Tender Mercy 8: The Facebook Post and The Mountain Road

This post comes from my dear friend, Ilse Smith Moore. Her experience with a very dangerous near-car-accident and the Facebook post that instructed her on how to respond to it is truly nothing short of a tender mercy and miracle. Here is her story, in her own words.

There was a time in my life where I began to get very anxious every time I got behind the wheel of the car. The very thought of a car accident (or that something bad would happen in general) really upset me.  No one wants to cause an accident or lose control of their vehicle. I was especially afraid of someone in my family getting hurt. This might sound silly to some people-and maybe it is-but it was a very real fear for me.
The issue got worse the older I got, I think because I felt like I had so much more to lose now. I don't like being afraid, it makes me feel so helpless. I began to realize that my fears were starting to have a lot of power over me and kept me from having fun and enjoying my time with my family whenever we traveled. I started to pray for more faith from my Heavenly Father, and little by little, I started to feel more comfortable handing my worries over to him.
Last December my family and I took a trip up north to spend Christmas in Utah. The drive up went smoothly and we all had a marvelous time with friends and family members. No one was ready to go home, but jobs, school and obligations were tugging at us from our home in good ol' Arizona.
We loaded up our car and headed home. I began to feel uneasy about the drive home almost immediately.  I tried to remember that Heavenly Father was in charge and that he would look out for us, but I still struggled to find peace. I was finally able to find comfort a few hours later when I was checking and answering messages on a social media site. A post popped up on my feed that was written by a woman in my ward. She wrote about how she was driving home in a rain storm when a huge gust of wind suddenly caused her car to hydroplane.
In her terror, she heard a voice calmly tell her what she should do as her car spun out of control. Her post greatly detailed how she handled her car. She kept it from flipping by pumping the breaks and turning her wheel into the curve the vehicle was making.  Reading about her experience gave me strength I was needing, but I still felt like something wasn't quite right but decided to not let it worry me and I prayed for guidance instead.
Just then my husband, who was driving, asked if we could switch. We pulled over and jumped behind the wheel and started up the engine.  I hadn't been paying much attention to where we were, but then saw that we were driving on a very curvy, narrow mountain path with a sheer drop off to the left.
I was feeling a bit uncomfortable navigating this road and my fears were threatening to resurface but I was determined to have faith. The words I had just read on Facebook about the car hydroplaning were running through my head over and over again. It was almost like I had memorized them, especially the part about how my friend had handled her car.
At this time we were coming up to yet another curve when I felt impressed to slow down. Sure enough, as soon as we came around the bend, we hit a huge patch of ice and I immediately lost control of the car. As we careened into the left lane heading straight towards the drop, the back end of the car was flying around and we started to spin. I knew that I had to get control immediately; we were about to go over the edge of the mountain! I couldn't see ahead or behind us and also feared a car could come rushing around the bend at any moment from either direction and hit us.
Here I was, smack dab in the middle of one of my biggest fears, and yet, I was surprisingly, completely calm. Recalling what I had just read, I knew exactly what to do! I resisted the urge to slam on my breaks and pumped them instead. I turned my wheel into the fish tail, and the car responded by swinging in the other direction. I continued turning the wheel again and again to gain more control.  Slowly bur surely, our car started to straighten out and I was able to pull us back into our lane, and then to the side of the road.  No sooner had I done this when a bunch of cars came flying around the corner. We had just narrowly missed being hit!  My family and I sat there and stared at each other in silence. until someone started giggling and soon the whole car full of us started laughing. We were so happy to be safe and sound on the side of the road.
Coincidences can happen, but it is my belief that Heavenly Father prepared me for that moment and He gave me an opportunity to face my fear. It had been years since I had to drive in ice and snow. It was no accident that I had read that woman's post; it told me exactly how I needed to react to my own dangerous situation. Heavenly Father could have rescued me from my anxieties and protected me from ever having any driving problems for the rest of my life. (I do admit I originally hoped he would do that!) But I am so grateful that He let me face my challenges head on. He let me see that I was capable of handling my fears. He let me see firsthand that He had heard my prayers and that even though bad things can happen, He will protect us from harm.