Peace, Be Still

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Driving home from school tonight, just before I entered the mouth of the Sardine Canyon, I had this overwhelming and so eerily real feeling that the next few minutes would probably be my last.

(gosh, my mind does the strangest things to me. and, I do consider myself a hypochondriac)

But you see, it wasn't a light, fluffy friendly snow--when it started to snow it got right to the point. The wind was strong and the roads were slick and I fought with my wheels to keep them stable on the pavement. I could barely  see three beyond my front bumper, and my imagination kept showing me slides of cars flying off the roads, deer blood mixed with slush and ice and bits of metal and glass, and no matter how hard I tried to make it stop the presentation, it was a done deal--I was freaked out.

I kept telling myself I am a good driver, I have a good car, but every jostle and jolt of the tires sent me into a frenzied panic and eventually the odometer read 25mpg, and there was a lengthy strand of Christmas lights following me up the hill and into the canyon. 

So, I shut off the music and began to rely heavily on any calming effect chanting help me get home, help me get home, would have. 

Eventually, I began to sing a song to myself.

Are you far away from home,

this dark and lonely night?

Tell me, what best would help

to ease your mind--

Someone to give direction for

this unfamiliar road,

Or one who says "Follow me and

I will lead you home?"

That made me feel a lot better. And I began to focus a little less on dying, because the song reminded me exactly who was going to help me get home.

After about 5 repeated rounds of that song, the wind picked up and the flurries overtook my already limited visibility, and I could have sworn my headlights were flickering...

So I started to sing,

Master, the tempest is raging! ...Carest Thou not that I perish? How canst Thou lie asleep?

I carried on through my ignorance, and sang the last part of the chorus:

The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will, 

Peace, be still!

Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea,

or demons or men or whatever it be...

They all shall sweetly obey Thy will, 

Peace be still, peace be still

Then I quit being so lame.

After I realized I only knew half the words, I moved onto a different song; We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet. Just randomly...

And funny enough, I was singing the last part of the song right as I approached the exit, which was totally applicable to the circumstance!

Though dark clouds of trouble hang o'er us,

and threaten our peace to destroy,

There is hope smiling brightly before us

and we know that deliverance is nigh.

...Thus onto eternal perfection

the honest and faithful will go,

while they who reject this glad message

will never such happiness know!

I was saved! I didn't die after all! I was home at last in the arms of my lovely husband. And guess what, I learned a great lesson in the process. 

* * *

Earlier today we were discussing all the problems of the world in one of my classes, and it made me so frustrated. My professor said this: "With all the confusion in the world, there is really very little we can stand on," and I thought, so true. I'm glad Kade and I have that something we can stand on.

Makes you happy, huh?