kids' prayers answered

on tuesday chris and i were driving our truck over to chris' dad's house so that he could have it to use after work, so that he could go to his high school small group. which actually was cancelled. but he didn't know. and that's ok. but all was not lost in this truck-drop-off-mission, cause God is the master puppeteer, and sometimes we are good little marionettes that do His bidding. in a good way. of course.

so, chris was in the van with the kids, and i was in the truck. we were waiting to turn off of the highway at a red light. i noticed on the opposite side, a woman in a black civic, with a baby in a car seat in the back (i did not notice that there were actualy two babies in car seats though), and her car was stalled. she was not in the middle of traffic, but she was on the off-ramp. we live in arizona, land of idiot drivers, and i just did not feel great about seeing a poor lady stranded in her car with her baby. so i called chris on our way to his dad's house and saked if he had noticed the lady. no. that's ok. i asked him if he thought he could do something to help her. he said he would try, but was positive that someone would help her by the time we dropped off the car, about a mile away.

so, we dropped off the truck, and i drove the van, and we headed back up to the highway. we looked. lady still stranded. there was a big ol' SUV beside her. surely someone who was helping her. nope. when their light turned green, everyone drove away. except for the stranded lady. so chris jumped out and the kids and i proceeded to drive around and wait.

"where did daddy go?" the kids asked. i told them that there was a lady who was in her car, and her car was stuck, so daddy was going to go and help her. this thrilled them. "go dad!" lily screamed. "you can do it daddy!" topher chimed in. oh they are so sweet! and supportive. but to be truthful, they love their dad so much, they would have supported him even if i said he was going to go drop a log behind a tree.

anyway, so we drove back and forth to see how chris was progressing. he had just gotten over to her car and was talking to the lady. then all of a sudden topher said: "Jesus!" so i told him it was a great idea to pray and ask Jesus to help the lady out too. (i can only assume that's why he screamed out the Lord's name.) so we prayed. "dear Jesus, please help the lady to not be stuck anymore. amen."

so we drove around some more and waited for chris in a nearby parking lot. chris called and said he was walking over already. apparently he went over to the woman to see if she needed help. she said she was waiting for AAA. chris suggested that she maybe wait somewhere other than the off-ramp of the highway and that he would be willing to push her to safety. she was very thankful and said she was glad that there were still good people left in the world. chris asked what happened to her car and she said it just died and wouldn't start again. chris asked her to try to start it again. she did. and it started. PRAISE JESUS!!!!

so when chris came over to our van, he told us the story, and the kids were very excited to hear that Jesus helped the lady to not be stuck anymore. we have reminded the kids of this answered prayer a couple of times since tuesday. i want them to see and know that Jesus is real and He answers prayers and that He truly cares for all of us. and everytime i remind them of this story, it serves as a good reminder to myself that God knows exactly what He is doing, and that He is at work in lots of different ways for lots of different reasons, even though i think all i am doing is dropping off the truck.