God is amazing to me. You would think by now I would know that his power is beyond all of my imagination. And yet I continue to be completely blown away by his provision.
Jackie and I had planned to take the family to Arizona for Christmas this year. We knew it would be tight Financially but we were just going to trust that God would provide for our needs.
The day before we were going to leave my Grandmother passed away. She had cancer and we were expecting that it could happen, but I have to say that I really expected her to be around longer.
With the funeral and Christmas so close together, I knew my mom would have a lot on her mind and a ton of work needing to be done. So, I decided to extend our stay so we could help out.
We had a total of $100.00 to make the trip happen. I truly expected God to come through for us, but not the way he did. Most times God provides for us through some generous individual that gives us an unexpected gift. That was not the case when we left our home in El Paso, Texas. We still only had $100.00 to get to Arizona and back.
I planned to drive slow and try to get as good of gas mileage as I could. I had done it before but never quite made the whole trip on one tank. We budgeted ten dollars for the five of us to eat dinner on during the trip. Which meant we were going eat off the dollar menu at McDonald's. We stopped in Deming, New Mexico for dinner. Jackie ordered our meal and the rest of us made use of the restrooms. When I got to the counter the person taking our order told us that the card reader was not working. We had no cash, so we told them we would have to go somewhere else. While we were waiting for everyone to get out of the restroom the manager told us that she was going to fill our order and that we did not need to pay for it. She gave us our order and said Merry Christmas. Jackie and I knew it was God. We thanked her and got back on the road.
I was hoping we would get passed Lordsburg, New Mexico before the gas gauge dropped below half a tank. To my amazement we made it just out side of Safford, Arizona before the needle finally dropped under the half tank mark. I was amazed and started monitoring the gas mileage more closely thinking that we might actually have a chance to make it on one tank. The closer we got the more excited I became I was watching a miracle and I knew it. It is one thing to look back at a miracle and finally see it, but quite another to see it while it is taking place. When we finally pulled into my parent’s driveway I still had a quarter of a tank. I was blown away. But God did not stop there.
Because of the funeral there were quite a few people in town so we made arrangements stay at a friends house. So, after letting my dad know that we were in town safely, we got back in the car and headed over our friends house. When I looked at the gas gauge I noticed it had risen about an eighth of a tank. I got excited all over again. The next morning the same thing happened. In all, the quarter tank that we had when we got into town lasted two full days and we did a good share of driving on it. My brother-in-law gave us a gift of $60.00, which helped with some meals while we were there. For that, we were very grateful
We bought one tank of gas while we were in town and one more for the return trip. The van was loaded down with things we were bringing home to the point that we had to put a good amount on the roof. With that in mind I did not expect to get the same gas mileage on the return trip, and the gas mileage counter on the van agreed but we pulled into our driveway with a quarter tank left.
Praise God.
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