STRONG SUPPORT

Around the first of the year, I chose II Chronicles 16:9a as my verse for 2014.

"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him." (Or fully committed to Him)

I zeroed in on the verse because it is the desire of heart to have a heart fully committed to our great God! I have to say, too, that the promise attached to the verse did its part to pull me in. Who wouldn't want the "strong support" of Almighty God? As a widow, the challenges come regularly and in a steady stream. During these past seven years...and increasingly so...I have found that I cannot make it through without a very close relationship with the Lord. And although that is true, part of the picture is that it's just plain wonderful to walk with Him moment by moment!

It would be impossible to tell "today's" story without telling a little about the past few months. Let me tell you a little about my car!

First of all...and I don't have room to tell this whole story...but God led me to a perfect car back in November 2008. I had completely laid the burden on Him weeks before since my LeBaron convertible was failing seriously. Well, beside the fact that the 2004 Honda had a remote starter, heated leather seats and a six-slot CD player, the car was beautiful. It had 116,000 miles on it. It drove like a new car and looked like one.

Now is has 222,500. Lately, this and that has been happening to it, causing me to rely completely upon the Lord. Quickly...one short story...the battery kept draining...even with a new battery...and no one could figure it out. I searched the internet thinking it might be the remote starter. It wasn't. But I did see something about when you try to figure it out, start with the obvious first. On my way home from church on a very cold day when my car had barely started, I pulled out the phone charger. I don't know why. I just did. God gave me the idea. It was the answer.

There's more in between that story and the one I am about to tell. All of this makes me shake my head in amazement. God is giving strong support to this widow of seven years!

Thursday I began to hear rattling beneath my car. It was cold. And extremely windy. Snowy. I thought maybe it was just the wind, but something in the back of mind reminded me that about five months ago, the dealer told me I needed my oil pan replaced. Oh, dear! I looked up the quote: $459.00! I prayed as I drove, prayed as I walked about my house, prayed on my way to a nursing home, prayed at night...just quietly but very clearly proclaiming my utter dependence upon the Lord.

Friday I got up, set for a $459 day. I called a mechanic from church. He agreed to come over on Saturday morning with his wife. He was concerned that I might have already lost oil. I simply put it in God's hands. (I did say, "Lord, You know that I don't have $459.00.) I prayed for wisdom. Later, I called Grease Monkey who had done my oil change two weeks before. They said to come in. The guy got down underneath and shouted up, "It's not the oil pan!" Hmm. First thought...good news. Second thought...what else might it be? It turned out to be a plastic tab that had come off, leaving some wires flopping around. They couldn't fix it. They suggested someone else in town. They couldn't do it. I decided to go back to the guy who worked on the problem I described in the previous paragraph.

Short story. He drove me home and took the car back. Two hours later, he picked me up and drove back to the shop. I was thinking, "Well, this may be a $139 day...I just picked that number out of the air. I opened my purse and asked him what I owed him. "Nothing," he said. "No, let me pay you," I argued. "Naw, nothing."

It was a day of a quiet walk with God, a day without stress in the situation. I sensed strongly that He had intricately ordered my steps. It would be wrong of me to call it anything but "strong support" from my Lord. I am quietly, positively amazed at His goodness to me. I could write a book about His part in my life over the past three months! Hmmm. Maybe I will!