Tender Mercies

The more I try to focus on what's good in my life, to see the tender mercies the Lord is blessing me with, the more I see his hand in my life--in big, and in small ways.

However, there are some tender mercies that are so big and noticable that they pretty much jump out and grab you; where you can't deny the Lord's protective hand in your life. Recently one of these incidents occured in our lives.

One of the many engine belts of our van had been squeaking for a while. Sometimes it was loud, other times it wasn't. When it was loud I'd tell myself, "Tomorrow the van will go to the shop." Yet, later that day it wouldn't sound so bad.

Yesterday, the belt wasn't sounding too bad so, we headed off to Christiansburg for school classes. We arrived with no problems. Seven hours later, we left, still no problems. Back at home, I picked up the little ones, Cailin grabbed her flute and we were off once again--this time for music lessons.
After the lesson, as I turned the engine on, I was assulted by the pungent smell of burning rubber.....oh, this isn't good. Yet, stupid me, I still drove on all the while praying "Please just help me get to the mechanics shop. I did call Barry and tell him "Meet me at King's, I'm taking the van to the shop now!" About a mile down the road--a heavily traveled, and curved filled country road-- I heard a thump and the brakes and steering instanteously were almost gone. If I turned hard enough on the steering wheel I could get the wheels to obey. If I pressed hard enough on the brake pad I would slow down some. I don't know what belt had just broke, but I had very little control of my vehicle. I managed to get us safely to the corner gas station where the country road meets the main road and park. I called Barry, who was in progress to King's, to change his course and now come get us at Cougar Express. He called a trusted friend from work who owns a tow truck business to tow the van to the mechanics shop. He picked us up; we then gave a prayer of thanks for safely getting me stopped, he took me and some of the little ones home, and then proceeded to take the girls to their soccer games. (Our next stop in a busy day.)
I feel so grateful and blessed that our morning prayers as a family were fulfilled--in all our travels no accident or harm ensued. A definate tender mercy was granted, even when stupid decisions were made. Wheew, what a day!