Friday, 18 July 2008

• God Told Us to Leave Our Home: A Journey of Faith, Pt. 2

  by mrs lily
  
  Read Part 1 here
  
  When Mr. Lily and I set out from Washington last August, we anticipated being on the road a month at most before finding a place to settle down. As we traveled, every day was uncertain; we didn’t know where we were going or where we would stay or if we could even afford to get there.

  God re-routed our course early on and we headed east very quickly. We spent the first portion of our trip primarily in North Carolina, much ahead of schedule, helping my family through some pretty rough times. From there, Mr. Lily and I zigzagged around the Midwest and Northeast part of the US more than I could tell you.

  Late in autumn that year, we were making our third (and second to last) trip through Ohio on our way to Michigan, when the “Check Engine” light didn’t just come on, it started flashing. We pulled over, but we couldn’t see what was wrong. As we are sitting there looking at it, the car started shaking.

  By a miracle, probably less than a mile down the road, we came upon a tiny local auto shop. They weren’t open; however the owner came by unexpectedly and was kind enough to look it over. He knew immediately what was wrong and actually offered us a really good deal to fix it, but the guy said we needed to make a decision in 10 minutes or he wouldn’t have time to do the work.  The cost was more than we had in the bank. We called everyone we knew, and just as the guy was about to tell us he couldn’t wait anymore, we got ahold of someone who very graciously put more than what we needed into our bank account. It didn’t take long until we were back on the road again, our faith reinforced and spirits soaring.

  We got about  four miles down the road when the temperature gauge shot up and we had to pull over and let the car cool. Someone gave us some water, and we learned too late that it was still too hot. We blew the head gasket, the engine seized, and water was all throughout it. We were in the middle of nowhere and knew no one. In the end, it was actually a friend of a stranger who rushed out to meet us and waited to have the car towed to their apartment, where she and her husband had offered to let us stay until we could figure out what to do. The Lord carried us through that night. It was a miracle that neither of us even got stressed or irritated; I distinctly remember laughing.

  For a week we slept on an air mattress that we had to re-inflate every night around 4am, wedged halfway in the living room, half in the dining room and practically in the hall of the small apartment of strangers, waiting, waiting, waiting for the car to be fixed. The guys attempted to do the work themselves, but it was way over their heads. It turned out, they just so happened that they knew the vice president of Midas, who gave us 50% off all of the work needed. We watched in amazement as these strangers rallied to our aid at every turn and raised support for us to cover the entire expense and set us back on the road.

  It's times like these that make me honestly wonder why I ever struggle to know that God is going to take care of me.

  To be continued....

  Has God ever provided for you in a really unexpected way?

   

   

  • 3:17 PM
  • 392 Views
  • 16 eProps
  • 9 Comments