our wonderfully mysterious God

first of all, let me preface these cool happenings by saying that we have a little red car that has had transmission trouble for about a year. it didn't seem worth it to fix it because the fix is worth what the whole car is worth, so we have been driving at less than 45 mph all this time to eke a little more life out of this car. in december, we bought a different car to spare us from possibly being caught on the side of the road with none one of these days! since then, we've been blessed to have both cars available.

Friday, 17 Feb. my husband, Orlondo, planned to go hang out with his brother, who lives about 30 minutes away. he was getting ready, eating something and rummaging around in the kitchen, when i started feeling really weird. i couldn't put my finger on it, but i felt increasingly uneasy about him leaving. was he going to be in an accident? was there something wrong with the car? was something bad going to happen at his brother's house? i started feeling physically wrong, like maybe i had a stomach ache.
i couldn't take it any longer. i just felt so in explicably anxious! so i timidly asked, "how are you feeling?" expecting a normal "fine" answer.
to my relief and shock, he responded, "i feel kinda weird!"
"me too!!!"
so we started discussing how we both felt strange about him going and i started thinking about what alternatives might feel better... would i feel better if he didn't go? yes. would i feel better if he stayed off the highway? yes. so maybe he should take the red car, which can't go on the highway... would i feel better if i went along? maybe.
"what car were you going to take?"
"the red car."
"oh, i thought you would take the highway and that maybe you should take the red car instead, but... never mind..."
we just didn't know what to do, so we prayed together, and then sat there, wondering. we needed an answer soon!
"Lord, what should we do?" i burst out.
the phone rang almost immediately!
it was Orlondo's brother. his girlfriend was sick, so could they cancel.... YES! amazing! it took all the guessing out of the equation and felt SO relieving. we both felt so much better right away!
and we were thankful! maybe there would have been an accident, or maybe a mugging, or maybe... who knows?! maybe we'd never know, but we felt that God had communicated with us and spared us from something.

later Friday night. i was writing in my journal about the day's event and looked to the bottom of my journal page, which had a verse: "the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." Psalm 121:8 wow! that's amazingly applicable!!!
i told Orlondo and he paused. he asked, "are you lying to me?!" what kind of a question is that?!
"about the verse? NO!"
"Guess what?! i wrote in my journal earlier tonight and the verse at the bottom of my page was that exact verse!!!!!!!!!"
we were incredulous! God, You are amazing! what a blessing that He would reassure us that He had been protecting us that day!

Monday, 20 Feb. Orlondo took the red car to play basketball at church, a few minutes from the house.

Saturday, 25 Feb. Orlondo started the red car to warm it up.... it was reluctant to start, and even after it should have been warm, it was acting cold. the battery light was on, the engine sounded weak, the tachometer was jumpy, and the steering was difficult... what?
my first thought was the battery. had the cold-ish weather really run it down in just 5 days?? we ran the car a little more and i thought maybe driving it around the block could test or resolve the steering and maybe help the battery charge better... by the time orlondo got back the lights were dimming and the steering took big muscles... he got it parked and turned it off... man, we won't even be able to get it to the car place! is it the alternator? what to do?!

Monday, 27 Feb. i skyped with mom and dad over in Nigeria, and dad, who knows cars, suggested the serpentine belt.  of course! we've had that ridiculous thing pop off more than once (ford was really lacking in that department! you'd think they'd securely attach a part that keeps the car running!). it is what keeps the power steering, the battery, the alternator and more, running as a unit! when it pops off, all power ceases and the car dies quickly! sure enough, when i looked under the hood later, the belt was sagging loosely from its anchors. ah HA! and upon closer inspection, i saw that one of the pulleys that is meant to keep it in place had broken clear off and was dangling from the belt!!! mystery solved. thank You, Lord, that it's not the expensive alternator!

later Monday night. i was talking to Orlondo about the logistics of taking the car in for fixing. maybe we can put the battery on the charger and make it to the shop on just battery? how far does a battery last? should we just have it towed?
i said, "we don't know when the tensioner pulley broke off; it could've broken when you went to basketball on monday, for all we know, so maybe the car ran awhile on just battery. i'm glad we didn't drive far, not knowing we were just on battery! thankfully the car died in our own parking lot!"
"wait a minute!" he said. "last friday when i was going to my brother's! we felt weird! if i'd driven that distance, i would've been stuck on the side of the road with the broken pulley and the car would've died!"
so that's why we felt weird!!! AMAZING!

God is totally interested in the details! He works in mysterious ways, and sometimes, just sometimes, we get to find out about it!