Wednesday, January 5, 2022 Lord, Help Me!

Sometimes the simplest prayer is the most eloquent. I went out to get our mail today and had to fight through the cold winds and blowing snow to get it.

These kinds of days always bring back to my mind very vividly the day that I was on my way home from an airport run over 10 years ago. As I neared the exit for my home, I began to muse about making pancakes for the kids for breakfast since it was still early. I made a lane change and just like that, my car hit black ice and began going off the road, swiveling around as it went. “Lord, help me!” I cried aloud in my distress – three words I barely had time the time to say before the car came to a rest off the side of the road. I had clobbered my head on the rear view mirror and bent my glasses up pretty well, but it could have been a lot worse. There were no other cars in my way as I went careening across the road. And as I sat there waiting for the tow truck watching the oncoming traffic going over that same black ice, no one else slid off and into my car as I feared would happen. As I looked around, I realized that I was very close to an opening in the embankment that would have sent my car downward and could have resulted in much worse injuries – maybe even death.

I was shaken, very shaken. My neighbor called the tow truck for me and came to pick me up, since my husband was out of town. Our car was totaled and got deposited in our driveway as a visible reminder of the accident. A few days later, I had to get into our van and drive up to the airport to pick up Kris and I almost couldn’t do it. Post-traumatic stress is a real thing, I discovered as I replayed the accident again and again in my mind.

But through it all, I could see over and over again how the Lord had protected me, delivered me, and helped me. Three words? That’s all I needed.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning, especially if the wind is howling and the snow is creeping across the road.