One of my close friends has a cross hanging from her rear view mirror in her car. I have never been one to have anything hanging in my view of driving but I thought her cross was pretty neat. I have a small little cross necklace that I have never worn so I retrieved it from my jewelry collection and wrapped the chain around my rear view mirror so it would not hang so low and I was pleased with my tiny cross hanging just below my mirror. I took the time to do this right before I made my trip to TN the weekend before Christmas to attend my niece’s college graduation. Little did I know.
My husband was suppose to make the trip with me but he came down with a nasty chest cold so I took my car and drove the trip alone. I stopped to have it serviced before I left town and the service tech showed me that one of my tires was going flat and they found a nail in the tire and fixed it! That would have not been fun having a flat on the interstate!
The trip from home was solid hard rain that turned into snow once I got into TN and the roads were quickly covered in snow and ice. I was doing pretty well driving carefully remembering everything my Dad had taught me about driving on snow and ice until I came to a dead stand still on Interstate 81. I’m talking a turn the car off not moving at all standstill. After about 2 hours of this I became concerned and a little anxious with some frustration building up. I had not eaten much that day and fortunately did have some water in the car. Drinking water means having to eventually empty the bladder and I ended up doing that right on the interstate along with everyone else stuck on the road with me! (It pays to always keep some napkins in your car!) I was relieved when we finally started moving again, making calls to my hubby and to my sister informing them both that I was on my way now and should be there in a while. That turned out to be short lived when we came to another dead stop and ended up turning my engine off once again so as not to use up my gas. I was surrounded by tractor trailer trucks, families traveling with little kids and dogs and eventually everyone was getting out of their cars walking the kids and the dogs, making snowmen and having snowball fights. Once again, a few hours later we were moving! I made the phone calls again and announced that we were finally moving and I was on my way!
Well, that lasted a whole 4 or 5 mins. til it was another dead stand still. I’m sure I was not alone in feeling exasperated by this time! My car was once again turned off and my lights out as I was getting anxiously weary of this whole ordeal.Then the car behind me as it was turning off their lights hit the brights and lit up my little cross on my mirror. Suddenly a peace overwhelmed me and my anxiety went away. I knew I was not alone in my car and that it may take awhile but I would eventually get to my destination and get there safely. I was being looked after and protected by my Father in heaven and remembered all the verses in His Word that assured me of that protection. After all He had already taken care of my tire!
I had a blanket, my winter coat, a sweater and an extra pair of thick socks I had thrown in the car. So I wrapped up good and warm, got the flashlight from my glove compartment and read a book I had in the car for awhile, interestingly titled ” What Southern Women Know About Faith”
. I took a nap, prayed for everybody I know, texted my niece, Sabrina, who was also just sitting on another interstate not far from home and updating my hubby and sis. I told them all that this would pass and eventually me and Sabrina would make it to our destination safely.
We started moving again and I knew I was not far from my exit when my sister called and told me Sabrina had made it home safe but my exit was closed and she could see the traffic on my interstate totally stopped, well duh! So she told me to get off 2 exits before that one. When I could see that my exit was only 1 and a half miles up the road I got very excited and then…we stopped dead still again! ARGH!! So close! I called once again and told her of my saga. My poor sister was agonizing over the fact that she was in a nice warm home with a fire going and hot food waiting for me and she felt so helpless!
We started moving in the left lane while the right lane was motionless. I was afraid I would miss the exit so when I got a chance I squeezed into the right lane at an angle between a tractor trailer and a truck that were sitting still. The left lane was still moving and we were not but there was an opening to my right that I thought I could slip through to get to my exit that was so close! I got out of the car to check it out only to find out there were tractor trailers blocking the whole path! I was stuck “between a rock and a hard place”! When I looked down the road where the cars were moving I noticed a couple of vehicles jumped into the right lane and got off the interstate. I’m that close to my exit!! I called my sister and told her my situation and said “just pray!” We hung up and I started looking behind me thinking these cars that are moving are not going to stop just to let me back my car out and get back in that moving lane, not with the frustrations levels being so high and they are moving! All of a sudden a tractor trailer was having trouble getting up the incline and there was an opening!!!! I immediately backed out into the left lane and in an instant I ducked in front of a sitting truck and was on the exit ramp!!!!!!!!! I started screaming “did You just do that God?!!!!!! You got me out of that mess just like that?!!!!!!”
I called my sister squealing on the phone “I’m on the exit! I’m on the exit!!” She squealed back to me, “we just got through saying” in the name of Jesus Christ,amen!!!” It was a little hairy getting to her home from there as she directed me in and at one point I was looking down on the interstate I just left and sure enough they were all just sitting still, not moving again. I felt so bad for all of them and said a prayer for them as I approached a plowed road that took me safely to my sister’s street. There is quite a hill that leads to my sister’s home and I was having trouble trying to get up that hill. So I called her again to tell her I was at the bottom of her street and was just going to park the car there and walk up. I looked up and here she comes walking down the hill with the most determined walk I have ever seen! She walked up to my car as I opened the door and said in an anxious voice “GET OUT!!’ I’m gettin’ this car up that hill, I didn’t live in
Detroit in this weather all those years for nothing!! You gonna ride?” I threw my hands up in the air and said no, you go for it! She hit the gas pedal and spun those tires and slid back and forth all the way up that hill with the smell of rubber filling the air! A 4 wheel drive truck with young people offered to help get us up but we all just watched as my determined sis accomplished her mission. They couldn’t believe she made it! She came back down the hill to walk up with me and we got in my car and pulled into their driveway a few houses down safe and sound. We walked into her cozy warm home and the three of us girls just started squealing with delight that I was finally there!! It was 2 AM and I left home at 12:30 that afternoon.Thirteen and a half hours! Usually a 4 and a half hour trip. My brother in law settled us down and said “we need to pray and thank God for getting you both here safe!” And we did just that and prayed for everyone’s safety still sitting out there in that mess.
I was tired and my body was weary as I sat there and lavished a bowl of warm homemade soup, just happy to be at my sister’s home. My brother in law and I walked out to my car to get my stuff and as I leaned over the front seat, that little cross caught my eye and I immediately thought of all the events that happened that day that kept me safe!
I laid my head down on my pillow that night ( well,morning) for some much needed rest and thanked God for His protection and answering our prayers!
Yes, we serve a mighty and caring Father!