One of "THOSE" days...

From the title, you know what I am talking about right? One of THOSE days, the special kind- not like your birthday, or going to the zoo, I mean the other kind of special. The ones where you grow from the experience, and not necessarily cuz you want to.

I had one yesterday. But truly, I am not writing to complain, but actually to share how the Lord just takes care of us in our needs.

The day started out like any other day. Me sleeping in as long as I can, which is about 7:00 and then trying to fall back to sleep and zoning in and out of awareness til 8:30 before I finally just give up. I watered the plants ,chickens, fed the cats, ate breakfast and then had a few hours to burn before my doctors appointment.

All is normal, I jump in the car to drive downtown to my midwives office.

I pull off the freeway exit, take a sharp right onto a busy road and immediately I hear loud grinding from my car and begin to loose power. At first I thought my left front tire had gone flat, that is what it sort sounded like. I turned my hazards on immediately, and turn off the AC so I can hear what is going on.

I am thankful to be off the very busy, construction zone freeway. I was, however still on a busy lane with no shoulder. After a minute to allow the road to clear, I check the front tire, which was not flat.

Strange, I thought, well maybe I can get 200 feet further down the road and pull into a parking lot, at least get out of the way. The car had died right after a blind corner. So the traffic coming on can't see it until they are right there.

I restart the car, put the car in drive, and the grinding revs up again and the car doesn't move.... Stop the car, I am worried I might hurt the engine.

I jump out of the car to see if I can see anything else. No lights have come on warning me of engine failure, it isn't over heated, but it isn't running and I can't go anywhere.

Immediately a man traveling in the opposite direction stops his car in the middle of the lane, jumps out and runs over to me to see if I am okay. I tell him it is just my car, he tries the engine and says he thinks it might be the transmission. My stomach drops, with all that is going on does it have to be that, right now, seriously?

He is so kind and asks if I have a cell phone, which I don't (he doesn't either, cuz he shares it with his wife).

Unsure of my next move, and completely in the power of a kind soul with a cell phone, I just stand there wondering and melting in the 106 degree minimum heat. He starts waving people down to find a cell phone. A lady with her young son, lends me her cell phone and offers to take me to the hospital.

This is when I realize, I have only 2 fort worth numbers memorized home which is useless, and Justin's work desk... I really should be panicking, but somehow, I was calm.

Luckily, Justin is at his desk when I call. I tell him, he needs to call Triple A to have the car towed, that it is off this exit, and that this lady is giving me a ride to the hospital, I hang up. I get in her car, back seat. She drives me to the hospital, and drops me off at the front door.

Bless my two helpers!

At this point I must defend myself. When I got to the appointment, and (on time mind you) and I told the nurse what had happened and that I had gotten into this lady's car, she made me feel kinda stupid- with a motherly "tisk, tisk, you never know what could have happened". But I assure you, I felt comfortable, or comforted that it was the right decision. I know from past experience that the Spirit will warn me when a situation was safe or not, and I felt nothing but comfort. And there I was safe and sound at the hospital.

Anyway, I get to the office and ask if I can use the phone. I call Justin again, he is already gone, so I leave a message to let him know I am at the doctors safe and hang up. Only after do I realize, he doesn't have a cell phone, doesn't know the name of my doctor, I don't know our friend Matt's cell phone, who was taking him to pick up the car... "I am a lone reed" - (to quote a random, old favorite movie)

While I sit in the waiting room for 20 minutes (after my scheduled appointment time waiting to be called in) I quickly write down in my journal what just happened, and then contemplate blankly for the next 15 minutes, how well I was taken care of, but how unprepared I was.

I am sure I sound like a total idiot. No phone, no water, no numbers... But how many of you have all your close friends numbers memorized? Our cell phone plans ended about 2 months ago I have all the numbers programed into it, so I just haven't needed to worry about it.

Sitting there in the waiting room, I felt so incredibly isolated. I felt as though I could just burst into tears, to relieve some of the unsettled feelings I had. Somehow, I didn't, and for a cry baby like me, that is saying something. Honestly though, through it all I wasn't fearful, just a unsure of what will happen next.

I finally made it into the appointment. Etta is absolutely undisturbed by the event just hiccuping away in her lovely little belly bath. I even have low my regular low blood pressure, which is a miracle considering the unrest, and unsettled moment I was in the middle of.

During the visit the receptionist comes in asking about some guy how is looking for a car that broke down... It's Justin! He found the number to the office (thanks to Emily who tracked it down for him) I go and take the call, Justin is at the car, the AAA guy is almost there, he is going to pick me up at the office, then I will ride home with the tow guy and he will go back to work.

We get back to the car, take the car home, drop it and me off.

Finally, I am safe at home, my neighbor pulls in while the tow guy is dropping off the car. I walk over to talk to her and her husband pulls up too, which makes me feel less alone, and is nicely comforting, she talks to me in her driveway til the towing guy is gone.

Once all this is over, we call a friend of a friend to come check out what is going on. Which turns out to be the axle- thank heaven it isn't the whole engine- which sounded pretty scary! A mechanic was nice enough to come and pull it over to his shop, during his lunch break today, to be fixed by tomorrow.

I don't know if this expresses, the whole "stress" of the story. But, I think that the Lord has blocked half the emotion before it could effect me. I was not fearful the whole time. Unsettled, yes, wondering what was wrong with the car and wondering if we were going to be car shopping today! Thank heaven we aren't- but the whole time I was not upset. Which is a huge blessing in itself.

After the mechanic told us it was the axle, we knelt down and had a good thankful prayer. The tears came out then. We truly had a lot to be thankful for, my safety, and protection, that I didn't go into labor, that Justin was able to get to, find and pick up the car, figure out my doctor's office number all only after a 20 second call, that Etta didn't have any stress, we didn't get overheated, that people truly looked out for their "neighbor" stuck on the side of the road, that it won't bankrupt us to fix the car, and on and on.

I am still in awe of all that happened. How quickly it was taken care of and that the Lord is so kind to his children. I am also very grateful that this happened before I had a tiny helpless baby in my back seat, in this awful heat and it definitely shows me my own foolishly unprepared ways. Thank heaven for the wake up call!

Next time we have one of "those" day, thanks to this experience, I will be better prepared! And hopefully, I can be as aware of the ministering of angels as I was yesterday.