Profound thought #2

After 9 inches of snow, a snow day, and Tony saying if you want to go, all of us will get in the car and go with you, I called and cancelled a doctor's appointment that I had been waiting 3 months for.  When the receptionist said I would have to wait another 8 weeks, I said "Don't cancel my appointment.  I'll call you back."  Tony relented and said I could go alone but with lots of warnings - be careful, be very careful, be extremely careful.  At 11:00, the roads were still pretty treacherous, but between 30 to 50 miles per hour, I had plenty of time to think and listen to my Inspirational playlist on my Ipod (Yes, Tony, I turned it on before I pulled out of the garage.)  I was amazed as I traveled that the roads could be a hard packed grayish white and then be a smooth black a minute later.  After cruising a stretch of smooth black, I was facing two hills on Highway 40. I could see from the top that way down was clear and easy but the valley was full of muck but the way back up was clear.  Please let me get through the valley was my quick prayer.  Then a profound thought hit me.  Isn't life just like that?  You're doing just fine, your loved ones are doing just fine, and then all of a sudden you're in a pile of muck. You can spend a lot of time in the valley and the only way out is uphill.  Thankfully, we never leave the valley alone.  God uses our family, our friends, and even strangers to push us out of the valley and back up the hill.