Danielle and I drove nearly 87 miles every Sunday to attend church services at the Albuquerque Spiritual Center.
The drive we enjoyed most Sundays was on Highway 55 from our small town of Mountainair to Albuquerque. The drive was pleasant as it was a beautiful drive through beautiful scenery. Red rock canyons, tall pines, and small villages were all a part of the journey. It also allowed for us to have great conversations or to listen to some of our favorite CD’s on our way to church.
I remember one gorgeous Spring morning. The sky was so blue, filled with puffy white clouds, and the day was one of those crystal clear days that seem too good to be true.
Danielle and I had been listening to “As Time Goes By” made popular in the movie Casablanca with Humphry Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
Suddenly Danielle shouted to pull the car over. I assumed an emergency had been detected and I found a turnout and stopped the car. Danielle jumped out of the car and yelled for me to join her on the passenger side. I ran around the car as fast as I could and met Danielle at the passenger side door. By the time I got to her, she had cranked the radio up and stood there with a big smile on her face. She simply said, “Dance with me!” And I did.
We danced to As Time Goes By for the remainder of the song. I remember feeling a bit awkward to begin with but that feeling soon evaporated as I held and danced with the love of my life in my arms. A memory not to be forgotten,
Now getting back to the original story. It was Ferbruary and we had some snow a couple of days before that had mostly melted. The temperature that Sunday morning was near freezing. As I was in the middle of a turn, our car hit a patch of black ice and skidded off the highway. We had been going 55 Miles per hour and were now sliding sideways on the shoulder.
As we were sliding sideways I saw that we were heading directly for a large tree. I knew we were still going pretty fast and that we would hit on Danielle’s side of the car. I was frantically trying to get some control of the car back as we were nearing an impact that was certainly going to cause some injury to Danielle. As I continued to fight with control of the car and just as we about to make impact, the rear wheels found some purchase and we were propelled back on to the highway. I was in an adrenaline fueled state but was astonished as I looked over at Danielle.
She was not the least bit upset nor concerned. To see her you would have thought nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I questioned her about it and she gave me one of her many lessons in faith.
She said that she was prepared to let God make the decision as to her future as we hurtled towards that tree. She was prepared to let God handle the situation.
I was unnerved by her calmness but years later as she approached her own death, I saw the same calmness in her as she took her last breath. I have been touched by lessons learned from this amazing woman and have been able to apply them to my own life,.
Call it a miracle if you like. If not call it a coincidence. You decide. For me it was a moment in complete surrender to our Creator and His/Her grace to Danielle and I.
Livelifelightly.com 