sing it like you mean it.

Life’s been a little crazy lately. I was driving to meet a friend to study yesterday, when it suddenly started raining. Thunderstorm, no big deal, though I usually try to avoid driving when it’s pouring rain. Especially when it comes down in sheets like summer storms tend to. Got onto the highway, and by then it was almost impossible to see and everyone was driving at about 20 mph. I don’t even drive that slowly on local roads. And then it started hailing.

Now for someone who never even drives in anything more than a drizzle, that was terrifying. I had another 5 minutes until I reached my destination (20 mins at the speed I was going), and it didn’t make sense to turn around to go home.

Got inside Panera and minutes later all hail broke loose. They were the size of golf balls and falling at a frightening speed — it was like a scene from an apocalyptic movie. After it was all over, we all went out to inspect our cars. Some sustained dents and cracks. My windshield has a few cracks and will need to be replaced. The car parked right next to mine lost its entire back windshield.

But despite all the crazy that’s been going on lately, God’s still reminding me of His goodness. While I was freaking out on the highway with all the hail falling around me, and even as I was driving home hours later, stuck in traffic as it poured again and terrified that the hail would return, with my messed up windshield and the realization that it was somehow raining inside my car, God was with me. K-Love, the Christian radio station, was playing loud and clear throughout the entire storm. I only just learned from a friend the night before that New York had a K-Love station. I’d choose worshipping the King of Glory over Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory” any day. Up until yesterday, the only Christian radio station I ever knew of in New York was Star 99.1, which hardly ever works and only sometimes (if you’re lucky and on the right side of the street) gives you a blend of music and static.

Coincidence? I think not. Tell me my God isn’t real, isn’t all powerful and all knowing. Tell me my God doesn’t know every hair on my head or call me His dearly beloved. And I’ll prove you wrong. The last year and a half of my life have been the most difficult by far, but that’s just life right? It could have been worse. I could have gotten in an accident and been outside just a little bit longer in time for the hail to get worse, or driven home with shattered windows. The van last week could have hit my car a little harder and seriously hurt me or my sister. I could have been admitted to the hospital just a few hours later last December, and by then I wouldn’t have been breathing. Been kind of cutting it close lately, but I have more than what I need to believe that God has greater plans for me.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28