOPPED.

Now, I'm pretty sure you should wait for the light to turn green before you go again. Right?

We sat there for maybe 10 SECONDS. That's not a very long time. Is it?

Then, for whatever reason, the car behind me decided to GO... 

the light was still RED. 

There was traffic moving along crossing our path at the intersection. The light for them was GREEN.

It's a pretty busy intersection sometimes...this was one of those times.

Where did she think she was going to go? Was it her plan to drive THROUGH my car?  Or maybe push me out of her way?

Whatever her reason, she rear-ended me...because I was STOPPED at a RED light.

The Lord is so AWESOME!!!  I almost always have someone in the car with me.  Some times it's my son, sometimes my husband, sometimes one or more of our grandchildren.

But this time I was alone.  Thank God!

He watches over us each and every day! 

I wasn't hurt, the girl in the other car wasn't hurt.

There was no damage to my car and not much to her car.

It was a pretty good jolt, so she must have stepped on her gas to get going pretty quickly.  (You know how some people really "take off"!  Do they not know they are using more gas and not getting anywhere any faster?!  I guess that's another subject though.)

Let's just say the trailer hitch on my car "branded" her car like a rancher brands his cattle.  ha ha

It was actually pretty funny to see.

Maybe that will be a reminder for her to not be in such a hurry. To pay attention. To be careful.

She did feel badly about the whole thing.  She immediately admitted it was her fault.  She admitted she was in a hurry since she was on her lunch break.

It's nice to see people "own" their mistakes.  She didn't try to make excuses.  I was impressed by that character in her.

I quickly asked her to follow me into the parking lot that was right there, so we could get out of the way of others... "after the light turns GREEN", (The light had turned green, then red again by this time.)

She could have just driven away,  and the thought did cross my mind that she might, but she didn't.

We spoke for a few minutes and went on our way.

I know I would advise my kids to exchange info and make a police report even though everyone seems okay, but I went against my own advise.  I said a quick prayer asking God for wisdom and peace about what to do, and I felt it was okay to just move on.  

I do think it really was an honest mistake. There was no real damage done.

God shows His grace, mercy, and forgiveness to me all the time.

I felt good about being able to do that for someone else. 

I feel it turned a situation around which could have ruined the day for both of us.