A Different Type of Answer

It's always funny to me when I think I understand something enough to write about it and then God decides to give me a real life example of that very thing. Last week I posted on here about prayers and how sometimes we don't realize that He's answering our prayers because it looks different then what we expected. Other times though He gives us a completely different type of answer, technically it's a "no" answer.

Let me explain. When I wrote the post last week I talked about the house I'd rented. I'd been praying about needing a place and then when the place came up I was so surprised that the answer looked different then I'd expected, I almost missed it. Right after that I had a bit of a different situation.

We decided to take our youth group on a day trip to do some hiking. We had a great time, went a few different places and other then the fact I twisted my ankle, everything went really well. Until we started home. We had the church van and suddenly the temperature spiked. Our pastor was driving and he immediately pulled over.

Blessing number 1- We were in a place we could pull over.
Blessing number 2- The day before we'd bought an entire case of water for the trip. We still had half of it left and we poured it all in the radiator.

That got us back on the road and we continued on, praying as a group that God would get us back home. It didn't work out quite that way. We made it to a private RV campground before we had to pull over again.

Blessing number 3- The people were so helpful and kind. One of the staff even looked at the van and helped Pastor determine what was wrong with it.

We were pretty disappointed when we learned that it wasn't an easy fix and we weren't going to be getting back on the road. Now we had to figure out what to do to get our whole group back home which was still about 2 1/2 hours away.

Blessing number 4- The staff member provided water, made sure we had a place to wait and had everything we needed.
Blessing number 5- We were in cell phone service.

So we started calling around. My awesome parents were somewhere that they could come to the rescue us as was the mom of one the youth kids.

Blessing number 6- We had people who could pick us up and they were only about 2 1/2 hours away.
Blessing number 7- The other mom had AAA and was able to call us a tow truck.
Blessing number 8- Because of her AAA plan we could get the van towed all the way home.
Blessing number 9- We had shade and it wasn't super hot.

Now before we go any further I just have to tell you how awesome this group was. Everyone stayed calm, they didn't complain and they found ways to keep from getting bored or complaining well we waited. I was so proud of each and every one of them! They're definitely blessing number 10.

So we're sitting there waiting and the staff member comes out again and- get this- invites us to come have dinner in their private dining room! A salmon dinner nonetheless, for free! Talk about a huge blessing! So that's blessing number 11.

Then we get in there and blessing number 12- a bunch of the people we're eating with are fellow believers of the Lord! We had some great conversations and I really enjoyed getting to chat with them.

Before we left we were even able to pray together and I got to thank God for the blessing (number 13) of these people opening up their hearts, sharing what they had and being Christlike in their interactions with us.

So this crazy day has now turned into one one full of blessings. We had thanked God for things like it not being super hot and having a place to pull over, people coming to pick us up and the fact that it was our group who broke down and not the seniors but we had no idea the rest of the blessings He had in store for us.

Our rides arrived and we all load up and head home except for Pastor who decides to ride with the tow truck. But lo and behold on the way home the tow truck breaks down! What are the odds? So where's the blessing in that? Well I didn't find out until the next morning at church but it turns out that the tow truck driver was a believer but he hadn't been in church, he had drifted away. Because of that extra 2+ hours waiting for another tow truck to come rescue them Pastor was able to spend more time talking to him and encouraging him in his walk with Christ.

So there it is, at least 15 blessings that we never saw coming because of a broken down van on a highway far away from home. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. Even when we don't understand why He gives us a different type of answer.