Does God Hide Things?





Our New Zealand holiday sparkled with miracles, many involving our bright orange Vauxhall, Amazing Gracie.



We were puttering along happily when Gracie made a strange groaning sound. Then stopped.

Nobody said anything.

We all prayed silently, desperately. How many more breakdowns could this old car survive?

The boys got out and managed to open the bonnet and peer in. Even Alan was mystified.



“Look, there’s a garage just down the road.” Peter tried hard to sound cheerful.

“I’ll see if they can fix it.” And off he went.



Soon after, he arrived back with a mechanic. The mechanic poked around under the bonnet while the boys looked on.



“Sorry, Mate,” the mechanic said. “It needs a new part. Well, an old new part actually.”



“Not a problem,” Peter told him. “We’ll buy it if you can fix it.”

The mechanic cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry. You don’t realise. This is a very old car. They don’t make these parts any more. We haven’t got any.”

“You mean . . .?” Peter’s cheerfulness wavered.

“This is it. You’ll have to get a bus from here. Or buy a new car. This one’s had it.”



Peter’s face appeared at the car window. “Pray!” he whispered urgently.

Margy, Jenny and I kept praying.

We had no spare money for yet another car. Gracie’s cheapness had been one of its big blessings. (Its cheapness also brought  adventures like breaking down regularly on mountainous roads.)

We three girls looked at one another. A bus! After all our adventures in this little orange capsule of laughter and fun. I sighed and tried to summon some faith.

How could our miracle-studded holiday end like this? – in the middle of nowhere. Catching a bus. A let-down after Gracie, which we’d happily pushed on and off the car ferry and down the main street of a small town. Our car which had had the – yes, grace – to break down in appropriate places where we could get help.



Peter wandered up to the car yard and walked around in his sandals. Suddenly he stubbed his toe on something hard and bent down to look at it.



He picked up a dirty old piece of metal, scrutinised it, then showed the mechanic.

“Would this be the part we need?” he asked.

The man was flabbergasted.

“How – where – did you get this?”

“It was here in the dust,” Peter smiled. “God must have hidden it there for years.”




                                       Photo Margaret J Smith


After a short time Gracie sputtered to life and off we went, cheering and singing towards Christchurch and then beautiful Queenstown.

Comments

  1. Margy Smith8 March 2020 at 00:39

    I just re read this blog....'twas a holiday of a lifetime....every second was filled with some type of adventure and beauty!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeanette Grant-Thomson8 March 2020 at 03:38

    Yes, wasn't it great. Our faith got so much encouragement. So many supernatural provisions. Loved it all. Thanks for comment! x Best hol I've ever had.

    ReplyDelete

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