My oldest son came back from his summer job, took his truck the next day for an oil change and full tank of gas, and headed out that night for a nearby Target, which is about 45 minutes away. Before he got halfway there, his truck made an awful noise, and he saw smoke coming from the rear end. He pulled off at the next exit, which – thank the Lord – was a rest area. We got the truck towed home and had some mechanic friends come see what was wrong. They gave me options for fixing it, which included trying to find a similar truck at a junkyard and swapping out the problem areas – or – rebuilding the rear end. Being on the single-mom-budget that I am, I opted for the first option.
Jackson – all along- was considering buying a different vehicle, but I was thinking we could fix this one for less than it would cost to buy another vehicle. So that’s what we (mostly I) decided to do, and I gave our mechanic friends the go-ahead on finding what they needed at a junkyard.
The next day, while I was out and about in my van, I got this sudden impression that maybe I hadn’t made the right decision about Jack’s truck. I can’t explain it any better way than just this feeling in my gut that maybe his truck was not safe or good for him anymore, for whatever reason. So I did what I do any time I second-guess my decisions – I prayed about it. It might be good to note here that this is the first time I’ve prayed about this, other than asking God to get my son home safely when it broke down. I did not ask God into the decision about what to do. I just decided on my own what I thought would be best, based on our financial situation. Now, at this point when God was prompting me, I (finally) asked Him into the situation – specifically to stand in the way of the mechanics getting what they needed to fix Jack’s truck if he wasn’t supposed to drive it again. And God answered. Literally everything fell through over and over.
Unbeknownst to me, a friend of ours had talked to Jackson and found out what he would be interested in if he had to buy something else and what his budget would be for this first adult purchase. Within a day, that guy’s friend had a truck on his car lot that fit the bill, and the day after that, Jack had a functioning truck again. One that he’s quite happy about.
This is a silly story about a material thing, but how often do we decide a best way to go about something, based on our opinion or finite knowledge or circumstances alone? How many times do we make a decision first then pray about it later? How many times do we not pray at all until the thing suddenly doesn’t sit right with us or nothing is happening to move it forward?
What kindness is it that God is at work fixing our wrong decisions before we even know. That He gives us gut feelings to know we were wrong. That He lets our plans fall apart. That He goes ahead of us making things right. That he brings spiritual insight from a broken down truck 😂♥️