Those of us who walk with God intimately know He provides. We say "He provides" or "He will provide" and sometimes it feels a bit trite. However, there are seasons or events or moments in time that I believe He delights in showing us (me) how detailed, how powerfully, how beautifully He provides for our every single need.
Friday afternoon, two days into my husband's hospitalization in New Mexico, our car started having some concerning signs of power loss. When the children and I arrived at our hotel that evening, the break lights would not turn off even with the car in park and turned off. I confess at this point, I melted down. By God's grace, I had been able to take each new challenge with a calm spirit, if not a smile, but this was simply too much. At the same time I had a rather sarcastic sensation of "of course. makes sense. now car problems!" I called my brother in California. He was out of cell phone range. I called my cousin and he tried walking me through unplugging my car battery so it wouldn't be dead the next morning but I could not even get the car's hood to stay up, let alone screw off the tight screw on the battery. I hung up with Nathan and Holly in tears.
The night desk receptionist at our hotel was leaving for the evening and she came over and could tell I was in meltdown mode. She simply wrapped her arms around me and asked how she could help. I cried and said, "I don't even know!" I had noticed her reading her Bible the first night we checked in so we had had several conversations and it meant so much to me to simply have her there to give me a hug. My brother called back and after hearing my newest challenges, he said he thought it was time to reach out to long time friends of ours that I haven't talked to in over 20 years (after a lifetime on the mission field, they have made their home in Alburquerque, N.M.) Seth cut off my excuses and said, "Jama, they will support you. I know they will. At least give them a call."
They aren't on facebook so I reached out to my uncle in Ohio (at some ungodly hour his time I am sure) and he so graciously got their numbers for me. At 9pm I sent a text to Paul and Sarah and within 1 1/2 hours they had a car to me, invite to stay in their home, offer to reach out to their sons who are all in the medical field if I felt like Everson's care wasn't sufficient at his current location, and a promise to talk on Sunday afternoon and formulate a plan regarding the car. I can't even write these words without weeping.
We go way back. As a teenager and young adult, my family and I made many trips to the mission compound that Paul and Sarah served on for many years to the Navajo nation in New Mexico. At age 16 I spent the summer on that same compound helping another missionary family with a new baby. Paul and Sarah's three boys were all young and we spent many happy hours that summer together. They are kind, generous, godly people who God sent to me when I needed someone I knew. I only asked for recommendation for a mechanic and prayer support. They showed up at 10:30pm, prayed over us and left the children and I feeling so much less alone, loved on and cared about.
When Everson was discharged on Monday evening, they showed up again to pick up their car and meet my husband. They sat in our hotel room and visited for awhile before praying over us again and going on their way. They will never, ever know what an immense blessing and difference they made in our lives those two days. I know God has a special blessing for them for blessing us in our time of need.
I could tell of the multiple venmo deposits, the immense amount of texts and phone calls. Feeling a bit overwhelmed I created a Whatsapp and texi group to try to keep our faithful prayer warriors updated. My brother in law from Brazil called me regularly just to encourage the children and I that everything would be okay. My brother in law in Mozambique sent us funds to cover the car repairs even before he knew how much it would be. Another brother from our California church family sent us funds to cover the car repairs, stating we could use the other funds for something else! Dear friends sent us a generous gift to take the kids to some fun places to run off energy and make some good memories. The list goes on and on and on. The prayers that were offered on our behalf from Africa to Brazil to Canada and all over the USA was humbling beyond description.
I share this first to say thank you. Thank you for those of you who knew of our trials and afflictions and faithfully prayed and even wept with us. Secondly and most importantly, to say thank you to Jesus, our ever present help in trouble. Every single need was provided for. Not one moment too late and not one moment too early.
We traveled slowly and surely from Tuesday morning through Wednesday evening. God's grace and strength was so sufficient as I had to do all the driving. Everson sat next to me with his oxygen tanks squeezed between his legs in our already way overloaded car. Mile after mile we drove, the children napped and we finished our fun audio books cousins had blessed us with. The drive down through north western Texas, straight through the heart of this immense state, was absolutely beautiful. I was in love before I ever got to our new home.
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| On our way once again. |
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| We made it! |
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| Didn't take Chloe long to get busy at our host home making treats for us all |
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| We had to wait five days for our trailer to be delivered due to such high demand for the companies deliveries. We were so blessed to be able to live with Everson's host, Carl, while we waited some more for God to move and bring our household so we could live in our new home. |
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| After 11 days living on fast food and restaurants, Chloe said our first night in our new house was not going to be eating out AGAIN. Bless her heart, she found enough food items to make us dinner. Homemade food had never tasted so good! |
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| We no sooner arrived than our southern city was hit with a record breaking heat wave. We are so grateful for the community pool we have rights to just a short walk from our home. |
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| Our first 4th of July in Texas |
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| The pictures are poor quality but we lit a few fireworks of our own and these larger ones were set off by someone in the park across the road from our home and were so beautiful. We had a perfect place to watch them so even in the disappointment of our 4th not looking like the last four in California, God provided some special moments. He is Jehovah-Jireh: the God Who Provides. |
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