A lesson in answered prayers.

Why is it that when I pray, I don't live like God has heard and answered my prayers? I admit to praying prayers of repetition and with all the right words, going through the motions but lacking in the fervency that God deserves. I am so glad God still hears and protects us, even when I don't put in the effort I should.

Then life happens and God intervenes, and I got to see God's hand of protection over us in such a dramatic way, that it caused me to stop and PRAISE HIM. Our recent trip over Thanksgiving gave us one of these opportunities. If you would like to read of another incident you can read this post from back in June.

On Sunday Evening, we left for Charleston to visit family. I fell asleep for a few minutes.When I woke up the front end of the van was shaking. I asked Larry if he noticed it, he said yes. So we pulled over at  at gas station at the next exit. Larry looked at front end over and found this:

Our tire was completely shredded!  I was shocked! We put the van in the shop the Friday before for an oil change and check. They noticed we needed new windshield wipers, but neglected to notice our tire was about to fall apart!

I went in and asked the clerk if there were any tire shops or place that we could get a new tire. Keep in mind this was Sunday at about 4:00pm. She said no, but she knew someone who might come help. A moment later she was on the phone with Mr. Eddie. He showed up about 10 minutes later.

I wish I would have gotten a better picture of Mr. Eddie, a real life hero to my family, but I was keeping an eye on these two. The kids were completely unaware of the danger we had been in and the anxiety that I was feeling in determining how we could continue our trip. They were enjoying the cookies I bought to keep them sitting still.  Oh the sweet innocence of childhood. :)

Mr. Eddie is a mechanic and told us he was amazed that the tire had not burst. He helped Larry put the donut tire on, and 20 minutes later we were on our way. Thanks to my tech savvy brother in law he found a Sam's club in Lumberton with a tire section that was open. By 7:00 we were on the road with two new tires and the kids were full from the pizza dinner we had in the Sam's deli.

This incident could not have been dealt with any better if we had planned it. God was so GREAT to protect us, to have the kind people help us like the cashier and Mr. Eddie. I am again amazed at the goodness of God for answering our prayers for traveling mercies.

We often pray for traveling mercies before we leave on long trips. This is the first time I have ever seen "mercies" revealed so obviously! I wonder how many other things I've miss because I am so busy with life that God's blessings pass me by.