Abundant Provision

Thursday, March 15th. The alarm goes off at 7am and the day begins. It is a special day, not a normal work day. One of Josh's wonderful friends has generously given him a plane ticket so that he can spend a few days in Atlanta. We need to be at the RDU Airport by 8:30am for Josh's 9am flight. We are innocently sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on Captial Blvd. The radio begins to fade in and out. The display clock fades. THE CAR DIES. Josh gracefully pulls us over and we immediately pop the trunk to get out our recently purchased jumper cables. The above picture is a recreation of what we looked like on the side of the road! I am holding the hood b/c it is broken and must be held up. (Side note: it is heavier than it appears.) Eventually a kind hearted construction crew takes pity on us and loans us some battery power. We are on our way. Only a few miles down the road and Max (my pet name for my 1995 Nissan Maxima with over 230,000 miles on him) dies again. A second kind soul jumps our dear Max and we decide we just need to keep moving. So we drive in the emergency lane with the hazard lights on. We somehow make it to the next major highway and are about half way to the airport. We make it up the entrance ramp to Hwy 540 and the car finally dies...a final death. Max can no longer be helped by the precious jumper cables. I don't know what to do with myself and am convinced I should make a sign that says "airport" so the passing cars may better understand our urgent plight. I have only finished writing "airp" when a car pulls over to answer my dear husband's hitch-hiking thumb. I am fiercely praying and have my hand on my pepper spray key chain, as this is my very first hitch hiking experience. Praise the Lord, our good samaritan is a fellow believer. We make it to the airport on time and Josh flies away to Georgia. I am sitting in the airport lobby making calls to friends, the mechanic, our insurance and a tow truck. The rest of the day is amazing but I realize many people are already tired of reading so I will try to sum it up as follows:

*I met another Christian who encouraged me in the airport lobby after she overheard
me calling the tow truck.
*Tracy, a work friend, rescued me from the airport and drove all over Raleigh so I
could grocery shop. (poor Sugar was totally out of food)
*Mr. James, the tow truck driver, was also a believer and not-scary to ride
with. :)
*Kimberly, a seminary/NGCSU friend and wife of Caleb, then drove me around ALL day
as she was tracked out from her teaching job.
*Caleb and Hugh, seminary/NGCSU friends, then replaced the alternator so we could
save lots of labor money (we had already spent some pretty pennies on diagnostics,
a new battery, etc.)
*Hollie, a seminary/NGCSU friend and wife of Hugh, graciously hosted me in her home
until almost 1am when Max was fixed, full of gas and running!!

It was one of the craziest days of my life and especially stressful since Josh was out of town. But the Lord amazingly met EVERY SINGLE NEED right when we needed the need met. I was encouraged, cared for and assisted in ways I can't even fully explain. Josh and I were unbelievably humbled by our sweet friends and their immediate generosity in giving of their time, money, gas, wisdom and hospitality. THANK YOU to all of our old friends, new friends and complete strangers who made that day so amazing and Spirit filled. All we can do is praise the Lord and thank Him for His continued mercy and provision.