The year, 2017.
The month, January.
The goal, drive mama to Ottawa.
The reason, renew her other passport.
The time, an unnecessarily early hour of the morning.
The weather, icy rain.

This was nothing new to me
Driving is my forte
Far, near, congested, clear
Driving is as automatic as breathing
Hence why mama asked me
So off we go.

As we set out in the morning,
I got a prompting in my heart.
Now, I do not particularly like early mornings
It takes until mid-morning for me to be fully awake
I was tired, and I just wanted quiet, so I tried to ignore
The prompting persisted
So I gave in – I began to pray.

What about, I didn’t know
Who for, I wasn’t sure
You see, I speak 3 languages fluently, and I am learning 3 more
1st language – Yoruba
2nd language – English
3rd language – Tongues (heavenly language).

So there I was, speaking my third language
Unsure of the purpose of the prompting
Unsure of why it was so heavy and insistent
I just knew I had to talk to my heavenly Father
In a language that transcended earth itself.
Heavenly Father and I spoke for a long time
From Toronto to Ottawa, it was non-stop chatter.

The car was covered in ice, my wipers were icicles. But
Mama made it in time for the opening of the passport office
In fact, she was early; did I mention that I drive fast?
She was one of 3 people who were waiting at the door
This meant she would be attended to early
I was grateful for that.
It wasn’t even 9 am yet. I took a nap.

As mama continued her passport stuff
I went in search of food
A chance to stretch my legs and clear my mind
There was that prompting again. It was almost noon
I had spoken with my heavenly Father for 3 and a half hours this morning
Wasn’t that enough?
Sigh, fine. I used another mode of communication- music
Cue earphones, cue playlist, leggo!

My heart was at peace
It took some time, but I found food
I bought some for mama and I
It was wonderful to be able to see the area
Notice things often missed when driving by
I went back to mama to keep her company for the rest of the time
I took a mental nap as we waited for her turn to be called.

Finally, it was all done. It was time to go home
Apparently, we would be giving a mother with a baby a ride
She too lived in Toronto and took the bus to be in Ottawa
There was no way mama was letting her take the bus back
No worries, everyone got in the car
Off I drove, navigating the very narrow roadways to get on the highway
There was that prompting again.

No arguments or resistance this time
Father, lets talk. I am listening
As Father and I spoke, I noticed things were amiss
The icy rain had subsided, but there they were
One, two, three, four cars in the ditch
Every vehicle seemed to have lost control and fallen into the ditch
As I slowed and uttered the words “what is going on?”,
My car lost control.

I felt it before I felt it.
The jerk that comes
As though your steering wheel has been snatched out of your hands
The knowing that you are no longer in control
The drop in the pit of your stomach that tells you – danger!
That knowing like no other

On one side was an 18-wheeler
Behind us were lines of cars also speeding on the highway
Oh yea, I was in the fast lane – I told you, I drive fast
And there I was, there we were – no longer in control
But, my heart, my mind, was at complete PEACE
What was going on?

The steering jerked to the right – towards the 18-wheeler
I watched in complete silence as the car spun towards the back end of the truck
I was so sure that we were going to SMASH into the back of it
And just as though we were in one of those Fast & Furious movies
The front end of the car glided right behind the back end of the truck
Across 2 lanes.

Ok, so we missed the truck, for sure we were ending up in the ditch
Wait, what were my hands doing? How were my hands moving?
Apparently, I had been counter-steering – without realizing
The car began to spin the other way, across 3 lanes
Towards the concrete barriers at the median
At that point, either the concrete barriers would stop us
Or cars would smash into us from behind
It was a literal ‘Jesus take the wheel’ moment.

There my hands went again, counter-steering
Barriers missed, car now spinning the other way, across 3 lanes
A quick glance out the side window
All the cars behind us had miraculously slowed down
Now we were heading sideways, backwards and forwards toward the ditch again
Nope, missed that, now we are heading back towards the concrete barriers
Just then, a thought popped in my mind
How will I explain this to the insurance company? Sigh.

And just like that – the car stopped just mere inches from the barriers.
If mama rolled down her window, and stretched out her hand, she could touch it
We had stopped on the shoulder, facing on-coming traffic.

As though a dam waiting for release
All of the cars came towards us at once, passing us on the shoulder
It was like nothing had just happened
Mama frantically called the name of Jesus and asked what we would do next
I looked over at her and said; “now, we go home”.

She looked at me like I had lost my mind
I looked at her and laughed
She thought I was in shock
I told her this battle for 4 lives had already been settled
Before we got to this point.

As I waited for a clear path
To turn the car to face the right direction on the highway
I could not but laugh inside and out
The prompting began to make sense 
As I looked in my rear view mirror
I saw the mother clutching the chair in front of her
I saw the baby laying peacefully in his seat
I looked to my right to see my mother praying and praising
And all I could think to myself was
‘What may have happened if I did not give in to the prompting’?
‘Where would we be now’?
More importantly,
‘How would I have answered for the lives of the two people in my back seat’?
‘What excuse would I have given for wasting mine’?

Unsure of the purpose of the prompting
Unsure of why it is so heavy and insistent
Just know that when He lays it on your heart, it’s heavy on His heart too
We must learn to talk to our heavenly Father
In a language that transcends earth itself.
What about, we do not always have to know
Who for, we do not always have to be sure
We just must always make ourselves available for the dialogue.

Little did I know that the summer of 2017 would be the catalyst for the biggest breakthroughs of my life.

It does not always have to make sense, that's why it is called FAITH.