A busted van + a child's prayer = Awesomeness
I have to share this story - God just gave us an incredible opportunity to celebrate with our family how He answers prayer in real ways.
So we've known for about a month now that we'll need a new minivan. It needs a lot of work, and it's not worth it to repair. However, for the past few weeks it seems that every time we drive it, something else goes wrong - the vents turn high and low by themselves, dashboard lights come on and off, etc.
Friday night, we were at the mall for our family's favorite cheap dinner - Regina Pizza - and as we were leaving, our headlights wouldn't work. Our high beams worked, but then the battery light came on (not the first time). We left for home, and as we were sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the expressway, the ABS brake light came on the dash, as well. Since this was the first time we had seen this light, at this point Sarah and I are looking at each other with a "hmmm, that's interesting" look.
To avoid traffic, we decided to get off an exit early, and as we did, all of the interior dash lights dimmed, then went black. So now we're getting more concerned - Sarah and I frantically start shutting off everything else electronic - the stereo, vents, etc. At least the headlights and engine were still working, but we were starting to think we might need a tow to make it all the way home.
At this point, Sarah asked Joseph if he would like to pray, and ask God to get us home safely tonight. Joseph prayed a simple prayer for our safe arrival home, and said "Amen."
From there, we drove pretty uneventfully for the final 2 miles or so, until we got about 100 yards from our house. At that point, the engine started making some interesting noises. Thinking that when we junk the van we'll have to have it towed, I decided to back into the driveway.
As I pulled forward to get into position, everything electric in our car shut off - the gauges, lights, everything - but the engine was still running. So I put it in reverse, and backed into the driveway. As I applied the brake to stop, the engine shut off completely, and all of us let out a collective sigh - we were home!
It seems like such a ridiculous thing, but I was just amazed at how God answered Joseph's prayer so exactly that night - we were able to celebrate that with him and Timothy, and they really saw His hand at work. We couldn't have made it to the stop sign at the end of our street if we wanted - God gave us exactly what we needed. He got us home safely, and no further. Praise God for such an awesome opportunity to see Him at work, and celebrate with our whole family how he answers prayers!
PS. And on a further note of answered prayers, later that night as I continued my search for a newer van, I saw a new listing come online, which I called about the next day, then bought. It's a newer van with less miles than ones we were looking at (and AWD), but we likely wouldn't have bought the van yet without breaking down on Friday night. God's timing on our breakdown got us a great deal!
