Tangible Trust

For all my son's life, I've tried to teach him that God can be trusted-that no matter what happens, we can rely upon God to do the right thing. I do believe that, but often it seems an abstract concept removed from the vigors of daily life....not so today.

You've read my previous posts regarding my husband's accident. What you may not know is that just a couple weeks prior to that dreadful/blessed event, the alternator in my van gave out...while I was driving it. That incident also showed me God's hand in that the van did not quit while driving 40 mph down Aurora. It quit about a block after I turned off and just as I was turning into the driveway of NW Hospital-right in front of a gate attendant with a phone book. He helped me push the van out of the way, too.

When the Geo was totaled, I looked back on this and saw God at work. The van quit then because God knew we would need it later and it needed to be fixed.

So what does this have to do with today? After taking Kent to work, Zak and I headed out for a couple of stores. As we were pulling into the second store, I noticed steam rising from the front end. "Uh oh," I thought. "Radiator's dry." It sure enough was (I've had a slow leak for a while.) We lingered in the store so the engine had time to cool down enough for me to put water in it. A full gallon later I figured we were ready to go. I started the engine and could actually hear liquid flowing over the noise of the van. I shut the engine off and got out to look. All the water I had just put in was pouring out from underneath the vehicle. "Great!" I bought another gallon-just in case-and headed up to the church building to talk to Kent. I ended up taking it in to the mechanic hoping it was a hose and not the radiator.

So which was it? Neither. The leak is coming from the intake manifold (a $900 repair job!). The van's not worth that much. Our wonderful mechanic did a "stop leak" temporary fix on it to try to buy us some time. I left nearly in tears and none too happy with God ("Haven't we been thru enough this year already?") But still I trust-frustrated, tempted toward despair-but still hoping and believing that somewhere, somehow God has a plan for all this. We've been too blessed for it to be anything else.

This afternoon we received a call from friends who said that God has "laid it on [their] hearts" to offer us their extra van.

I am truly humbled. God never fails me-us. When things get hard, and I'm at the end of my rope, God is always there to say, "Don't worry. I've got you." I fuss and pitch a fit and God doesn't yell, He says, "I'm glad you came to me."

I don't get it. But I'm sure glad He's that way.

I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I think I'll continue trusting that God will cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.