Better than a new car

In 1991 Kristin bought a new car with babysitter money; it has never failed us in all these years. But we've been saving up our money and we're ready to buy a newer car, something we've done only twice.

This week we zeroed in on a vehicle and negotiated a good price with the salesman. Today we were to meet with him at a set time and probably drive home a lot poorer. It wasn't meant to be, and we're quite happy with that.

We arrived at the car lot to find the vehicle wasn't there. The salesman had told me on the phone just a couple of hours earlier that he'd have it cleaned up for us, so we figured that it was around back somewhere. The kids were euphoric with anticipation of driving home in our new (to us) car. Kristin and I were a little queasy and uncertain; anytime there's a lot of money involved that's how we feel.

Here's where God answered my prayers about this vehicle in an undeniably clear way. As we walked in another family was in the process of buying the vehicle. Since we hadn't sealed the deal yet, I'm not surprised they showed the vehicle to someone else. But it is very surprising that another family would show when they did and commit so quickly to buying the same used car we were looking at. After an hour of waiting in the lobby to see if they would close the deal, we were told it's sold, given apologies and assurances that there would be similar vehicles available soon.

I think the salesmen expected us to be somewhat upset, but we were just fine with all this. God's providence was so easy to read in the way things turned out that we felt relieved that we didn't drive home with that car. Kristin and I both had that "peace like a river attendeth my soul" kind of feeling and a good conversation about God and answered prayer with the children on the way home.

To live in the comfort of God's providence is way better than a new car.