We started out to Ohio to visit relatives with the best of intentions, but we got stuck somewhere between here and NOT there. The roads were treacherous. A trip that should have taken 9 hours turned into 18 hrs. We had traveled only half way and the main highway was shut down going both North and South. What ensued was controlled chaos. We ended up in Berkly, West Virginia. Every and I mean EVERY hotel was booked solid. There were people sleeping on the floors in the hallways. The hotel employee was kind enough to give us directions to a shelter. And to top it off, we found our neighbors who also became part of the insanity! We, like them, thought we had avoided the winter storm. And, although the storm was done, the clean up was not.
As we set off on a wild goose chase to find a shelter, we just saw more of the same... snow completely blocking the roads, cars and tractor trailers abandoned or tipped over. Most roads were nearly impassible. Needless to say, we gave up on the shelter and took our chances sleeping in our car in the Kroger parking lot. We were not alone. The parking lots were full of people, families - all sleeping in cars. Our neighbors did go on searching for the shelter and eventually found one. I'll tell you more about that later.
As all of this was going on, I kept telling the kids to pray. Boy, did we ever pray! My oldest got so worked up with anxiety, he started throwing up out the window. We did not dare stop the car for fear of getting stuck. Poor kid. At least he'll have something to tell a therapist when he gets older...
So, here we are praying and I'm waiting for that miracle. That person to say, "Here you go - there's a room for you." Someone to say, "Come stay at our house"... But, us along with countless others were sleeping in our cars with our kids in a parking lot in the freezing cold. I did fall into some self pity. I have to admit. It was terrible and then as I prayed for God to correct my thinking - a miracle did happen. It was about midnight and I was peeing in the parking lot as there were no bathrooms and it hit me - this is one night out of thousands and I get to sleep in a warm house 99% of the time. We had a full tank of gas, sleeping bags and a cooler full of food. We had and have each other. We have God, the Angels and prayer. We were intact. The car is in good condition. My husband is an excellent driver. In all this treacherous weather, not one thing came to harm us. We were and remain completely safe! The whole thing was a miracle and we lived it!
And here I was feeling sorry for myself because I didn't have a bed. Look at EVERYTHING we did have and all that was missing was a bed. What a ninny! Thank you God for showing me the error in my thinking! We are and were completely protected by the Angels. How many people live this way on a daily basis - sleeping in a car and peeing in a parking lot? We were given a small glimpse of what it feels like to be without the luxuries of life - a bed, a shower, a toilet. These are luxuries!
All this time, my Dad was with us also. I could feel him keeping my husband awake as he drove on endlessly, never eating or tiring. As he guided us where to park our car. Eventually we left the Kroger parking lot and went to a hotel parking lot. We had access to a toilet and parked in a sheltered area by a dumpster and a snow bank. It was much warmer as we were protected from the wind. Did I mention it was 27 degrees Fahrenheit? As I look around at all the minivans full of people, I felt like we were initiated into a new club. The club of testing our resolve, seeing what we are really made of - complete self reliance and love of neighbor.
My Dad was always one to be completely self reliant. This life lesson showed my children how to take care of themselves. How to travel with cash and how cash won't get you what you want. But God give you all you could ever need. We couldn't buy our way into a room even if we tried. But, what we gained was worth more than all the money in the world. The restaurants were closed. Unless you can eat money, cash wouldn't help there either! We thought this was a great opportunity to talk to the kids about how Joseph and Mary must have felt looking for a room as they arrived in Bethlehem. We got a small taste of what that may have felt like.
I was thrilled to be near a toilet as I get up often during the night. When I woke at 4:30am and saw the van next to us dusting off to get ready to leave I got really excited and ran out to ask them what they knew. He said that he had walked to the highway and saw it was open. So we blessed each other and off we went in the wee hours of the morning towards our destinations.
My neighbor called to say they had found a shelter and it was full of people without food or the basic necessities to weather this storm. Most of them had abandoned their cars on the roads in search of shelter. And there I was feeling sorry for myself when we had a cooler of food and sleeping bags. I'm so glad we didn't stay at a shelter. We had so much with us. We didn't need a room. It was Divine order that everything happened as it did. We had exactly what we needed to survive the night and that was enough. It all unfolded perfectly and we have one heck of a story to tell.
When we would go camping in Canada as kids, in the middle of the woods, I remember saying every morning when I woke up "I lived another day!". That's how this felt. We lived another glorious day! How lucky were we?! I am awestruck, once again at the glory, mercy and protection we receive from God. We are so blessed. And, we are tougher than I could have ever imagined!
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