Yeah…yeah…yeah….I should have been asleep like 5 hours ago, but since I’m up….humor me……….
So, in November of 2015, one of my brothers married the love of his life. 🙂 Sweet…I agree…but no, this story isn’t about them (I know you’re bummed…their wedding was GORG! but I don’t really have a story about that). Anyhoo, they were
First, let me tell you something that will seem TOTALLY unrelated to this story. I had an extreme fear of driving over water. It was terrible! To the point that, if I drove over a bridge, I had to put my head down enough where I couldn’t see the water and I could see the road just enough to make it across. If I was in the passenger seat, I’d close my eyes and put my head down, almost between my knees. The longer the bridge, the longer my head was down. And sometimes, I even held my breath until I made it over (my soul look back and wonder…). Yeah….that bad. Okay……back to your regularly scheduled program…er uh…blogpost……
Mmmkay…so…the drive started out like any highway drive I’d taken. For the first few hours, we’d go and stop every 2-3 hours for restroom breaks (I had the nephew riding with me, 6 at the time). Once we got into the mountains, I. Was. TERRIFIED! The size of the mountains and the shadows that draped over the road intimidated me. It was to the point that, while driving over a few of them, I held my breath and gripped the steering so tight, that my fingernails dug into the palms of my hands. I could barely stand it! And then, let’s not forget the bear crossing signs, they were posted like the deer crossing signs over here in the Midwest; on the shoulder of the road, as if it was OKAY for a bear to cross the road while I was driving. At one point, I remember asking my god sister if they really meant what they looked like they meant; she had the nerve to laugh at me….I knew that meant “YES”.
Due to severe fog at the TOP OF A MOUNTAIN (where the speed limit was 70mph as I shared the narrow roads with semi drivers that don’t slow down around curves), and a detour (FIRST OF ALL…..who told them it was okay to detour me while I’m driving through a mountain???? Okay…sorry….), an 8 hour drive turned into an eleven hour drive. I realized at least two things that night…morning…whatever…………
Jesus really does put children to sleep during ong trips if you ask Him too. The last thing I needed was for my VERY inquisitive nephew to ask a TERRIFIED tee tee if we were almost there for 11 hours.
AND
Jesus REALLY DOES LOVE ME!!! Cause HONEY………………..for EVERY mountain He brought me over…..(and a praise…goes…THERE)!!!!!
As we entered the city, after five in the a.m., terror left me and exhaustion came over me. As we were on our way to the hotel, we drove over a bridge and I looked out of my window to admire the glistening water. I remember smiling and thanking God for making something so amazing. WAIT….!!!! I LOOKED OUT OF MY WINDOW TO ADMIRE THE WATER THAT I WAS DRIVING OVER!!! You see how that happened??? Those two instances were totally unrelated but God “killed two birds with one stone”, if you will. And, were they really “unrelated”? They both had a common denominator, FEAR! They both caused me to be fearful, a characteristic that my God did NOT bestow upon me. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) He gave me power….over fear. He gave me love…I’m sure to be able to admire His handy work, I.e…creating those large mountains and that glistening water. He gave me a sound mind…the ability to think for myself, and I’m sure, to understand that His creations are for me to appreciate, not be terrified of.
My point is……SO OFTEN, God allows us to go through a major situation because He knows that delivering us from that is the ONLY WAY that we will ever let go of the distraction and devastation from the other stuff (He made us and knows us better than we know ourselves). “Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalms 100:3) You see, God brought me over and through those mountains to let me know that He can d