Good morning! I really enjoy being home! To me, there is no better place to be! This is the place where I am most comfortable and free to be myself. As enjoyable as it is for me to be at my house with my family, it is nice from time to time to get out of the normal routine and experience something new. We find ourselves taking trips to Jersey to visit family or Lancaster, Pennsylvania just to hang because we enjoy the area; but no matter where we go, we love being together.
On one trip to PA, we found ourselves traveling on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (the BQE) which is a road we rarely take. There is beautiful scenery when you get near New York City, but the traffic can be horrendous. Honestly though, no matter what road you choose to take when going through the city is going to be the wrong one – construction, accident, traffic – it seems like something is always there to slow you down.
As we were traveling through a section of the road where there was no shoulder and concrete dividers on both sides of the three lane highway, we ended up getting a flat tire.
Doesn’t this always seem to happen in life! You are finally breaking away from the routine of your life to experience something new or something greater and something else comes along to put a damper on your parade!
My first thought was, “great, where I am going to be able to pull over safely to check this thing out?” Here we were in the middle lane and as I moved right and began to slow down, I saw a temporary advanced warning sign and some cones. It seemed they were set up for some type of road work, but there was no one around. Thankful, immediately following the sign, the road widened for a small section where I was able to pull over safely.
Having been trained to work on public roads, I began using the sign and cones to set up a work zone around our vehicle so that I could safely change the tire and get back on our way.
In this moment, I was so thankful for God’s provision! There is no coincidence that I just happened to get a flat tire at the only spot in the roadway where I could pull over safely to change the tire and bonus – to have the equipment available to set up a work zone!
As we experience things in life that seem to set us back, we can still rely on God to provide what we need to successfully make it through. Did I want to get a flat tire – of course not! But if I was going to get a flat tire, I am thankful for how God provided what was needed.
Life can be difficult at times, VERY difficult – but there is nothing impossible for God! There is no situation He is unaware of or incapable of bringing peace, healing, and restoration.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
As the Lord was declaring this to the Israelites, they were exiled and living in Babylon because of their disobedience to God. This verse declares His sovereignty and the fact that there is nothing we experience that He is not aware of.
His promise to the Israelites (and always to YOU and me), was to provide peace and bring restoration in the midst of the current circumstance. Just like the Israelites, the hope that we can find in God alone is the confident expectation that is grounded in the faithfulness of God.
God’s track record is perfect – even if our circumstances are not. God has the ability to get us through – and not just get us through – but stronger and completely restored.
To make the story about the flat tire even more amazing, just as I was finishing up, a construction crew (that wasn’t anywhere to be found before) came to grab the cones and the sign – which would have left me with nothing to protect my family and my car. Think about this… I believe that if I would have left at a different time, those cones still would have been there, because my God provides – those cones and that sign were there for me, for exactly the amount of time I needed. WOW!
Heavenly Father, thank You so much for supplying everything we need, every time we need it! You are aware of the situation each person is going through in this very moment, and You have a plan to bring peace and restoration. Help us to trust You and rely on what You provide to bring us through stronger and better! In Jesus Name – AMEN!
Be Transformed 