It was my last week of outreach when I got the message that my car had been in an accident. My being in South Africa prevented me from doing much of anything. As I worked with my friend to figure out the logistics of everything I felt the challenge of being a crossed the world.
Getting back to California I heard the whole story of what had happened and my heart was in my throat. There was no way this car had survived.
She had somehow driven off the road at a high speed, narrowly missing a telephone pole on one side and a wall of rocks on the other side. As the story was told I knew in my heart that only God could have kept them safe and unharmed in anyway.
She ended her story telling me that it felt like God was lifting the car off the road and carrying it into the ditch.
Sometimes we don't know the reason for the small miracles, but we can still be thankful for them.
Looking at the car for the first time I was in shock. It appeared there was nothing wrong. We opened the hood and looked inside and saw that the front end had been pushed in a little bit. If It had been a quarter of on inch more the air bags would have been deployed.
My friend was able to pull out the front, and straighten everything. In less then 10 hours of work the car was drivable and ready to go!
A few weeks later there was a flat tire. Easy fix. No new tire needed.
The next thing that happened was strange....
My friends returned from taking my car for a week. I went to drive away and unknown to me the car was leaking transmission fluid. A mile away from the base the car stopped.
We learned as we where sitting on the side of the road awaiting our rescue that there had been a huge accident at the end of the road. God supplied several miracles at that time. The man that had been driving the car should have been dead. God said no, we said no and the man is walking without pain. His family is good, their car is not.
The fix on my car was a simple 10min job of replacing a hose and refilling the oil.
The day after that I drove into Chico and suddenly I couldn't shift. I had no gears. I called for another rescue.
Again it was a simple fix only taking a few hours.
In the mean time I came to the decision that I was not going to drive home to Minnesota. My sister was suppose to fly out and drive back with me. She said, "that's not going to happen. I don't trust your car. I'll just take my loss on the ticket, and you fly home."
Monday morning her flight was canceled and she got a full refund. I made arrangements to leave the car here and fly back Minnesota.
I was praying with a friend the other day and she said. "Jodi, I don't think the devil likes your car very much." Thinking about that comment has brought a realization of how much of a sanctuary that car has been. It has been the place of many major decisions, many deep conversations, many heart to hearts, many tears, and many spirit filled moments. God has used that car for many things for many people and I pray that He will continue to do so until it's end.
Please join me in prayer for...
Please pray that I will have wisdom to know what should be done with the car.
Pray for the four schools that are starting here in Chico this week!
Pray for safe travels for myself and others coming and going this week.
Thanks everyone! MN we will see you soon.
