*This post was originally written in 2014.

A few years ago there was a weekend where I faced some fears. It wasn’t my intention to face these specific situations, but it is my intention every morning to surrender and remember what my purpose is-—that being to choose love over fear.

It began as I packed my two children (then six and three) into my car to head up to the family cottage for the weekend. My husband would be meeting us there the following day. When we left the weather was fairly mild and sunny. Two hours later, however, we were in the thick of one of the worst storms I’ve ever had to drive in. Snow was blowing everywhere, there was fog and since our cottage is pretty far north, there were no streetlights and very few cars on the road. I called on Spirit right away. Part of me wanted to freak out, pull over and cry. The other part calmly said, “Keep going.”

After 30 minutes of driving blind, we made it to a town with a motel that blessingly had rooms. The kids thought it was the best thing ever: McDonalds for dinner! Mommy bought a new movie! We get to stay up!

We were safe. Thankfully, the storm calmed and we headed to the cottage the next morning.  Miracle #1

On Sunday morning I woke up and decided I wanted to write that day.   asked my husband to take the kids home and I would stay at the cottage to write for a while and head back in the evening. Try as I might, I just couldn’t get the words to flow. The story I was writing takes place in a town 30 minutes north of the cottage. I decided to drive up there for inspiration. On the way, there was a place called “Devil’s Monument” that I wanted to include in the story. I decided to drive to it and see it for myself.

Devil’s Monument is located on a cliffside, the Niagara escarpment, along Georgian Bay. I drove not knowing exactly where I was going. There were signs sporadically, but for the most part, I was driving on instinct. Eventually, I had to drive down a one-lane muddy, gravel road that ended at a trail.  Even though I wasn’t dressed for the weather (one degree Celsius) I felt it was ok to keep going. It was 1.7km to the monument and I knew I was fighting daylight since it was already three-thirty in the afternoon. I surged on and stopped to text my husband to let him know where I was. “Sounds great! Enjoy,” he texted back. I knew Spirit was with me.

Calmly, in the background of my mind, was a voice saying “You’re going to meet an animal.”  I kept going.  Reaching a fork in the trail, I saw that I could go left or right.  Right was a shorter distance to the monument so I went that way.  I reached a clearing with a thick copse of trees to my right.  All of a sudden I heard rustling.  I stopped dead. Then I heard a growl. I screamed. Frozen in my tracks, my mind raced. I could hear the animal pacing not 10 feet away from me and I knew it was a wolf or a cougar.  I heard another growl and I screamed and ran back. I ran the entire way back to my car. I sensed the animal wasn’t chasing me and I knew I was safe, but I ran anyway.

I reached my car, safe and sound. Didn’t see the monument, but all limbs were intact. Miracle #2

Driving back I decided to keep going north and check out the town of Tobermory, the place where my novel is set. I’ve been there many times as a visitor but I wanted to check out some of the back roads. By the time I was done, it was dark.  This meant I would have a 4-hour drive home through small Ontario towns and, again, roads with no streetlights. I had done it before, just not alone.

About two hours into the drive back, my ten-year-old Volkswagen Passat started acting up.  The gear changes are rough, and sometimes, getting the car to go at all is a challenge. Again, I gave it over to the Holy Spirit. “I rest in Spirit and am safe.” That doesn’t mean I’m going to be stupid.  It means I will trust the loving voice within. I kept going. About thirty minutes north of the ONLY city I would drive through, the car dies. I pulled to the side of the road and called my husband.

“Stay where you are,” he said. “I’ll come and get you.”

That loving voice within tells me I can make it a little further.  Even though I’m on the road, I’ve only been on a few times before (and in daylight each time); I got a strong sense that there is a mechanic a few miles up ahead, so I let the car cool, started it again, and drove on. Going around a bend, I knew that the next sign would be an auto repair shop.

It was.

I pulled into the driveway, made it to the parking lot, and the car died again, but I was safe. Miracle #3.

This was the weekend my faith grew stronger. This was the weekend I decided to become a writer. This was the weekend it all began.

Any time I choose to listen to Love instead of fear, I ask for and receive a miracle.

So much gratitude…

♥