I watched the sky grow darker and darker. Each passing second brought the severe storms closer and closer.

It was May 2016 and I was attending a writer’s conference with my dear friend and fellow author, Paula Mowery. It was held at the Ridgecrest Conference Center, which is about 17 miles west of Asheville, NC.

I had been watching the weather forecast since they were calling for severe storms on the day we were to drive back home to East Tennessee. I had hoped we could leave after breakfast that morning and be home before the storms struck. But Paula was an instructor that year and she taught the very last class. That meant we weren’t leaving until around 1 pm.

Finally, we hopped into my Jeep and headed back home. When we merged onto I-40 West, the threatening clouds loomed in the distance. I hoped we would be on the other side of the mountain before the storm struck.

No such luck.

We saw the first lightning bolt streak across the sky when we drove past the exit for Biltmore. The lightning struck very close to us. And to make matters worse, the interstate traffic was very heavy. I felt as though I was driving into a bad dream.

For the next few miles, it lightened and thundered. As we were heading up the mountain, I glanced into my rear-view mirror. I noticed a tractor trailer barreling up behind us and he was closing in fast. I knew he was trying to pick up what speed he could before driving up the mountain side.

At this point, we were in the middle lane of the three. I didn’t want the huge truck being so close behind us during a storm. I looked to my right and I couldn’t get over. I glanced over to my left and saw an opening. Immediately, I jumped over into the fast lane. My plan was to get back over once I drove past two or three cars.

No such luck.

That’s when God wrung the cloud above us like a wash rag. I’m talking all the water that was in it must’ve come down at once. I had my windshield wipers on the fastest speed and I could only see a few feet in front of us. Within seconds, puddles of water formed on the road.

It gets better.

Next thing I knew hail was bouncing off the hood of my Jeep. And it hadn’t stopped lightning and thundering.

In a sweet voice, Paula said, “You are very brave to get into the fast lane during a storm like this.”

Brave was not the word I had in mind for myself at that moment.

In fact, I wasn’t brave at all. I was terrified. Even though the traffic had slowed down to a crawl, I was still surrounded by many cars and one of them could run into us because they were blinded by the rain. Or what if I hit one of those rain puddles and lost control of my car? And I had the constant reminder of the concrete barrier that was literally a foot or two from my car door.

I had such a tight grip on that steering wheel that my fingerprints are probably still embedded in it. I thought of the Carrie Underwood song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel.”

Yes, I prayed that and I prayed it hard.

Soon the rain let up enough for me to be able to get back into the middle lane. Then I maneuvered into the outside lane and over onto the shoulder. There were many other cars that had pulled over and stopped there as well.

At that point, I breathed a sigh of relief. The first one since I looked at the weather radar that morning. God had gotten us through.

Usually, things pan out differently than how we thought they would. I should have prayed before impulsively changed lanes. I should have been more patient and waited.
So always pray and don’t jump without fully assessing the risk. That being said, I still have a pretty cool story to tell.

“Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;” Romans 12:12 (KJV)