The Art of "Don't Worry..."

We have been planning a road trip to the LA Religious Education Congress since the event in 2019 when we flew to California.  Planning a road trip in late February of any year can be dicey, at best. With multiple mountain ranges to traverse, winter driving can be tricky and fluid. One minute it can be clear and cold and the next a full-on blizzard. 

If you don't know me well, I used to worry about everything. Notoriously about things that I had no control over (i.e., the weather). I am also not fond of snow covered and/or icy roads. So deciding to road trip with my dh and two friends, well, it could've been extremely stressful. 

Several years ago I learned a very powerful lesson about giving it to God and then letting it go. We took a road trip to Pensacola for Christmas (yes in December). I was also finishing my degree and instead of consuming energy on worrying about the weather for our upcoming trip, I decided to try something new. I prayed that we would have good weather for our trip to Florida and then a remarkable thing happened - I was able to let go of that worry and concentrate my energy on my coursework.

Our departure time arrived and I was calm and carefree - no worries for this girl! That was pretty awesome but the miraculous part was we had beautiful (albeit cold) weather the entire trip to Florida. I am talking blue skies and sunshine the entire time. The return trip was exactly the same until we arrived Idaho and then we did have to contend with some snow.  But it was December in the Pacific northwest!

My point is this - I let God take care of the weather as I do not have that super power (although for all those years I think I thought I did). God wants us to pray and He wants to give us what we pray for.

So fast forward to the present. A trip from Washington state to southern California in February. Early in the planning stages, I prayed for good weather for our trip and then didn't worry about it again.

We are about 4 hours from home on our return trip, we have had beautiful days, sunshine and blue skies, and absolutely perfect roads. No snow, ice, and not even wet. God has poured out His blessings on us and made this trip, at least for me, memorable and extra special because I could focus on the trip itself (such beautiful country), our faith and our relationships instead of unduly worrying about something completely beyond my control.

May God bless you in a similar way so you foster and feed new and existing relationships while you can.