Trusting God during the bumps in the road

 

  I blew it. Yesterday morning as I prayed, I was asking God to help me draw closer to Him, to trust Him more,  to help me get the money I needed to meet the closing costs and down-payment on this house I am buying, to help me not hit a deer, etc. (I hit 4 deer with my last car, so that is part of my morning prayers now... don't judge me) I had been upbeat, positive, and full of hope. Now I was having an Anne of Green Gables moment, as I sat there in my car in the "depths of despair".

  Why is it we can be intent on trusting God and be assured He is working everything out....until we hit a bump in the road. I surely am not the only person that has moments like this. One moment everything is fine and you're on a spiritual high, and than Bam! (or in this case, a thud and a bump)

   It happened on my drive to work. I was merrily driving along....well, as merrily as one can be early in the morning on your first day of work after the weekend. And then it happened. A wonderful person pulled out in front of me. I did something I am ashamed to admit.... I had my high beams on, and I left them on out of irritation. Yeah, I know.... bad. And then the morning got even better. The car in front of me jolted - yes, cars can jolt -  and something rather large came tumbling out from beneath the vehicle.....a dead deer. I had no time to stop or swerve,  so over it I went. My car immediately went from being fairly quiet to a loud roar that announced to the world that my muffler had serious issues.

 It is amazing the thoughts that run through your head at a moment like that:

If that idiot hadn't pulled out in front of me, I would have seen the deer and not hit it...


Oh, he had no car in front of him and he still hit it


Guess I shouldn't have left my high beams on, this is God getting back at me for that.


Man, how much does a muffler job cost? $400? $500?


I thought the car sounded slightly louder this week, now I'll get it fixed whether I wanted to or not.


Maybe this house buying isn't God's will after all. Here I am praying for a way to get money, and this happens. (I even texted that to my best friend)


I wonder what my insurance deductible is?


So much for praying I wouldn't hit a deer. Well, guess I didn't really hit it.


What if my gasoline tank or oil pan got punctured? How much damage did this do other than the muffler?

   Seriously - that all did go through my mind. I am not making that up.

  I was just a couple of miles from work, so I kept my eye on my gauges and drove cautiously, and noisily to work. I backed into a place, got a flashlight, and looked under my car. I could see nothing. The muffler system seemed to be there and not hanging. No fluids were leaking. Other than deer blood all over the back right side panel, I could see nothing. I got back in the car and brooded for a while, as I had my Anne of Green Gables moment.

  My mood slowly improved over the course of the work day, and I decided my BFF was right, that this had nothing to do with my buying a house. At the end of the day, I went roaring home, hoping for the best.

 The mechanic in residence diagnosed it as just needing a new muffler - it was rusty enough that the deer broke the connecting pipe. So now around $130 later, the car is running quieter than ever.

  As I prayed before I went to bed, I repented of my quick descent into discouragement and despair, and of letting go of this trusting God so quickly and easily.

 It is so easy to trust God when everything is going well, but then we have problems, life gets in the way, and then we find out what it is truly like to trust God. And yeah, for some this would have been barely a blip on their radar and they would not have reacted as I did...... but hey, I am a work in progress.

 And at least I got a new muffler out of it.

For Moments Like These

Verse 1
What if all your questions are questions without answers
So you'll hold on longer
And what if in the waiting, waiting on the Lord
Makes you stronger, oh stronger
What if doubt leaves you wondering how
What if your heart says “He's working it out”

Chorus:
Faith was made for moments like these
When God knows what you can't see
And you don't understand, but you choose to believe
Faith was made for moments like these

Verse 2
What if Heaven's silent and the silence seems to whisper
“Just keep hoping, oh hoping”
What if in the sorrow, sorrow brings a healing
To the broken, the broken
What if the thorns are a part of His will
What if His mercy is deeper still

Chorus:
Faith was made for moments like these
When God knows what you can't see
And you don't understand, but you choose to believe
Faith was made for moments like these

Bridge
Oh when you're standing in the in between of what has been and what will be

Chorus:
Faith was made for moments like these
When God knows what you can't see
And you don't understand, but you choose to believe
Faith was made for moments like these