On my way home from visiting my nieces and nephew, I got a flat tire. I was under the gun with the deadline for work, and I hadn't eaten most of the day. I'd had kind of a rough night the night before. Purple circles lined my eyes from lack of sleep. My clothes were wrinkled from driving all day. After driving 4 ½ hours, I pulled into my son’s driveway only to find my rear driver’s side tire was flat.
About 10 miles out of town, my low tire light went on. I didn't really think about it because in the winter, my low tire light goes on all the time. I thought maybe when I got to the my son's house, I just needed to put a little air in the tire. So I didn't stop until I got to his place knowing he had an air compressor and could fill my tire. When I stepped out of the car I looked first at my front tire; then, at my rear driver's tire. I sighed in frustration; I felt deflated.
My son, Jake came out of the back door just then. He saw the problem and hustled into action. Within about 20 minutes, he had taken off the flat and installed a bubble tire on the back end of my car. He showed me a neat trick for finding leaks, too. We put a wet wipe over the back of the tire and pushed on it intermittently until little bubbles formed where the slow leak had originated. My tire had a puncture that had been leaking air for close to 5 hours. I couldn’t believe I had made it that far without losing my tire! I said a little prayer of gratitude. God is good.
Since I have a midsize SUV with all-wheel drive all the time, driving another 125 miles on a bubble tire wasn't going to help the condition of my car. On Sundays, everything billed out as an emergency, and nothing was usually open. By chance, I drove over to the local Walmart service center and pulled into one of the open lanes. Thankfully, the service center was still open. A couple of service people and the manager came out to take a look at my vehicle and assess the situation. A spark of hope lit in me, and I said a quick prayer that God would answer my need somehow and make a way for me to get home.
The service guy said that I must have driven on the tire quite a while because it was shot. Thank you, God, for watching over me and letting me get to my son's house on that bad tire. The tire could not be patched. The manager came over and found out the tire size that I would need and both of the service people shook their heads. I felt like I was on a teeter-totter. Now what?
"Sorry, ma'am," the service person said, "We don't keep that tire size in stock." My tire was not a standard size. They would have to order one and I would have to wait, or I would have to go to another service location tomorrow.
“Wait!” the service manager interjected. “I recall a tire order from a few weeks ago that ordered two of that size and the customer only took one. I'm sure we have the other one somewhere.” Hope blossomed in my chest.
The service workers shook their heads, but a full search ensued anyway. I offered up a prayer of thanksgiving, anyway. After an inventory of 2 storage areas, all of the store displays, and each rack in the shop, the tire was located.
Next step: measure the tread to see if they will work with my existing tires.
Guess what?
They DID!
One of the servicers came up to me and said, “God must be looking down favorably on you.”
I replied, “Jesus loves me.”
Besides this, a lot of things had happened on that day that were not great. I was having a little meltdown on the way home, and I asked God to intervene--repeatedly. I needed a gratitude adjustment! There were many times I could have been angry or doubtful about on this journey. I could have complained about my bad fortune or sworn at my tires. The service people could have dismissed me; they were busy, too. I didn't understand why my day was wrought with misfortune, but the blessings just kept coming.
God is good. All the time. The Psalm "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; His love endures forever" (Psalm 107:1; 118:1; 118:29; 136:3) kept coming to mind. Even though things weren't going my way, I kept reminding myself that God was watching out for me, and the end result would be His will--not mine. I'm not perfect. I don't always remember to call out for him, but God is perfect, and He is always watching out for me.
When we call on God, He shows out in ways we don't expect. God knew that I would be coming through and that my tire would be flat, and that tire was put there for me. This is how vast and infinite God's plan is. God knows what is going to be coming before we do, and He is prepared even when we are not.
How is God showing out in your day today? What are some of your gratitudes? Share with me in the comments!
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