Hi, all. It's Faithful Friday here on Whispers in Purple. Please welcome author Alexis A. Goring as she shares an adventure in traveling unfamiliar roads and encounters God in an most unusual way.
Conversations with God
A
devotional by Alexis A. Goring
“God is our refuge and strength, a
very present help in trouble.”
–
Psalm 46:1 (KJV)
God taught
me many life lessons when I moved from Maryland to Montana to take my first big
break in Journalism almost a decade ago. One of those lessons was that even
when He’s silent, He’s still there.
Allow me
to explain …
One Friday
afternoon, I was driving my car down a gravel road, on assignment, trying to make
it to a small town and back to my apartment before sundown.
I lived near
the city in Maryland so I never actually had driven on a gravel road.
Therefore, I didn’t realize that I couldn’t safely go the same speed on a
gravel road than I could on a paved road. I think you know where this story is
going … in a matter of minutes, my car fishtailed and spun around several times
before crashing into a wire fence in the middle of nowhere!
Literally nowhere. To my left of the road was the
wire fence that my car crashed into and to the right of the road was another
wire fence that blocked off lines of farm property.
I got out
of my car to survey the damage. The entire rear bumper was ripped off and it
looked like my car had taken a beating. In addition to all of this, I realized
that my car’s undercarriage was trapped because it was entwined with the wires
from the fence. Clearly, I could not drive my car back onto the gravel road. It
wouldn’t move! Surveying the damage, I just about lost it and I had a
conversation with God. Just me, God, and the cows grazing on the farmland that
was on the other side of the road.
My conversation was clearly
one-sided and it went something like this:
What are You doing? How am I going to
pay for this? You know that most of my paycheck goes to rent, bills and food! I
have no more money! What am I going to do? Where are You?!
In the
middle of my venting session, I paused as my gaze lowered from looking up at
the sky (because God is beyond the heavens), to looking at a cow. To this day I
remember that cow because he was the only
cow whose coat was all black. All of the other cows were eating grass farther
away on the right side of the fence, and they all were white and brown in
color. But this cow, as beautiful and sleek as a black stallion, was positioned
directly across from me. It stood by silently like a faithful friend, pressing close
behind that fence, looking at me with pools of sympathy and empathy in its
expressive round and dark eyes.
For a
moment, I paused, completely awestruck. I’ve never seen an animal look at me
like that, it was as if he knew what I was going through and somehow he wanted
to comfort me.
But that
moment was gone as quickly as it had come and I returned to my conversation
with God. I flailed my arms and shouted at the sky, “Great! How is a COW going
to HELP ME?!”
I reached
for my phone to call the police so that I could report the accident and call a
tow truck. But when I tried to dial a number, I noticed that there was no
signal! I panicked, realizing that I was still in the middle of nowhere and it was
only two hours before sunset. I did not want to be stranded at night!
Once
again, I turned to God. This time, my conversation was more panicked. I asked
God, “Are you just going to leave me
here?”
Suddenly, an alternative form of communication dawned on me: I could try using my email on my phone to dial the newspaper office and tell my office manager to send the police and a tow truck. So I did then I waited. While I was waiting, a kind, older gentleman arrived in a pickup truck. He just “happened” to be a plumber (looking back, I wonder if he was an angel sent by God but at that time, I was too distressed to consider that possibility).
I watched
as he took his tool kit out of his car and slid beneath my car like a natural mechanic
and used tools from his kit to untangle my car from the wire fence. Then, at my
request, he sat behind the wheel and maneuvered my car back onto the gravel
road.
I thanked
him then got into my car and started driving back toward where I lived. My plan
was to drive straight to my apartment but as I was driving, I heard disturbing
noises that I later learned indicated that I had a flat tire. I knew it
wouldn’t be safe for me to drive all the way back to my apartment, which was an
hour away, with my car in its battered condition.
When I
spotted a restaurant (also in the middle of nowhere) about ten minutes later, I
pulled into the parking lot, got out of my car, walked into the restaurant
where the aroma of delicious food wafted to my nose, and I asked to use their
telephone. It was there, while I was on the phone reporting my accident to the
agent from GEICO car insurance that God spoke to me.
The female
agent paused in her work to gather data about my accident and told me that she
had to be silent for a few moments while she processed my claim but she wanted
me to know that she’s “still here.”
And that was when the floodgates that I’d been holding back burst. I started crying. Not hysterically but still, openly crying. I’d kept it all together around other people until that point. God spoke to me. He helped me realize through that agent’s words spoken in the softest, kindest, most reassuring tone that HE was still there with me. And He’s never leaving my side. Even when I railed at Him in the middle of nowhere after my car crashed. Even when I doubted Him to take care of my financial needs which now included trying to figure out how to repair my totaled car.
Longer story short: I got it together, hung up the
phone, met with the police and then a truck driver drove me home. Gratefully,
God did not allow me to be hurt in that car accident. My car was totaled but I
was not.
Thankfully,
God never left my side. Even when I couldn’t feel His Presence, He showed up
for me through that black cow, the patient plumber, and the kindhearted agent
from GEICO.
I am
sharing this story with you to encourage you to not give up on God because He
will never give up on you! He loves
you with ALL of His Heart.
When
you’re weary, allow Him to carry you (Isaiah 46:4). When you’re hurt, let Him heal you (Psalm 103:2-3).
When you’re in distress, trust Him to rescue you
(Isaiah
43:1-2). May the Lord bless you and keep you (Numbers 6:24-26).
In
closing, I’d like for you to listen to this song, “He’s Able” by Pastor Deitrick
Haddon.
Remember, God
will never leave you to face life by yourself (Matthew 28:20)!
—
Author Bio: Alexis
A. Goring is a passionate writer with a degree in Print Journalism and an MFA
in Creative Writing. She loves the art of storytelling and hopes that her
stories will connect readers with the enduring, forever love of Jesus Christ.
