And sometimes He uses other peoples' husbands

Here in Mexico, I am alone. I don't have a father, or a brother, or a husband. The Lord is my husband. He is very faithful to take care of me. Many times, He reminds me to do something, like set my alarm before I got to bed! Or, sometimes, when I do forget to set the alarm, or sleep through it! He wakes me up in time to be on time for class, etc. There are many little things like that the Lord does to take care of me.

Sometimes, though, he uses other people to take care of me. One example is cars: I don't know too much about them. I have common sense and know a little bit, so I faithfully take care of checking tire pressure, oil levels, and other fluid levels. And I wash it. That's about the extent of my knowledge about cars. Oh, and I think I could change a tire if I need to. My dad taught me a long time ago, and I think it's a pretty logical process, although I don't look forward to it.

One of the things I've been doing here lately is helping new missionary families arriving in Mexico. Two are here & the third family comes in two weeks. I was taking one of the couples around looking at a few houses when they first arrived so they could find one to rent. As we drove along, I turned right and drove right over a glass bottle, smashing it with by one of my back tires. Everything seemed okay, so I continued to the house we were to see which was only a few blocks away. When we got there, the husband got out and checked my tire(s). I had kinda already forgot about running over the glass. :( The tires where fine, no glass punctures, but he notices the tires were getting warn down and told me I needed to rotate my tires. (Now this was something new, I had heard about rotating tires, but I didn't realise how important it was nor did I know that I was supposed to do it every 6 months! I had had the car for 15 months without rotating the tires, yikes!)

So, the next morning I went into a tire shop recommended by another missionary who knows about cars to get my tires rotated. The tire guy had got two tires switched and went to work on the third one when I got called back to check out the tire. It had a bulge in it. Yikes, I know that's bad, because it can explode on you, which is worse than just a flat tire. So, he put that tire back where it was, in the back, because he said a tire with a bulge needs to be on the back. He put the last tire back on. I wanted to consult someone with more car experience than I before I made an decisions about what to do. So, I prayed and tried to drive carefully on my tire with a bulge.

The first guy I asked said, "Yes, a tire with a bulge is bad. You will have to buy a new tire." The next guy said, "You should probably buy 2 tires, and put the two new tires in front to keep the tires even in pairs. But I can't recommend what to buy. I don't know that much about tires."

So, I came home, praying that the Lord would keep my tires from exploding until I got back to the shop. I called my mom over the internet in PNG and got my dad's email address at work. I told him the problem and my options for tires and he was able to recommend the brand I should get and told me that yes, Man #2 was right, I needed to buy 2 tires to have a matched pair in front and put the two best old tires in the back.

So, the next morning again I went to the tire shop, told them I wanted two new tires in front and the two best old tires in back. Someone came and picked me up so I could leave the car there and get to the Spanish school. That afternoon a friend took me back to the shop to pick up my car. After I'd paid and picked up my keys, the tire guy called me over before I got to my car. He asked me if I wanted my two tires he'd taken off. He said one had the bulge and the other had a nail in it. It hadn't started leaking yet, but it was punctured. I let him keep the two tires! :) I don't think I have any use for them.

I was and am so thankful that the Lord had a knowledgeable man in my car when I ran over the bottle. Otherwise, he wouldn't have looked so closely at my tires, and I wouldn't have gone to get them rotated. The Lord had me change those tires before I got into trouble with them. I drive around alone so much, that I was so thankful to have exchanged a punctured tire and a bulged tire with 2 new tires, ready for thousands of miles. The Lord is protecting me, providing for me, ever so faithfully, and sometimes He uses other peoples' husbands.

And, now I know to rotate my tires. :)