The Unexpected Journey of Faith…
You know that saying that says, “everything happens for a reason”? Well I have found that it’s really easy to believe that saying when the thing that happens is a good, exciting, or happy. But I have found in my life that it’s really hard to believe that saying when the thing that happens are hard, painful, and growing.
This is a story that I have had on my heart to share about how that happened to me in the middle of August this past summer when I was driving back to Georgia from Florida.
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It was a hot summer day and my friend and I were driving back to Georgia and had about a six hour drive in front of us. My air conditioning was broke, and lets just say that we were feeling the extreme heat of Florida and South Georgia within the car. We made it about three hours and then we decided to take a pit stop to get some lunch at a “Chick fil A” restaurant at the next exit from the highway.
So I pulled of the highway to get off at the exit ramp and stopped at a red light. As soon as I stopped at the red light, my car suddenly just turned off. As I looked nervously at my friend, I tried to turn it back on a couple of times, but it was completely dead. I then looked behind me to see if any cars were lined up, but didn’t see any yet. But then I looked to my left and I saw a homeless man laying down in the grass. My first initial thought was that the man was sleeping in the grass, but I didn’t think much about it. I then tried my car again, but still no luck. I then looked back at the homeless man and thought to myself, “I hope he is alright.” I then looked at my friend and said, “I wonder if all this is happening for a reason, why would my car suddenly die right here, right now, in this particular spot?”
So I got out of the car to push it to the side of the road, because at this point there was a line of cars lined up behind me. After pushing my car to the side of the road, I got on my phone to call for help. I then walked over to the man lying down in the grass and noticed how skinny looking he was. He was an older man who was so skinny that you could see his bones practically sticking out of his arms. I then noticed a bunch of bug bites all over his side with a cardboard sign next to him on the ground that said, “Hungry, please help, God Bless.”
I tried to call out to the man, but no response. I then nudged the man with my foot nudging his foot lightly, but still no response. Then I suddenly heard a lady call out to me from the road asking if the man was alight. I answered, “I’m not sure, he isn’t responding to anything that I’m saying.” By this time, I was already dripping in sweat from the hot Georgia heat and the sun beating down on me. But before I knew it the lady pulled over to the side and walked up to the man and exclaimed, “Oh my he is bleeding from his eye, I think we should call 911.” I instantly agreed and got on the phone to call the emergency operator. Before I knew it, there were two ambulances and two police officers there to help. They could not get the man to respond, but put him on a stretcher and took him to the hospital right away….
The lady who pulled to the side then noticed my car hood up and asked if everything was okay. I explained to her how it was so weird and sudden, but my car just died when I stopped at the light. I told her that I had no idea what was wrong with it, but I now wonder if the car had died for a reason. I told her that I saw the man lying in the grass, but I honestly just thought he was sleeping and that I probably would not have stopped, unless my car died like it did.
I told her that I just got home from Guatemala and didn’t have much money and still was 3 hours away from my destination in Georgia and that I didn’t know what I was going to do. She then told me that she had a friend who was a mechanic that lived about twenty minutes away that she could call to see if they could help. She wasn’t sure if they would be available, but I thanked her for any help that she could provide.
Well as she called him, she surprisingly and excitingly told me that one of the mechanics just passed us on the road and was turning around to come and help. She explained how crazy that was because they never drive this far north this way and it was crazy that he had just passed us right before she called him.
The mechanic stopped to look at my car and told me that my air compressor unit stopped working and then tore up my engine belt in my car which caused the car to stop running. He asked me if I wanted to get it towed to his shop? Can I just stop and say that the man seemed nice, but it was definitely a small town in South Georgia. The police officer urged me to take it to a commercial mechanic down the road instead of going to the small shop 20 minutes away. But once again, I thought….what were the chances the mechanic passed by me right when we called him, this must have happened for a reason. So I thanked the police officer for his help, but decided to go with the mechanic in the small town shop, trusting that even though he looked really rough on the edges and was hard to understand, that he really wanted to help me and that God crossed out paths for a reason.
So two hours later, after waiting in the hot Georgia sun, we finally got the car to the mechanic shop. Wow, it sure was a very small town and a really small mechanic shop. The mechanic and his two friends greeted me and I gulped inside hoping that I made the right decision inside to come here.
They spent an hour or so working on my car and then told me that I needed to drive an hour away with his wife to go get parts from Auto-zone, and that there might be a chance that I would have to get a hotel because they wouldn’t be able to get all of the parts that they needed in time to fix the car before night fall. This made me very nervous, because from the sight of things there were not many hotels around and once again I did not have much money to spend. In fact just to give you a perspective, I only had close to five hundred dollars in my account.
My friend Javi decided to stay at the mechanic shop as I got in the car to make the hour drive to buy the parts. As the mechanic’s wife drove me to the part store, she must have trusted me because before I knew it she was sharing her whole life story and all of the things in her life that were going wrong. For once, I tried not to talk too much, but showed her that I was intently listening to her story. We had a great conversation and my hope was for her to know that she was not alone and that she had someone there for her that would listen to her. She shared a lot of things about her and her family, but I soon realized how she had a very good heart and even though she had been through a lot of hardship and pain, that deep down she loved God, but needed a reminder that she was loved, heard, and seen by him and others.
After the two hour drive from the parts store and back, I returned to the shop. I saw my friend Javi there talking to the mechanics daughter and her friend. They were in high school and I soon found out that the one of the girls was crying. My friend explained to me that the girls started crying because they have been addicted to drugs and that they felt so depressed and hopeless. My friend told me that he shared his story with them and how Jesus had saved him and gave him a true and living hope. He excitingly told me that they asked him how they could be saved and have the hope of Jesus within them? He prayed with them right there to ask Jesus into their hearts!!! I was amazed and then thought to myself, “Wow this day has been crazy and hard, but maybe all of this truly is happening for a reason.”
The mechanics wife said bye to me and then gave me a hug and thanked me for my time talking and listening to her. I asked her if I could pray for her and she gladly said yes! My friend and I then waited about four hours or so until the car was done. My car broke down around noon and got done being worked on around 10pm at night. Wow, what a day!
Now was the scary part….”how much is this going to cost and how am I going to pay for it and still have enough money to return home,” I thought to myself. Since it was such a small town mechanic shop, they didn’t take credit cards, only cash or check, which I had neither of.
The parts alone costed about four hundred dollars, but I was able to pay for that using a credit card since I bought the parts from Auto-zone. They then gave me the bill for their labor and time and the bill was for seven hundred dollars. I gulped and thought to myself, “Lord, what am I going to do?”
I then humbly told the men that I had just returned home from a six month mission trip from Guatemala and that I only had five hundred dollars in my account and that I didn’t know what to do. They said, “I’m sorry, but we need to get payed.”
I asked them for a moment, as I walked away to think and pray. I will admit that I teared up a little bit not knowing how I was going to pay for this. This also was the money that I was going to rely on for the next month while I lived in Georgia until I figured out what was next for me in life.
I prayed to God asking him to open my eyes to his goodness and to help me trust him in this moment trusting that all of this was happening for a reason. I felt a calm wind gently hit me in the face and a peace fill me up reminding me that I was not alone and that He works through all things for my good and His Glory – Romans 8:28.
I walked back to the mechanics and they shocked me by what they said. They asked me if I could get three hundred dollars out of the bank for them tonight? I said, “Yeah, I for sure can do that.” They then asked if I could go to a gas station and use my credit card to fill all three of their trucks up with gas? I once again agreed.
After paying them their cash and filling up their trucks, the total came to four hundred and fifty dollars, which was two hundred and fifty dollars less from the bill that they had given me. They then told me that we were all good and thanked me for my business!
I was shocked!!! I said, “No, I want to pay you what you deserve, I will send you the rest of the money when I get home, I can ask my Dad or Mom for help.” Then what they said totally humbled me and shocked me to my core.
The mechanic who seemed really rough on the edges and who didn’t seem the friendliest, said to me, “Son, we don’t meet many people like you who do what you do, let us help you as a thank you for doing what you do.”
Wow!!!…
I could not believe the man’s words and I was shocked and humbled to my core. I thanked him and slowly walked back to my car trying to process everything that just happened.
I didn’t even know the guy even believed in God and definitely didn’t think that me being a missionary even mattered to him. I could not believe the man’s generosity, kindness, and respect that he showed and had given me. The guy even asked me to pray for him and his family as he was leaving and told me that if I was ever in the area again and needed help, to give him a call.
My friend Javi and I then finally went to Chick Fil A for a very late dinner. Out of no where I felt in my heart this prompting to ask the girl who was working the cash register if we could pray for her to thank her and bless her for her kindness that she showed us just working at the cash register. She surprisingly said, “Yeah, but can I ask my two other friends to join us as well?” Being just as surprised by her question, I answered, “yeah that would be awesome!”
Then God blessed Javi and I to pray for the three girls working at the store. God worked and moved in their hearts as the girls shared their hearts and how much they needed prayer for their individual family struggles that they were all facing…
Wow what a day…..then my phone rang….
It was my Dad! It was pretty late for him to call me and I was surprised by the call. I answered the call and he told me how proud of me that he was for a blog that I had previously wrote. This was a big surprise and blessing to me, because frankly I thought he was going to think I was crazy for the blog that I wrote lol (It was the blog about meeting Heidi Baker.) He then asked where I was and I briefly told him what had happened with my car. Instantly my Dad said that he was going to pay for the whole thing and send me money first thing tomorrow. I could not believe my Dad’s words. I thanked him, but told him that I really appreciated his kindness, but I’m an adult now and that I needed to figure this out on my own and trust that God would help me and take care of me.
Well I think God showed me that he was helping me and it was him helping me through my Dad. Within the next day or so I saw 1,000 dollars posted to my account, which I was able to use to pay off the car expenses! I then had 500 dollars left in my account which I originally started with which I was able to use for the next month or so while I lived in Georgia! I couldn’t believe it…
As I looked back at the day, as crazy, hard, growing, and hot that it was. I truly believed that God had my car break down on that exit and that time for a reason bigger and deeper than I knew. If I am being completely honest with myself, I know I would not have stopped for the man lying in the grass. I honestly just thought he was sleeping. But I truly do believe God had my car break down in that spot and in that time, because he knew that the man, his son needed help. I then believe that God divinely had the lady stop not only to encourage me to call 911, but to call the mechanic who just happened to be driving past us right around the same time that she called. Then The Lord amazed me once again and spoke through Javi to help two hurting high school girls find true hope and love in Jesus Christ! I believe God also used me to be a friend to the lady in the car who shared her hurting heart with me. I hope I was able to encourage her and give her Hope in Christ that she was loved and not alone!
Then God amazed me even more through the mechanics help and words to me. Then once I thought the day was finally over, he used us at Chick Fil A and then used my Dad to bless my socks off in calling me totally out of no where to tell me that he was going to pay for all of the car’s expenses.
So I say this all to say that God is working even when we can’t see it or realize it. I find myself often singing as a prayer to myself that old song that many of us heard in church growing up….”Open the eyes of my heart Lord, we want and need to see you.”
My prayer for my own life and for all who are reading, is that these stories will be a testimony to all of us to realize, believe, and see that God is always working in our lives, even when we can’t see it, feel lit, or believe it.
I know there are many far worse situations in people’s lives that cars breaking down, but I pray that we will all see God’s hands moving in our lives even through hard situations and times. Even though life can be hard I hope we can all trust that our God is bigger than our pain and situations that we are going through, that our God is faithful to truly work all things together for our good and His glory.
He does this because that’s what good Fathers do, they take care of their children. Just like my Dad helped me and took care of me when I needed it, even when we can’t see it or understand it, our Father is always there for us fighting for our good, protecting us, guiding us, and working through all things for our good!
“What the enemy means for evil, God uses for good.” – Genesis 50:20
So wherever you are in life, know that The Lord is there working on your behalf and is loving you like a true and good Father does!
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:18
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the certainty of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1
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Just like the journey of faith can have unexpected surprises and events, my next blog which will be coming soon is a blog about a new adventure and opportunity (along with a life update) that The Lord has surprised me and amazed me with when I least expected it.
No i’m not getting married yet lol, but it’s something pretty amazing. But keep praying for the married thing to happen in God’s timing and God’s way for me too please lol.
God Bless everyone….thanks for being the people that you are and for being on the journey with God that you are…
and please always remember…even if you don’t feel like you are on the journey with The Lord….He has been and always will be on the journey with you….fighting for you and loving you like a good Father does!
