My son, Phillip, flew up from Texas to serve as an usher for his aunt's wedding. I have not seen him in about three years and I wanted to show him my project house for the first time while he was here. So, after the wedding, the plan was to drop off his tuxedo, skip the gift opening and head up to the house to do a little painting with my boy (who, conveniently, can paint the upstairs ceilings without using a ladder).
The only thing was that while he was driving my car around town during the wedding, Phillip noticed that it needed a wheel alignment pretty badly. Driving to and from my project house puts several hundred miles on my car, so I decided that it would be prudent to have the alignment done before we left town. I called Firestone the morning after the wedding, secured an appointment for the same day, and adjusted our plan.
Just before we left the house, my mom called. (She and Dad had stayed the night in a hotel closer to the wedding festivities.) She asked if I could bring a bunch of food items to my brother's house, which was on our way up to the project house, for an "after party" she was having to enjoy a little time with some close family members from out of town. Not a big deal. I put the food items in my trunk and headed out the door.
Phillip and I dropped my car off at Firestone and walked to a nearby pizza place for lunch. After lunch, we checked on my car, which was just being pulled in to the car bay, and went to walk around some nearby shops. It was about ten minutes before I received a call on my cell.
"You need a lot more done to your car than just an alignment. Your car needs some serious work done to it," is about what I heard. "Do you want to come and take a look?"
As we walked back to look at my car, Phillip commented on the distressed look I wore on my face. He could tell something was wrong just by looking at me. As it turns out he was right that my car really does need an alignment. The inside edges of my front tires are so bald that you can literally see metal mesh. I cannot drive until I get at least two front tires. The rear tires should also be replaced. There is cupping on them from when they were on the front of the car. At $80 per tire plus an alignment for $80, I had no idea where I am going to come up with the money for this expense -- but that is not the bad part.
My right front strut is leaking pretty badly and needs replacing -- which means my left strut also needs to be replaced because struts are always replaced in pairs. In addition, there is something called "bushings" under my car that are supposedly pretty important, are badly busted and need to be replaced. The total estimate for the repairs: $1400. I will have to put the expense on my credit card, since I have no money, but I have no idea how I will pay the credit card! And the worst part about the whole thing was that Phillip was going to fly back to Texas before my car could be fixed so that I could take him to see my project house.
Enter Jehovah Jireh (the Lord will provide) and a series of what many would call "good luck," but I generally prefer to call "minor miracles."
We all know by now that I am pretty much a widow without a corpse to mourn since my husband abandoned our long marriage to pursue a relationship with another woman. Right? Well...
Deuteronomy 10:17-18 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.
Remember the food in my trunk? My mom asked me to bring it to her and I could not drive home without dropping it off at my brother's house. (Honor thy father and mother.) So Phillip and I drove out to my brother's house with the food. (Later, a male friend told me I was "very lucky" to have not blown at least one of my tires while driving on that metal mesh.) We were already there, so we stayed for the party. It was nice to visit with out-of-town family and my sister showed up with her new hubby to visit and do some laundry for their honeymoon.
We went to see my house and drove back home. Phillip suggested that I call around to salvage yards to see if there were any used tires I could buy for cheap. (Great idea from my boy!) I looked up some salvage yards in the phone book and was telling my mom the plan when she mentioned that she has four good tires in her garage that came off my baby brother's car when it was scrapped. We checked the numbers and, lo and behold, my rims are the same size. The tires will work on my car!
Today, I went to visit my friend Natalie for a few minutes. Natalie is pretty well connected and has an awesome family. (If I ever meet them in person, I fully intend to adopt them.) I asked if she knows anyone who works on cars and might be able to do some serious repairs for a cheap price. She said yes! Natalie's Uncle Tim just so happens to have a garage shop that he has been working out of for 20-25 years. She called him and he told her he will get back to us soon. If he does not call back in time, I already have an appointment for the mechanic down the street to look at my car this Friday (his earliest appointment and, "luckily," before my sister returns from her honeymoon). At the bare minimum, I will have him swap out my tires for me so that I can drive my own car again.
Nahum 1:7 The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,
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