I’ve been told never to pray for patience. At first this seemed crazy, but think about how patience is acquired… by going through trials that allow you to practice patience. After learning this, it didn’t seem crazy at all. Unfortunately, I’ve prayed for patience so many times before learning this, I’m reaping the benefits. By benefits, I mean I’ve been working through the trials that help to develop patience.
The Power of Words
I’ve owned the same car since I was a sophomore in high school. For about 8 or so years I’ve been day dreaming about owning a specific vehicle, my dream car. I believe there is power in our words. (Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”) A few times I’ve said, “I wish this car could just get hit so it could get totaled and I wouldn’t have to deal with selling it.” Well, in November it did get hit while I was in a restaurant having lunch with friends.
A Blessing in Disguise
The couple was nice enough to come in and tell me what had happened. Long story short, it ended up sitting at an auto shop for the next 9 months, awaiting a bumper that’s been on back order because of covid. During this time my brother found me a cheap 05’ Malibu to putt around in. This placeholder car wasn’t anything to write home about, but it’s gotten me from point a to point b. A blessing while waiting for the beetle to get repaired.
Trust Your Gut
My friend Gloria and I have been talking about me coming to visit her for months. After our trip to New York in January, I told her I wasn’t taking another trip until I bought my dream car. Of course when I said that, I meant it. In the Spring we started talking about me coming to see her again. She called and said she’d found flights for less than $100 round trip and she’d pick me up from the airport. Since her and I own our own businesses and can work from our computers, it seemed like a done deal. There was still something in my chest that said, “no, not yet”. I had even scheduled time on my calendar the following day to book the flight to see her.
Stick to Your Word
I told her the night before I needed to stick to my word of getting this vehicle before I spend money on anything else. The next morning when I got to my desk and saw the ‘Book flight to Gloria’s!’ on my calendar, I thought, well I might as well use that time to look for the car. I’d gotten my hopes up looking for this specific car so many times, it made it difficult for me to continue looking. I’ve since learned that procrastinating something because I’m expecting a negative outcome (based on previous situations) is actually a cognitive distortion called ‘Fortune Telling’.
Here’s a great description of what a cognitive distortion is: “Your emotions result from the way you look at things. Before you can experience any feeling, you must process it with your mind and give it meaning. The way that you understand what is happening influences how you feel about it. To the degree that your thinking about a given event is biased in any way, your feelings may be that much more intense, which will make it that much harder to act in a way that is helpful.” I’ve been learning about 10 different cognitive distortions in counseling the last couple years. Cognitive distortions form the basis for emotional difficulties. Learning about them has allowed me to spot them before my brain goes down a rabbit hole of negative thinking. It used to happen so fast I didn’t even realize it was happening!
Anyways, back to the car ;). Instead of anticipating that things would turn out negatively, I decided to dive back in and start looking. I jumped online and said, I’ll look for one hour and then get back to work. I made one search on a site I’d been visiting frequently the last couple months. Right after clicking enter on my search, a vehicle popped up in the exact same color I had prayed for, low mileage, clean title… long story short, it checked all the boxes.
Glimmer of Hope
My heart skipped a beat for a moment and I told myself not to get my hopes up. This is how this would usually go, I’d search, find something great and it wouldn’t ever work out. Maybe I’m too emotional, but looking for houses or cars gets my heart on a rollercoaster path; big excitement and then big disappointment. I almost sent the link to my boyfriend and my brother, but I’d been through this before, I knew what to ask. So I reached out to the vehicle owner, asked all the questions they’d been teaching me to and everything was going extremely well. Unfortunately, the vehicle was in Florida and a little outside my budget.
He Makes a Way
I called my boyfriend, excited and hopeful and honestly, a little unsure. He warned me about buying a car out of state and we talked about the budget part. I told him Jonny has bought tons of cars out of state, let’s call him and see what the process would look like. So I called my brother, Jonny. Jonny is the type of person that goes after it, he finds a way when there seems to be no way. (A great reminder of Isaiah 43:16-19) He told me I could get a loan for the small amount, have it inspected by a dealer, and he could get it shipped here. MORE HOPE.
A Light on the Path
So he had it inspected and they mentioned the front tires needed to be replaced very soon. The owner went and got the tires replaced and sent the receipt. He overnighted the title and bill of sale and it was time to send the money. I went to the bank that afternoon and wired him the funds. The car was scheduled to be picked up the following morning. I didn’t even end up needing to get the loan either, God provided! When we got word that the vehicle was arriving, my mom had already had the day off of work for 4th of July weekend and both my brothers got to be there too. Jeffrey filmed the whole thing with his drone and camera set up too! He even edited the footage and put an entire video together for me. He said he wanted it to be a special moment I’d never forget. Every time I think about him saying that it makes my eyes well up with happy tears.
Check out the video:
It’s Never to Late
The intentionality behind every person that helped throughout this entire process just blows my mind. I spent years praying, saving, and believing for this and God made it happen, through so many people. Faith is believing without seeing or without having proof. My entire life has come from having faith. My parents prayed for 7 years to have a baby. They were told by doctors it was unexplainable infertility. After 7 years of trying, they had me. If they would have given up too soon, I wouldn't even be here today. If you’ve read all the way to this point, chances are there is something on your heart that you’re believing for too. Take a moment to slow down, set a timer for 5 minutes and say a prayer. Even if it’s something you stopped praying for a long time ago, God never forgets those prayers that you stopped praying. It’s never too late to begin to believe again.
