I was driving home to Beaverton from Salem, Oregon after work. I mentioned in another post how I worked at eleven different clinics. This one was about as far from home as it got. It was a Friday evening and as I was off of work at 6 p.m. I was trying to make it to my singles’ group meeting at church. It was during the winter months because it was already very dark outside. Rain was pouring down in sheets as only the Pacific Northwest can produce and there was a lot of standing water on the road.
I came to my exit to turn west toward my apartment and church. This was a problematic exit as there was a stoplight just after the turn at the bottom of a slight hill. Cars from another highway were merging onto the highway I was on while I was trying to merge off to my exit. With the traffic light at the bottom of my exit cars were often backed up quite a ways and it was a challenge to miss the merging traffic while getting onto the offramp and stopping before you met gridlock.
This night’s visibility was difficult with rain coming down and also coming up from tires spinning. I met my offramp and was able to move over to the lane I need easily. It was a relief. Plus, the cars stopped for the light were at the bottom of the downgrade and almost rounding the corner. I had plenty of time to stop and breathed a small sigh of relief. I always found this interchange to be a bit stressful.
I exited the freeway going about sixty-five miles per hour, the speed limit and keeping up with traffic. As soon as I was in my lane, I pressed my foot lightly on the brake to begin to slow to my stop at the bottom of the hill. Nothing happened. I pressed harder on the brake and was soon pressing with all of my might. I was hydroplaning as sixty-five-mile-per hours toward a line of stopped cars!
With my foot firmly planted on the floorboard, I turned my steering wheel all the way to the right. I was trying to go for the guard rail and not hit the cars in front of me. I was driving a Toyota Tercel which had a very small front end. This was very serious not to mention the damage that would be done to the cars and people in front of me. Nothing happened. The car continued to careen straight toward the parked cars. I turned the steering wheel all the way to the left and again nothing happened.
I was feet from the car in front of me when I screamed, “JESUS!” What else was left? I had tried everything I knew how to do and then I cried out to the only One Who could help me.
My car instantly stopped. It went from sixty-five to zero the moment I cried out to Jesus. I still have a hard time believing it though I lived it. My car stopped just a couple of inches from the car in front of me. There was no g-force when the car stopped. Normally if you were going sixty-five and slammed the brakes on your body would pitch forward then back. It did not happen. I was going sixty-five, at least, I may have gained speed careening down the hill, then I was completely still.
How kind the Lord is to us. He patiently waited for me to do all I knew to do and when I cried out to Him in a last-minute panic, He stepped in and saved me (and others). He did not hold back His goodness because I tried to fix it in my way, with my understanding, and in my ability. There was no punishment in Him toward me, only a wonderfully valuable lesson learned. Don’t wait until I’ve tried everything I know how to do before inviting Him into the conversation. How much quicker we come to solutions when we rely on Him in all circumstances of our lives.
I wish I could say I get this right all of the time. I don’t. I still deal with fear and concerns. The unknown is still an unnerving place at times, but I also don’t wait until I’m inches from ruin before crying out to the only One Who saves.
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“[Cast] all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).
“Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12).