You Can't Go Over It. Oh, No! You've Got to Go Through It!

Yesterday I drove to Idaho.  I did not even think to check the weather before planning this trip, especially since we haven't had any weather to speak of pretty much this whole winter.  As I got into my car I noticed a slight amount of rain on my windshield.  I checked the weather on my phone as I started my car.  The forecast was rain all day.  I didn't think much of it.  I figured we would be lucky to get a few drops the way things have been going, and off we went.  As we drove I commented to my two passengers that I hate driving in snowy conditions and will pretty much cancel any plans to avoid driving in snow.  I also mentioned that my second least favorite weather to drive in is heavy rain. 

About an hour into our drive it started to rain, just lightly.  Half an hour later it began to snow.  About this time I missed a turn.  We did not notice this for a good 15-20 minutes.  By the time we did we were approaching Snowville (ironically enough) and the snow had started to pack the road.  In order to get where we were going we had to turn at Snowville and take back roads to our destination, another 40 minutes away.  The speed limit was 60 mph, but because of the snow packed roads I had to drive much slower.  At times I could not see the lines on the road or be sure where the road ended and the field on the side of the road began.  It was pretty scary.  As though that wasn't enough we had to climb a summit on a winding road that at one point had a sign that said "chain up area ahead" (um, no chains on board) and then try not to slide down and off the other side of the summit.  I was extremely grateful for good tires. 

I have pretty much committed never to drive in snow due to some close calls in the past.  Yet, despite my commitment here I was in another precarious snowy driving situation.  I very much wanted out of that situation.  I felt like the family in the book "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" where it says, "You can't go over it.  You can't go under it.  Oh, no!  You've got to go through it!"  Yep, that's just how it was.  I couldn't get out of it.  I had to go through it.

While I was driving I thought about how difficult things in life are like my driving experience in the snow.  We do what we can to avoid getting into those difficult situations, but we can't always see them coming.  We can't see that far ahead of us.  Then when we find ourselves in the middle of something we didn't choose and didn't want we realize that we can't go over it, we can't go under it.  Oh no!  We've got to go through it!  We have to endure and navigate the best we can, and just keep going until the storm passes.  And it feels like it will never pass.  This has happened to me many times.  I am sure you know what I am talking about.  (I wish we could sit down and share our experiences with each other, and how we finally did come out on the other side of the storm.  I would love to know your story!)

We finally did reach our destination, thankfully in one piece.  Though at times I wondered if the white roads would really ever end, or whether we would just keep going and going and never really reach our destination.

Whatever difficult times you are facing in your life, whatever snow packed, precarious and scary things are in front of you, just keep going.  You can't go over it.  You can't go under it.  Oh no!  You've got to go through it!  Trust that it won't be this way forever.  The storm will eventually end.  Hold on to that.

P.S.  By the time we headed home the roads had been plowed and we went a different way to avoid the summit.  However, we had heavy rain the whole way home, my second least favorite.  But we survived the storm and got home safely, which in the end is the thing that matters most.