Our prayers may not be eloquent, and the act of saying of them may not bring immediate relief in a stormy time, but God is faithful to His word, and He delights in meeting the needs of his children. He is merciful, and He loves to receive the glory when He comes through. So I’m giving Him glory.
We had a storm for the ages in Kauai last Sunday. In an instant, our carport was filled with thigh-high water. Everything in there was submerged—including the lawnmower, chain saw, power washer, etc. I wished Richmond was here! As quickly as the water came, it left. It left me wondering if that lawnmower was going to work. It was days before I gathered the courage to try to start it. It didn’t start.
Over the next few days, I prayed regularly about what to do. I contacted anyone on the island I thought might know someone who knows anything about lawnmowers. The most common advice… take it to a repair shop. Not what I had in mind.
It looked like it was up to me and God to fix the thing. Meanwhile, the grass grows into a jungle within 1-2 weeks on the island. No time to waste.
Yesterday (Saturday) my only mission was to get it done. Of course I was praying all along that God would bring help. With Richmond coaxing me over the phone, I tried to take out the spark plug, but I didn’t have the right size socket. I made a list of things to buy at Home Depot. I was about to leave the house with my list, but I got hungry. I couldn’t go running around on an empty stomach. As I ate, I prayed and asked God to direct the timing of me leaving to go out, because I know from past experience that He does split-second timing. More than once I have run into someone at Home Depot shopping the same aisle who was an expert at whatever my issue was and offered valuable advice. If ever there was a need for that, this was it.
I finished lunch, got in the car and headed down the long driveway out to the street. At the end of the driveway I saw a neighbor at the end of his driveway whom I have never met, but I had wanted to meet him for months to thank him for trimming his trees and bushes by the road so that I could see to turn onto the road. (He had heard from another neighbor that we couldn’t see to turn and was now keeping them trimmed.) I waved to him and started to drive on, but I had the urge to pull over, get out and go meet him and thank him. With my engine running, I ran over for a short conversation with him. We discussed the flood and the lawnmower and the spark plug socket dilemma and my Home Depot mission. He wanted to come take a look. My heart skipped. Could this 80 year old man be God’s help?
I turned the car around and went back down the driveway. He came with his van full of tools. Within 30 seconds he could tell me there wasn’t water in the gas or oil tanks as I suspected. He opened this and that and sprayed various sprays here and there. He agreed it needed an odd sized socket to get the spark plug out. He happened to have the right size right there. He whipped out the plug, sprayed something on it. Shortly, he had the lawnmower running! I was so thankful, I could hardly breathe. I thanked him profusely and told him God sent him. He said, “No. God sent you… to Kauai.”
That was another lesson on top of the one about God amazingly answering specific prayer. (Lord, direct me in what time I leave the house. I believe in your split-second timing). God is the one who sent me to Kauai. He will take care of me.
Jody