Parable of the Storm

On Saturday evening, I went down to the temple in St. George (45 miles from my home). It was ward conference weekend, and my husband stayed home with the kids so I could attend the session. It was lightly raining when I left my home. Seven miles into the drive, the rain started pelting the windshield. It was coming down so hard it was drowning out my music (believe me, that is LOUD). If it had been hail, it definitely would have broken my windshield. I couldn't see the road in front of me very well; I immediately slowed down to 40 mph (the speed limit is 75). Many cars had pulled off to the side of the road. I didn't feel safe pulling off because I couldn't see those cars until I was practically on top of them. I even started hydroplaning a couple of times. The sky was near black. And I was scared.

I thought to myself, It's not worth it. I'm not going to the temple. Driving in this weather is too hard and scary. I pulled off at the next exit, and decided to call my husband at home, where he could look up the weather on the internet and tell me what the next 34 miles would look like. I said, "Honey, this weather is bad. I'm scared. Will you please look up the radar and tell me if it is safe to go on? Or should I just come home?" He looked up the weather and said, "Oh wow. You just went through a couple of red cells (really, really bad rain). There is one more dark green cell about three to five miles away from where you are, but then right after that it is clear. The whole rest of the drive looks great." I decided to continue on.

The weather let up for about a mile, and then it got really bad. It was almost as bad as before, and I was a little scared - but not as scared as before, because I believed what Christian told me on the phone. I noticed a few more cars pulled off to the side of the road, but I kept going. About one mile past where those cars had pulled off, it was like a wall where the rain stopped and once I drove through it, I didn't even need my windshield wipers anymore. And eight miles later, the sun came out shining so brightly it almost blinded me.

As I had been praying to make it through this bad weather safely, and especially after the rain stopped right when my husband said it would, I saw the meaning of this parable. All of us go through difficult times in life, whether it is depression, family difficulties or other trials and tribulations. I saw the people pulled off to the side of the road, seemingly giving up. As I had faith in the one who knew more than I did, I was able to make it safely through. But for a moment, it seemed to get worse before it got better. I had to keep going, no matter what. And then when the sun started blinding me, I saw the calmness and peacefulness after the storm.

I learned a lot on Saturday night.