Sorry I have been mostly MIA this week. The fuel pump decided to quit on my car…in the carpool line no less! My daughter has been going through a rough time the last few weeks, and I had to take her to an urgent care center last night because I was afraid she had strep throat. She is supposed to be leaving on an overnight Brownie camping trip tomorrow, so I rushed her over last night so we would know what we were dealing with. It’s been that kind of week. And yet, in the midst of it, God was there.

When the fuel pump went out on my car, I wasn’t driving it…my husband was. He was in the best possible spot (for being in carpool anyway) that he could have been in when the car stalled. He tried to restart it to no avail, and when he got out of the car, several men jumped out of their cars and offered to help. They pushed him into a parking space so the car wasn’t blocking the carpool line. He walked my daughter into the school and then called me. We live right beside the school. He could easily have walked back home, but since it was raining, I came and picked him up. We had the car towed to the repair shop we use. They had time to look at it yesterday. The place where they order parts from had the parts in stock and was able to get them over to the shop yesterday. We went and picked the car up last night. The bill was $758, but even in that, I am thankful because we had received a tax refund and are able to pay for the repairs out of that money.

So, while I wasn’t particularly thrilled that the car needed repairs and that we had to pay $124 to have it towed or $758 to have it repaired, I am still praising God. It could have been a lot worse. I might not have a car at all. Many people do not. I might have an expensive car payment. I don’t, but many do. I was able to get my car repaired, and I didn’t even have to go into debt to do so. God had already provided the funds in advance. I wasn’t driving the car. I can tell you, breaking down in the carpool lane would have majorly stressed me out! I could have been sitting in the middle of an intersection with no way to move my car out of the way. I wasn’t. We could have been far away from home when it happened. We live right beside the school. God provided, and I am thankful.

As if that wasn’t enough…my daughter was complaining of her throat hurting when we picked her up from school yesterday. She didn’t say anything else about it, though, and we went on to gymnastics a bit later. She started complaining about it again when we were on the way to pick up my car from the repair shop. Her complaints were becoming more insistent, and she started to cry. We had stopped to get a bite to eat, and she laid on me the entire time. I was quite concerned and fearful that she may have strep throat.

As I was driving back home, I knew that I had to get her to an urgent care center last night. For two reasons. One, if she had strep throat, and it had already been bothering her for most of the day yesterday, then most likely, she was going to be in pretty bad shape by this morning. Two, I know that when they start antibiotics for strep, they are still contagious for 24 hours. If I waited until this morning, there was no way she was going to meet the 24 hour contagion period before she was slated to leave on her trip tomorrow. I called one friend who is usually unreachable on Thursday evenings. She answered the phone. She told me about a new urgent care center not too far away from our town that might still be open. I called another friend. She, too, answered the phone and was even at home, which was what I needed because I needed for her to find the number of the urgent care for me so I could call them from the car. I did. Unfortunately, they were closing before I was going to be able to make it there. However, I knew there was also a new urgent care center in my town. I had no idea what their hours were. It was about 7:20pm. I didn’t know their name or number, but I knew where they were located. My daughter was riding with my husband, so I called him and told him to drive straight there, and I would meet him. As soon as we hung up, I started to pray. “Lord, please let them be open. Please, God. I need your help.” Just as clearly as if I had heard Him audibly, He spoke to me and said, “Everything is going to be fine, my child. They are open until 8:00.” I admit, I wondered whether or not that had truly been God, but I should have trusted.

We turned into the parking lot, and I immediately saw a blinking OPEN sign in the window of the urgent care center. Their lights were on. We drove up, and sure enough, as I looked at their posted hours, I saw that they were in fact open until 8:00! God is good. Not only that, there was no one else there waiting to be seen. We walked right in. They took us right back. AND, my daughter didn’t have strep throat! The PA thought it was probably just post-nasal drip from seasonal allergies. Praise You, Lord!

I have to run for now, but I will try to come back later and explain how this ties into what I have been learning in my Bible study about the Israelites in the wilderness and how God provided them with manna in the morning and quail in the evening. Until then, may you see God’s provision in your life today.