It had been a tiring week of sitting in a hospital room. Watching our oldest daughter go through unending medical tests had left me feeling frustrated and helpless. There seemed to be no answers and no help; just long days and longer nights. I came early and left late making the long drive from Dallas to Grand Prairie.
As I walked across Medical City parking lot I noticed lightning in the distance. Before I reached 635 lightning bolts were shooting through the sky at close range. Wind whipped the truck from side to side and within seconds buckets of water blinded my vision. It became a struggle to stay in my lane as I inched my way down the freeway. The truck lights seemed to dim as I leaned into the steering wheel to see. Just as I neared the Galleria the wipers on the truck stopped. Trying not to panic I kept turning the knob hoping they would come back on.
Traffic slowed to ten to fifteen miles an hour. Cars and eighteen wheelers were pulling over onto the right shoulder of the freeway; some had lights on some didn’t. I couldn’t see well enough to know where I could pull over and stop; my best option was to keep moving forward. My heart was racing and my mind was saying, “I’m going to die.” Then I heard the words in my head, “I’m going to die and You don’t care!” For a split second I laughed remembering the words Pastor Robert had used the previous Sunday. I had just listened to the CD twice driving back and forth from the hospital. “I’m going to die and You don’t care!” Then I heard a soft voice within, “Faith or fear; choose.”
Instead of commanding the wipers to come back on (I had already done that!) I began to pray. Scriptures rolled off my tongue; words flowed up and out of my heart as I tried to make a “joyful noise to the Lord”. I was cruising at ten miles an hour as the rain came even harder. Street lights dimmed; darkness closed in.
“The George Bush Freeway is up ahead,” fear whispered. “That ramp is high and dark; without street lights you won’t see it.” My heart continued to race as I kept singing and thanking the Lord for driving me home. Although I had a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel faith was overpowering fear.
In the distance I caught a glimpse of lights! I don’t think I had ever gotten that excited over street lights before! The rain was still intense but I could make out the shape of the ramp and I knew I could make it. I was now a singing machine! Karaoke had nothing on me! I continued at a snail’s pace down 161. As I passed through the lighted toll booth again fear spoke. “It’s going to be really dark further down 161; how will you make your exit?” It was dark. I had driven this way many, many times and I hoped I had a good feel for where to turn.
Suddenly, within feet of the exit, the wipers came on. I was so startled I jumped! But just as I almost breathed a sigh of relief that soft voice again spoke. “Don’t focus on the wipers. Stay focused on Me.”
As I made it over the 183 overpass onto Roy Orr Blvd. it became apparent that a storm had ripped through the area where I was heading. The rain beat harder; trees and tree branches littered the dark narrow road. Bumper to bumper traffic cautiously dodged and weaved through the debris.
Suddenly torrents of shooting water from an apparent broken water main created a bigger nightmare. With cars stalled out in the left lane one by one each vehicle was forced to venture through the gushing current. When my turn came I could feel my large truck going into floating mode. “We can do this God! You and I can walk on water!” And we did! I still had a good distance to go but fear couldn’t speak into my life. I knew God was driving me home!
When I finally pulled into our driveway I noticed the street lights were out, the houses were all dark, and a very large tree was lying in our backyard. I managed to get into the house, find candles, light them and then walked into the backyard to survey the damage. By then the rain had stopped and the wind calmed.
I eased onto a bench and reflected back over the earlier events. A couple of hours ago I left our daughter’s hospital room tired, frustrated and feeling helpless. Her health had us all scared, but I seemed to be in an unending storm of fear.
Tonight I was on a journey at a bad time and I saw the waves that appeared to be over my head come under the Master’s control. The waves had never been the problem; fear was the problem. Fear for our daughter’s health; fear for her future. Sometimes truth gets lost; my focus was fixated on what I could see and she wasn’t getting better. I was operating in fear and faith was nowhere to be found. I know there will be future battles but that night, fear was conquered.
Within days, her health began to improve.
I shared the story with her about the long drive home a few nights before. “No street lights, no wipers, just me and Jesus and lots of praying!
When God is all we have, trust me when I say He is all we need!
A note about my stories……
The stories I’m sharing through this blog have been experiences over many years. This particular story happened Wednesday night, Sept. 28, 2005. Although I wrote the main core of this story within days of it actually happening, the experience becomes fresh and very real even today. When I was praying over what to share, I believe we all need to be reminded of staying focused on God and not circumstances.
