A Scary Few Seconds

"If you make the Most High your dwelling -- even the Lord, who is my refuge -- then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.." Psalm 91:9-11

Yesterday morning, I had a bit of a scary experience although it didn't really sink in for me how scary it really was until later when I thought more about it. It did send my heart racing at the time, but when I think of what could have really happened, it's a bit terrifying.

I was going over to a friend's house to help her for the morning and let our girls play with her girls since she had a little boy by c-section a few weeks ago. She can't lift her girls yet, or at least she's not supposed to, and so I went over to be extra hands for a few hours since her hubby had to be gone for awhile.

We live in a pretty hilly area and some of the hills are incredibly steep. Add a bunch of snow and ice to that and it can be a bit treacherous. I've never realy been too nervous about the hills before but I do try to avoid the steepest ones in the winter time. Well, I made a sharp left turn on the way to my friend's house and suddenly realized I was on a very steep hill. I also realized that my tires were starting to spin halfway up the hill. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw that there was a pretty busy street below and behind me and that I did NOT want to start sliding backwards. I had all three kids with me and I started praying. Hard. And I kept sliding. I kept praying and inch by inch with my tires spinning, I started to crawl up the hill. I tried desperately to find a patch of gravel or sand or anything on the road to get some traction on but there was nothing. I was so scared about starting to slide backwards and losing control of the van and ending up in the street below where a car could slam into us.

I kept crawling up the hill and could smell a bit of a bad smell coming from my vehicle from spinning the tires so much but I wasn't about to let up on the gas. It felt like an eternity, but little by little, I finally made it up the hill. I let out my breath and tried to stop my racing heart. Whew. Thank you, God for keeping us safe. I can't even begin to think about how awful it could have been if we had slid to the bottom and been hit by someone. Christian's car seat is right next to the door and so are the girls' seats in the back and if someone had sideswiped us...well, okay I just need to stop thinking about it.

I am thankful that God truly does protect His children and that He answers desperate prayer! And I think that if I go to that friend's house again, I am going to try and find an alternate route, at least for the winter!