Tires!
Blog – 4-21-18
Those of you who have read my blog for a while know that I have had some pretty interesting travel experiences of late. Life on the road can be challenging, to say the least. What happened last week might top every mishap I’ve had to date.
I left early in the morning a week ago Thursday with my friend, Marguerite, to speak and sing at my first Women of Faith retreat in Breckenridge, Colorado. Can you say whoo hooo!!!! I have been SO excited for this day to come.
Marguerite offered to drive since my car had some issues going on that we thought were minor but ended up being major. We loaded her truck at 6:15 a.m. and headed off, excited for our adventure to begin.
Things were going well and we were making good time until the excitement began. We were right outside of Omaha, and I was driving as we chatted away. I noticed that the truck was shaking, but we thought it was the road. We were going to pull off at the upcoming Gretna exit when all of a sudden there was a loud bang and the truck started shaking uncontrollably. The front tire blew! Thank God we were in the right lane and I could pull off the busy highway right away. It took about an hour and a half for AAA to show up, but our nice rescuer put our spare tire on and we were good to go. Or so we thought!
We headed out, spirits intact, happy to be safe and only a couple hours behind schedule. We got about 10 miles down the road, and I commented that the pickup still didn’t feel quite right. It was still shaking, but we thought it was the road again. WRONG! Just about then, there was another loud bang and the back driver’s side tire blew. Yes, I’m not kidding. Two blowouts within 10 miles of each other! Say what! The picture up above is our second blowout.
This time we obviously had to be towed, since we had no spare, and realized that we needed to put four new tires on the pickup before we tried to head out again. This time it took AAA about two hours to get there as we waited on busy I-80. The wait was a little nerve-racking as semi’s raced by and shook our vehicle, but we kept it together really well. We prayed periodically and chatted like crazy! We finally got towed back to Gretna, which was about 10 miles behind us now, and had to wait for four new tires to show up, which took another couple of hours.
We asked the AAA tow truck driver if he had ever heard of someone blowing out tires 10 miles apart from each other. He hadn’t.
We asked the nice men at the repair shop if they had ever heard of someone blowing out tires 10 miles apart from each other They hadn’t either.
In the midst of this mess, the amazing thing is we kept our heads together, made the calls we needed to make, got referrals from relatives in the area for a reputable place to go for the tires, and best of all, God kept us safe! And we never lost our faith. Two blowouts going 75 miles an hour could have had a very different result, and I know God’s mighty hand protected us.
We had hoped to arrive in Breckenridge by dinner time, but we ended up getting there in time to go to bed…after driving through snow the last hour. I was exhausted and fairly stressed out by this point BUT…we made it!
I’m convinced the enemy wanted to steal our joy, dampen our spirits, and do all he could to make us doubt God’s faithfulness. He wanted to distract me and discourage me so I would feel defeated before I even arrived. He tried everything he could to keep me from fulfilling God’s purpose. But he didn’t win. God did! I arrived ready to pour into women and step into my dream, and the Spirit was at work in a mighty way the entire weekend. It was absolutely, positively incredible. I’ll give you more details later.
I’m on a plane again as I write this, heading to a retreat in Indiana, after spending the week in Nashville. Yeah, my schedule has been a little crazy, but I have seen God work out every step of this journey, and I trust that God will use me for His glory this weekend as well.
Are you going through a crazy time yourself? Does your schedule feel a little out of control? Are you experiencing some “blown tires” in relationships or your work or your spirit?
If you are, I encourage you to keep strong. God has this. You may be delayed a bit on your journey, you may have to scramble and make new plans, you may have to be braver than you think you can be, but remember, my friend, God is there in the midst of it. ALL of it!
When the enemy tries to spoil your plans, when you hit a roadblock or two, when you have two flat tires within 10 miles of each other, fight to keep the faith and trust that God has your back!!!!
Hugs and love,
Jill