New Car

Emily and I were planning to go to the temple on Saturday. We decided to take our Saturn. Actually, I decided to take the Saturn. Emily expressed concern about whether the car would make it that far (the temple is just over two hours away by car). I assured her it would be just fine. By the end of this post, it should be clear to you how fantastic my wife is. I really feel fortunate to have such a woman as my bride.

About an hour into the drive, we were headed up a hill on the Interstate and, engine still chugging away, my speed started dropping. I think it was about 35mph when we got to the top of the hill. I got a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach because 1) I was pretty sure our trip to the temple had just been canceled and 2) I had been an arrogant fool in assuring my wife that everything would be fine. Being arrogant and foolish isn't new for me, but I don't like being that way.

For background info on this car, see my earlier post. Since the "oil in the cylinder" problem, my car had lost a lot of power. In spite of changing spark plugs and wires, it felt like I was running on three cylinders a lot of the time. But going up that hill, performance took a dive to the next level down. I felt like I was running on two cylinders. We stopped, checked it out, added some oil, and decided to turn around. Thankfully, we made it back home relying heavily on our hazard lights. Through all of this, Emily sat in the passenger seat, sweetly supportive, looking lovely, and never saying a word about having warned me.

We decided to go shopping for a car, so, with our kids still at a friend's house, we found a 2006 Honda Accord that we really liked, paid for an inspection on it, and bought it. All in one day. Just under 31,000 miles, we bought it for just under $12K. We traded in my poor Saturn for about $150.



Now, here's the cool part. We have been saving for a car for a few years and we had a goal to get to $10K in a separate savings account before we actually had to buy one. I had thought that would be enough for our new sedan. Turns out I was wrong, but here's what's amazing to me. I had prayed multiple times over those years that God would bless our cars and keep them running as long as possible. More specifically, I had prayed that He would keep my Saturn alive at least long enough for us to reach that goal. I HATE debt and I was determined to get to that goal before we had to start thinking about a purchase. Even though we had to pull an extra $2K from another account, guess when we reached the $10K threshold in the "new car" account. Yep, Feb 1, 2010.

What an amazing thing that it died on the first Saturday after we reached our savings goal, the only day we both could have gone shopping for a car. How fantastic that we already had babysitting lined up and that the car gave out on the way to our destination so we would have plenty of time to shop for a new car. Who plans these kinds of blessings?! Whoever He is, He must be an amazing person!

I believe in miracles. The most powerful kind are the ones that can't really be seen or touched. They're not physical and they're usually not impressive to relate. The miracle we experienced yesterday wasn't one of those powerful ones, but it still left me with an amazing feeling. I felt so blessed that God cares enough about us to help us with something as trivial as buying a car. Compared with all the things He takes care of every day, that seems like a pretty minor thing. But it made me feel pretty special. Thank you, Father.

And one more thing. You know those words: "I told you so"? Emily never once said them. She never said anything like them. She was sweet and supportive and lovely the entire time. Thank you, amorcita.