Let me tell you a little story. My car has been having problems with the fuel pump for awhile now, and it has not been fixed yet due to one reason or another.
Yesterday I had planned to go to a city about an hour away to get my back adjusted and do some shopping at Wal-Mart. I got there early so I ran an errand before my appointment. My car was asking fine. I went to my back appointment. No problem. After I left my back appointment and started up my car, it was basically choking. I was hoping I could make it to Wal-Mart, but I made it about 2 1/2 blocks before it died while stopped at a stoplight. I tried to start it. Nothing. Tried again. Nothing. I had a pick up with a long camper parked behind me at the light. They honked at me, but I couldn't move. I was so frustrated. They finally went around me and a cop pulled up behind me. She turned her lights on and came up to me to ask me if I was having car problems. I told her my car died, and I couldn't get it started. She called another policeman who was there within a minute or so. HE blocked off the other side of the street so they could push my car down hill into a parking space. Each cop came up to me after I was parked and asked me if I was ok and if I had somebody I could call. I told them I would figure it out. There's no way I could afford a tow so I figured I would see if there was anybody who could help me.
Since I don't know much about cars, (Yeah, I admit it. I don't know everything. :-) ) I called my dad, who was in Canada, to ask him how hard it would be to get a fuel pump and get it fixed. He basically told me it needed to be lifted up so you could take the gas tank out, etc. I was like... ok, so that won't work. After a little while I tried starting my car again. Nothing, and by nothing I mean nothing. No sound came out of it. I realized that I must have either left the ignition on or something else. The battery was pretty much dead. There was a slight ding when I had the key in the ignition and the door open, but nothing else. This made me even more frustrated. At this point I figured it would be easier to try to find somebody to either haul or tow my car back home. I called my aunt to get their home number to call my uncle to see if he could help. No answer so I googled their home number. (Thank you, google). I called and he answered on the last ring. He basically told me he couldn't help me. I have no idea how many calls I made before I got somebody who could help. Amazingly enough, it was two of my former co-workers who helped me. I called one, and she called another one, who in turn called one of their friends who worked very close to where my car was parked. Thank God he had jumper cables and knew how to find my "hidden battery".
So he jumped my car and miraculously it started. I seriously did not believe it would start, but it did! He basically told me I'd better get home as soon as possible. No stops, just in case my car died again and left me stranded... again. As I was leaving the city, I got one phone call after another from the people whom I could not reach earlier. I made it home. My son and I ate lunch and then headed off to my parents house about 15 minutes away. I made it there too. My car didn't like the hill, but it made it.
Here's the interesting part. This happened to me when I had almost NO family around. All of my immediate family was in Canada visiting my oldest sister. My grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins on my mom's side were all in Colorado, basically. This left me no choice but to depend on non-family. This is something that is very hard for me. I don't like asking non-family members for help because I feel like I am bothering them. I know this isn't necessarily the right mindset, but it's one I've had for a long time. It was very uncomfortable for me to call all those people, but I did because I had to. My family could not help me. I really don't have any best friends.... but I have some AWESOME ex co-workers. God used them to help me. I can't help but think that this whole ordeal was a lesson to teach me something. I guess maybe God was trying to teach me how to lean on friends and other people for support instead of always running to my family. I know my family will always be there for me, but who am I to take the blessing of helping others away from my friends? One of these days I plan on being a missionary overseas. When that time comes my family alone is not going to be able to support me. I will have to depend on church family and friends to support me. I guess that means I better start eating some humble pie (lol) and getting some guts and start building relationships with more people in my church and whatnot. I'm sure there are other things that I could learn from this ordeal, but that's just what came to my mind. God is continuing to teach me so many things over the past week, and they have been difficult things to deal with sometimes. I'll have to talk more about that some other day. Who would have thought that car problems could teach you something?
Please continue to pray for me. I'm still looking for clarity and trying to hear God's voice instead of listening to the voices inside my head.
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