God Cares for You

God cares for you. It seems simple enough, but we often forget to rely on Him. We tend to get anxious about…well, about most everything. We forget that our great and mighty God has the world in His hand, but He cares for us. He cares about the things we think are big and important and He cares about the small details.

A couple of years ago, I was specifically reminded of God’s care for my family…

“What are you doing?!?” I asked.

“Pulling over,” mumbled my husband.

“I thought you said we could make it to the next exit,” I said nervously. We were in a rural area near Mt. Eagle.

“No, the temperature gauge went up even quicker this time. We don’t want to risk being stuck on the side of the road,” said Frank exasperated.

But we’re stuck on the side of the road, now…

The van had given us grief in Santa Belle Island. She was fine for the seventeen-hour trip down, but she began overheating while on the island. Frank spent part of a day working on her and thought she seemed to be working well. We thought she was ready for the trip home. He fixed what he thought was causing the coolant to leak, but he must’ve fixed the wrong thing because now she was overheating, again.

Who could blame Betsy?  (That’s what we called her.) She hadn’t been the same since the riding lawn mower caught fire. I tried to keep her safe and jumped in to move her. But there was a car behind her. With the blowing wind, the flames stretched to Betsy’s hood before I could get her moved. The fire damaged the wiring and burnt her sparkling, blue hood. We fixed the wiring and had her running again, but the fire took a toll on her and the large burn spot on her hood was the reminder. So, our once dependable van had us stuck on the side of Hwy 65 for the third time within thirty minutes. We were trying to get to the next exit, which looked to have a couple of gas stations.

We had stopped at a gas station a few miles back to add coolant. When we stopped smoke poured out of the hood. Frank called my dad, who was helping mechanic by phone, but we couldn’t get the parts that we needed at that time of the night. The bare bones gas station, had little to work with and nothing else was open. Troop did the best he could with what was available and we headed back onto the road.

This happened a couple of times, but now we were stuck on the side of the road and the temperature gauge wasn’t going down. Cars raced by, shaking the van as we sat in the emergency lane. We could hear the semis speeding up the highway. So much traffic, but no one stopped to help. I could hear the fear in my kids’ voices as each of the four asked what’s happening. They were tired and scared. They knew we were far from home and stuck. I entertained the thought of Frank walking to a nearby house to ask for a gallon of water, but decided it wouldn’t be safe. So, we called for a tow truck and were told that there was a two hour wait. Two hours?!? We had already been dealing with this for well over an hour. Knowing that we just needed coolant to get to the next exit, we called the highway helper. Our disappointment grew as no one came to help us. Now, my nervous kids were praying. After thirty minutes, they asked why no one had stopped. I sadly answered, “I don’t know why no one stopped to help.” I’m sure they heard my voice crack.

 My kids reminded me that they had been praying. By this time, the van had added four hours onto the trip.

Finally, Betsy cooled down enough to get going again. She barely made it the one mile to the next exit. Finally, we pulled into the only gas station. Troop popped the hood to take another look. Betsy didn’t hide the fact that she was overheating. A large cloud of smoke poured out. Sitting in the passenger seat, I noticed three men looking at the smoke and at Troop under the hood. One of the men was in his twenties, while the other two were older. While Troop was inside the gas station, the men continued looking at the smoke that was rolling from under the hood. And, keenly they noticed where the leak was. Come to find out, two of the men were mechanics.

When Troop came out to the car, the men walked over and offered to help! Our prayers were answered. Someone was willing to try to help us! The youngest man was trying to find something to cork the leaking hose. He tried a few different things, but nothing was working well.

The other two men, were talking back and forth. Finally, the oldest man spoke up and said in his southern draw, “what you need is a stick!” Troop was confused. We didn’t know what he was talking about, but he was as confident as a peacock! He told the other men to get a stick from a nearby tree. They quickly obeyed their wise relative and went looking for a suitable stick. Still sitting inside the car, I had no idea what was going on. I watched curiously as the men went looking around in the grassy area. Soon, they brought back a thick, three-inch stick. The older man began carving the stick with his pocket knife. Once he had the stick carved to a point, he used it to plug the leak. He checked that his fix worked by checking for moisture. The man said to Troop, “God bless you brother” and he sent us on our way.

When Troop got into the van, I knew the men had worked on the van, but I didn’t know exactly how they fixed it. Once we were on the road, Troop told me that the man had plugged the leak with a stick. A stick?!? I couldn’t believe we were driving with a stick under our hood! It was the only thing keeping the van from overheating! It had been such an exhausting night that I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. I laughed and I thanked God for the men who stopped to help us. We still had four and a half hours until we were home and we made it the rest of the way with the stick.

As we drove, we reminded our tired kids of their prayers and how God heard their prayer and had a plan for someone to help us. Interestingly, the men hadn’t planned to be at the gas station at that time. They were supposed to meet another relative and the meeting location was suddenly changed. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). God knew that we needed help and He provided what we needed. He cared enough to not only put caring people in our path, but mechanics who could use a stick to fix the car! “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care” (Matthew 10:29). Our needs and even the small details don’t go unnoticed by our caring Father. He knows what you need and every resource is at His disposal. Whatever you need, ask Him.

It’s encouraging to consider how God cares for each of us. When have you received “a stick”? I would love to hear about God’s care and provision for you. When have you seen God work in the details of a situation?