It was Monday. We had planned a trip to pick up a new table. One hour and forty-two minutes to travel down and one-hour and forty-two minutes to get back home. But sometimes plans go horribly wrong…
My family of six piled into the truck at 12:00 noon, prayed for a safe journey, and we were off.
The trip down was mostly smooth-sailing, but on the way back, about 45 minutes from home, our truck broke down–right in the middle of the interstate.
It could have been a disaster, if we chose to see it that way. It ruined our plans but allowed for God’s plan to unfold with an even greater purpose. I told the children not to be worried or scared. The Lord would bless us and help everything work to our good. I told them this could be an adventure. So my daughter prayed, and we all kept a prayer in our hearts. Then we opened our eyes and began to see miracle after miracle come to pass.
Like our truck breaking down right before an exit so we could safely coast off the freeway.
Our truck starting one more time after exiting so we could make it to a nearby gas station.
Kind strangers who helped us push the truck into a parking stall.
A tow company who was ready to tow us at a moment’s notice.
And a kind local mechanic and his sweet family…
You see, we called several auto repair shops and no one could fix our truck’s fuel pump that day. We had no foreseeable way of getting our family of 6 home. But the last mechanic we talked to gave us the phone number of one more man he knew–Julio.
It turned out that not only could Julio fix our truck that afternoon, but he sent his wife to pick us up and drive us to the shop so we wouldn’t have to walk. Then, after working on our truck for a while, he gave us the keys to his car and told us to go to a local restaurant so we could eat dinner. He fixed not only our fuel pump but our fuel filter and two brittle belts as well, finishing the job by topping us off with a quart of oil.
We were in awe of Julio’s kindness, and how he did everything he could to make our family comfortable during our wait. Julio and his family were earthly angels sent to bless our family on that memorable night.
We finally made it back home at 8:00 that night. Nothing had gone to plan, but God’s plan was greater.
This pandemic year has been one of great challenge for every one of us. Sometimes it feels like we’re broken down and stranded in the middle of nowhere. But if we choose to surrender our plans to God’s able hands, we will find He has something so much greater in store for us. The lessons we can learn, the miracles we will see, and the growth we can have will be unparalleled–if we choose to open our eyes and see with heaven’s view.
Great adventures always come with unexpected twists, turns, hills, and valleys. But God will provide not only miracles, but seen and unseen angels to help us all along the way.