Yes, Lord… You have filled my cup to overflowing with Your Love in the past 24 hours! Even against all odds!
I love the mountains we were in last night, Lord… even though we were miles from home, in a place with no cell phone signal, no landline and no Internet!
It was end of a long, challenging day. And I had every opportunity to thank You for yesterday’s “God-incidences,” but no opportunity to post them here. Oh well, I thought. Then You whispered, “Tomorrow is another day.”
Right You were, as always. Here we are. Yesterday’s “tomorrow” has become Today!
“… His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.'” (Lamentations 3:22b-24)
We had come to North Carolina to visit dear friends for two days, until Saturday’s tire explosion on the highway changed our plans.
We didn’t dare drive far on our tiny, “emergency use only” spare tire. We still had a 90-minute drive to go. To our dismay, we discovered that NO tire stores are open on a Saturday night after 6:00 PM, even in the “big city” of Asheville, NC.
So we went to Plan B.
We drove to the nearby regional airport where we could park our car and rent another. By the time we then drove the 90 minutes to see our friends, it was too late to have dinner. Too late to even say Hello… except by phone. We checked into our hotel at 10:00 PM and crashed.
No pun intended! 🙂
We met our friends for breakfast yesterday. Then we had to drive 90 minutes back to the “big city” to turn in the rental and pick up our car. Next stop: The local Firestone tire service center. We still hoped to drive back to have dinner and spend the night with our friends. Except for one complication.
They had no cell phone coverage there and no Internet. And I had two client calls scheduled for today. Calls for which I needed both my cell phone and my computer. The first call was scheduled at 1:00 PM.
So we wondered: Could we find a hotel that would let us check in early today — three hours earlier than their normal time for check in? Or, if they couldn’t do that, could they at least give me a quiet, private place to connect to their Internet and make my first call? If not, we would have to stay in the “big city” last night, too… and miss our friends altogether.
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
There were two hotels within walking distance of Firestone. We went to the closest, the one where we had a “Gold Membership.” They were quite full. It might be possible, but they could not guarantee it. Not even for the $256.00 they wanted to charge us for the room.
Proof that all that is “Gold” does not glitter.
I decided to walk the mile to the other hotel. I went to the front desk where I was welcomed warmly by the clerk. I said, “I have a sad story and I hope you can help.” It was as if I was talking directly to You, Lord!
From the moment I began to speak, You moved her heart with a single purpose, Lord — to do everything she could to help us. She was clearly empowered by her manager to do whatever she believed to be the “right thing.” So she did!
In a matter of minutes, we had a reservation for tonight with the assurance of an early check-in and/or a private Board room where I could do my first call. So we could return to our friends yesterday, enjoy a fun afternoon and dinner, ending with a “sleep over” in their brand-new RV!
Oh… did I forget to mention that the original rate she quoted me — $206.00 — somehow (surely by Your Spirit) eventually became just $99.00??? (Without me saying a single word!!!)
Thanks to this dear hotel clerk, we had a great time with our friends yesterday. (With even more “divine appointments” that I can record here!) And all went according to plan today.
I guess our Plan B was really Your Plan A… wasn’t it, Lord?
Oh, Abba… How I enjoyed thanking the hotel manager today and honoring his employee as she stood there, “beaming” under the words of praise You gave me!
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is… to encourage, then give encouragement…” (Romans 12:6a,8a)
You always work things out… don’t You, Lord? Maybe in ways we don’t always expect or understand… but in ways that always make a difference — for us and for others.
“… for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13)
Joyfully snuggling into Your everlasting arms, Abba, as night enfolds this beautiful day with rest…
Abba’s Girl