Fear Driving

I finished my shopping at Costco (Where else?) and was pushing the cart full with baby and groceries when I got my first glimpse of the outside. Dark clouds covered the sky and it looked like it was going to downpour any minute. I rushed to get the baby in the van and was happy that I finished loading the food before the rain. Now, if I could just get home. Driving in bad weather is not my favorite thing!

As I was driving I had this sense of doom. My mind was going to all of my loved ones and all the horrible things that might happen to them some day. “What a pointless thought process,” I told myself. (Yes I talk to myself!) I mean really, bad things, hard things WILL happen but, God will give me the grace I need to get through them WHEN they happen and not while I’m driving down the highway panicking over imaginations that are not real. There. I felt much better!

Suddenly my windshield went white. The wipers were on slow, but when they went across, the windshield remained white. I slowed on the freeway as I fiddled to turn the defrost on. Nothing changed. I twisted the knob to heat. Then I found the knob to turn the fan on high. I still could not see through the windshield.

By now I was going really slow, and it seemed like forever since I had seen the road. I rolled the windows down and saw that I was no longer in a lane. Finding the wipers again I turned them on high. They weren’t helping much. The window would turn white behind the wipers so fast I was still blind. I couldn’t see the pavement. I couldn’t get off the freeway. My speed had slowed to five miles per hour. What was I going to do? Someone was sure to slam into me!

And then the frost disappeared. I found my lane, took the closest exit, stopped at the first light, put the van in park, and fell apart for a full two and a half minutes until the light turned green. I thanked God for keeping me safe!

The weather had turned cold so suddenly that the windshield had frosted over both on the inside and the outside in just a split second. I don’t think I have ever been so frightened on the freeway!

I’m linked with Gratituesday,  Works for Me Wednesday and Women Living Well.