Stuck in the Slush: Learning the Power of Patience and Prayer

My Monday morning trial turned into a learning experience—about myself and about God. And about answered prayer.

It was a Monday after an unseasonably warm Friday. I woke to 3 inches of ice and slush in my driveway. In a panic to finish my morning routine and get on my way to work, I lazily scooped the slush around my car to the side. I jumped behind the wheel and slammed it in reverse only to have my car get stuck. Revving and rocking, I did all I could to try to slide my car into position to coast down the driveway and onto the street—but without success.

What would take me 5 seconds on a normal day had so far taken me a half hour—and put me in a position where my bumper was inches from the house. For 20 more minutes I fought with my car to get it away from my house and finally gave in to the shovel. I dug, and I complained as I was forced to crawl into the car from the passenger side. I put the pedal to the floor. But the more I tried, the deeper my tires went. Below the ice, slush and rock was mud, and soon my car couldn’t be moved.

Anger and frustration

I began to feel anger creep up my back and into my heart. I crawled back out the passenger door to angrily throw slush into the air. With tears in my eyes, I threw the shovel across the driveway and crawled back into the driver’s seat and, in heated distress, forced my car to dig up more mud.

I cried out loud, “Father, I know if You were behind me, You’d push me.” And I hung my head in shame. It was then I realized what I had just done. I had doubted He was with me at all. With something as insignificant as 3 inches of slush and my car getting stuck, I had forgotten that He is in me. I had lost track of who I belonged to and where God promises He’ll be.

How do we react?

In moments of frustration, which we all experience at times, how do we react? My plan was to get to work as early as possible and not worry about the tasks that needed to be done right then and there. I was trying to get out of doing a little manual labor by pushing my car to do something it wasn’t capable of doing. Why did I get angry? Is it not true that “the way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, but the way of the upright is a highway” (Proverbs 15:19)? I had put myself in that position.

We are an impatient generation. We read in James 1:20, “The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” When we look for a shortcut, it can be a sign of laziness. When we’re lazy, we can get impatient. When we are impatient, we can lack reverence for God and ultimately lack faith.

How blessed we are to have such a forgiving God. We must recognize our human nature and admit to God our mistakes. “I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand” (Psalm 73:22-23).

The power of repentance and prayer

At that moment, I hung my head and said out loud “What I should say is … I know You are in me, and if You felt no reason for me to be stuck here, you would push me out.”

I touched the gas and the front wheels rolled out of the muddy ditch I had just created and coasted to the end of the driveway. It was then I realized that even the most insignificant part of a day can be a lesson for us.

John Columbo, 28, is married and has two small children. He attends the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, in Allentown, Pennsylvania.