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Yesterday I renewed my Vincentian drivers license. This is something you do every year before your birthday (mine is next Tuesday) so it’s best to go ahead and get it done early.

I walked out with a smile that reminded me how comfortable driving on Vincentian roads is……

And how much they scared me when I first came here.

Roads in Saint Vincent are quite small. In places it feels like they are almost as big as one lane in the States! Being closer to other vehicles does make driving more frightening, but the turns here are what really scares you. There’s one or two straight shots between my community and Kingstown. The rest is filled with curves so you cannot see what’s coming. It isn’t uncommon to see a passenger van speed around that blind corner.

This and other issues understandably scared me when it came to driving on roads here. Something as simple as traveling to a grocery store about twenty minutes away filled my heart with dread!

Eventually I got used to short drives like that….but was still afraid of Kingstown (commonly called Town).

Kingstown is the capital of Saint Vincent, and has the most congestion, along with the craziest drivers! So I decided not to face that challenge just yet.

Then one morning I had to

A call early one morning informed me that a church members grandmother had passed away at the hospital. She would need a ride to there to claim the body and inform family of what had happened. Of course, the hospital was in town.

I picked the member up and while offering condolences, started a fearful drive to town.

Then something interesting happened…..

the drive to town and back wasn’t that bad!!!

I’m sure part of this was because I’d become used to driving shorter distances. Also, the traffic early in the morning is understandably less busy. But that first experience taught me I could drive to town without being scared to death!!!

Since then driving to Kingstown is something I do without hardly thinking about it, because it became second nature to me. But that probably wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been forced to face my fears that first morning.

Friends the Lord has to remind me often that courage isn’t the absence of fear….it is having faith that is bigger than your fear.

in other words the fear won’t just go away

but every time we conquer it, that fear becomes less and less powerful.

May the Lord give you the grace to face your deepest fear.

and find it isn’t so bad after all.