Have you ever had one of those days where if it could go wrong it did go wrong? That was my day yesterday. I woke up extra early to get ready for a busy day with back to back appointments. The first appointment was at the middle school where I am the Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s sponsor. We had planned a prayer walk at our school. We were going to walk around the school 7 times while praying and then end our walk with a celebratory shout. I was so excited because even though there was rain expected, it hadn’t started yet and it looked like it might hold off until our prayer walk was finished. Then, as I backed my car out of the driveway, the downpour came. So, instead of a prayer walk, we had over 125 students in a gymnasium broken into small groups of 3-5 students praying through our prayer focuses and singing worship songs in between the prayer focuses. It worked and the students really seemed to engage in the prayer time.
Then I jumped in the car to rush to appointment #2, Bible study at church. I was running late and needed to get there because I lead a small group. There was construction going on in front of the entrance so I tried to back my car up to go in the side entrance and in the process hit a curb and my front left tire blew. I don’t mean it went flat…I mean blew as in softball size gaping hole in the tire. The comic relief of the whole scenario was as I stopped a can of “fix a flat” rolled up to the front of my van from under the back seat. I didn’t think it was going to do much for me when the hole in my tire was large enough for me to slide my arm through it. I called my husband to explain the situation and my knight in shining armor told me to go into Bible study and he would come and put the spare tire on for me and I could take it to the shop afterwards. When I got to the shop with my bike tire on the van, they examined all of the remaining tires and determined another one was in really bad shape and the back two were close behind, so I bought 4 new tires.
Now some people may look at the events of my morning and think the enemy was really out to get me, but I have chosen to embrace a thought shared by my friend, Margaret. She said instead of thinking we’re a target for the enemy, we need to realize we have a big target on top of our heads and we are a target for the Living God to pour blessings upon us. By having our prayer time inside in small intimate groups, students who would never pray out loud before a group participated in our prayer time and got a lot out of it. My daughter said many students approached her and told her how much they enjoyed our time this morning. God’s blessings were flowing!
And as far as my tire is concerned…I am leaving in a few days to go on a domestic mission trip with my two children. We will be driving 7 hours in my van to get to our destination. A blown tire on the side of a road in a town where I know no one would have been a huge inconvenience at the very least and potentially very costly, requiring a tow among other expenses. By blowing the tire in my church parking lot, my husband was able to change the tire for me and a mechanic I trust was able to advise me on the repair and take care of it within 1 hour. God’s blessings again!
God has plans for us [Jeremiah 29:11]. I recognize the enemy also has plans for us [John 10:10], but I choose to focus on my God and the plans He has for me because His plans are better for me and are full of His blessings. So, when something that may appear to be negative or an interruption in your plans happens, slow down, take a deep breath and see if it might be a blessing in disguise. Instead of looking at the situation and seeing a problem, consider it might be an opportunity for God to move in your life and do something wonderful.