The Provision | They Overcame

It had been a few months since my young husband had passed away.  

I certainly never imagined I would be a cancer widow at 25 years old, but I was doing as well as could be expected, I guess. Most areas of life I felt independent enough to handle. I was incredibly lonely - but able to continue on with life.  

One life task deeply bothered me to do alone, however, and that was anything to do with vehicle repair.  It's a vulnerable feeling to now be alone in dealing with a male mechanics in a state and country not my own.  For whatever reason that was when I felt the stigma of singleness the most. 

Hating a task doesn't make it go away, however.  The plain fact was my tires were in a horrible state. Living in rural central Virginia, the long drives on deserted roads alone were clearly unsafe for me at this point.  I needed tires, like yesterday.  I took a deep breath, picked up the phone and resolved to deal with this unsettling task.  The supercenter about 45 minutes away felt relatively safe and affordable, so I called in to make an appointment on the first day I had free.  It was urgent.    Unfortunately, as the technician gathered my information over the phone, I learned that my car had expensive, high performance tires that were not kept in stock. Apparently I should have called weeks ago to order the tires, in order to have them serviced this week.  Here I had an appointment and a need, but no tires.  He explained it would be quite a long wait to get them in, and my heart sank.  I simply didn't have time to wait.  Feebly, I sighed out a meager prayer to the Lord.  

Checking the system over the phone, he noticed there actually were a set of the exact tires I needed, at that location.  Looking more into the situation, he was truly puzzled.  He explained that they must have been ordered in for someone, because that's the only way they would be there ...

but he could not find the tag setting them aside for anyone.  So we had a bit of a mystery on our hands.  My curiosity was piqued. My hope began to rise - just a little.  He said he would check into it and give me a call back.  

Later that afternoon I got the call.  

The technician was dumbfounded, but happy.  Here there was a set of expensive, specialty tires exactly matching my vehicle, sitting in their inventory, without any special order record on file.  He said he had looked into it and there was no explanation or hold on these tires.

As they were not promised to anyone, he was free to sell them to me!  My car would be safe, on the first available day, just like that.

I nearly cried for joy as I hung up the phone.  It made no sense to this technician, but it made perfect sense to me.  I knew who had "called ahead" to order my tires.  I don't know how he did it, but my God was there again, quietly going before me to provide for my needs.  

The King of the Universe would have no trouble getting 

the right kind of tires to the right shop, at the right time.  

Here I had thought I was vulnerable and alone, but I was wrong.  In the simplest of ways, God showed me once again that He had my back.  He was keenly aware of both my emotional and practical needs.  He was a good husband, when I thought I had none. In my moments of worst vulnerability, he showed up to remind me that I never walk alone.

❤️RLaird

4/9/2020