Car Problems!

In my family I am known as the sibling who has many adventures with cars (some people may call them problems). From flat tires to hitting a dead deer, you name it I have most likely done it! You may ask how does someone manage to hit a non-moving object such as a dead deer, you are not alone. Many people have asked if it just came out of nowhere and died right in front of me. I don’t really have an answer other than it just happened! I have had my car break down on the freeway, run out of gas, car accidents (yes plural), parking tickets, and speeding tickets. One thing that I have noticed though with each of these adventures is that there has always been someone to help me. Whether it has been a random person who stopped to help change a tire, a friend who is willing to come pick me up when my car won’t start or my family who has come to the rescue I have never gone without help.

One incident in particular was a time I was driving back from a friend’s wedding.  I was about 20 miles away from my exit when I looked down and realized I was almost out of gas. I had the thought to pull over and get gas, but rationalized that I could make it home. The thought ( I now look back and realize it was a prompting) came again to pull off at the exit and get gas. Just as I started to pull off the freeway my car radio and lights started to flash and wigging out. As I pulled into the gas station my car slowly died. Luckily this exit was close by two of my sisters’ houses. A cop saw me and asked if I needed any help but I told him that family was on their way to help me. Soon my brother-in-law arrived to help. After he looked at it and talking with my Dad, we soon decided it was my alternator.  We began by rigging up the portable jumper to my battery in hopes that we could get the car to the nearest mechanic. 

Rigging up the battery!

This ended up failing, but we were pretty inventive! While we were thinking of what to do I decided to fill my car up with gas. In the process I ended up locking my keys in my car! Now not only was my car dead but the keys were stuck in it! Soon after, the same cop saw that I was still struggling about 2 hours later. He asked what was wrong and after filling him in on the details he just laughed and proceeded to unlock my car for me! My brother-in-law had me roll down the window as to avoid locking my keys in again. In the end I left my car in the parking lot for the night and went to stay at my sister’s house and charge up my battery so that in the morning I could take it to the mechanic. As we were driving away I was asked do you have everything you need, I confirmed that I did. Because the battery continued to drain as we were there (trying to get my car to start as well as documenting the event) we were unable to roll the windows back up so I wanted to make sure I had everything so nothing would get stolen. About two hours later I was lying in bed and it hit me that I left my wallet in the car! I went into my sister and brother-in-laws’ room and asked to borrow their car to go back and retrieve my wallet.

Parking for the night!

What amazed me the most about this experience is the number of times our Heavenly Father blessed me. On the surface it looked as though it was one big problem after another. But Heavenly Father prompted me to exit, he allowed it to happen close to my siblings homes, my siblings were able to come and help me, the cop was nearby when I locked the keys in my car, and my wallet wasn't stolen. At the time I was really bothered that this would happen but looking back now I can see how I was protected and watched out for. How many times does our loving Heavenly Father place people in our lives to help us? How often does he prompt us with thoughts to make correct decisions that help us?  I think we don’t even realize how many times a day the Lord is watching out for and protecting us. I am so grateful for the tender mercies that he shows to me and all of us each and every day! We just need to start looking for these and we will see them in each of our lives.
-Anna