Lessons in Faith

One of the most challenging things for me has been to trust. I’m not talking about trusting people. I am pretty good at knowing which people I can trust, and have been blessed in my life with good relationships with honorable people. The trust issue for me has been with trusting myself. The trust issue for me has been trusting God.

For almost a year now, I have been operating a booth at Spirit Fairs in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Saturday morning at 5:30, I headed out to Tulsa Spirit Fair with my friend, Laurie. She’s often my road companion. We like to do the same things, and last weekend she was attending a workshop to learn animal communication, and was meeting another friend at the hotel where the fair was being held. My time plan was to arrive there at 8:30 so that she could make her class at 9:00.

One of the many features my car has is a low tire pressure warning light. Not only does a light come on, it flashes a message, and I saw that message for the first time at 6:00 Saturday morning about 40 miles from home. We stopped and put air in all my tires because I was not sure which one needed it, but I certainly could not ignore the yellow exclamation point that lit up on my dash for another two and a half hours. I asked my angels to help me arrive at my destination safely.

Another pretty cool feature my car has is a traffic incident detection system. If there is an accident or traffic congestion ahead, it will send a message asking if I want an alternate route. The last time I ignored one of those messages I was in stopped traffic on the turnpike for an hour and a half. I do not ignore those messages anymore. I opted for an alternate route to the hotel.

Do you see how I am learning from my experiences?

We arrived at the hotel…late, but not to worry. The people I hang out with trust. I had plenty of time to set up my booth so I sat and visited for 30 minutes before I even began to unload my car.

I unloaded the really big stuff first from the back. Then, when I went to the driver’s side back door to start to unload some of the smaller items, I saw it: a flat, a problem, and unbeknownst to me at the time, an opportunity to learn.

I immediately thanked my angels again for getting me there safe and sound by an easier route.

I love the fair. People there totally get the golden rule. The first thing I did was ask a young man, Ben, to help me. He changed the flat and put the donut tire on, took my car to get the flat fixed. I was feeling pretty good until he came back to tell me the hole was in the side-wall and could not be fixed: a bigger problem, a greater opportunity to learn.

You’d think in a city the size of Tulsa, finding a tire to fit my car would easy. Nope, plus my tires are expensive. Ben and I were not having very good luck, and by the time I really got engaged in working on my own problem, the dealerships and new tire shops closed. About 4:00 that afternoon, I was facing having to spend at least another day in Tulsa to get a tire.

I called my husband, and told him all my problems. Close to tears, I asked my angels to help me. Phone book in hand, I sat down and told Destiny, a friend, that I’d probably be there until Tuesday waiting to get a tire, and if I had to buy two, it’d cost over $700.00.

Destiny looked at me and said “What? Don’t give up! I’d be calling every tire place in that phone book. What about a used tire? For $60 you can have a used tire.”

It had never occurred to me to look for a used tire.

The first used tire shop I called, B&H Tire, had my size tire, in fact, he had 6 of them, and he quoted me the price of $60.00, and he would wait on me to get there.

I walked out of the hotel, found my car, programmed the address of the tire shop into my navigation system, and headed out. The tire shop was 2.5 miles from the hotel. The tire man told me he had my exact size and brand of tire. He changed out the tire, put it on my car. Informed me the tire wasn’t as good as he thought, but assured me it would get me back home. He lowered the price to $40. I paid him $60 anyway...he was solving my problems.

40 minutes from my phone call to B&H Tire, I was back at the hotel with my flat fixed. Problems solved.

And then it occurred to me. I had angels all around me. They got me to the fair safe and sound by an alternate route that proved to be much easier to navigate. They led me to people who could help me put on my spare and find out my all my problems. Then, they set in motion to assist me to get a tire on my vehicle that I could drive home on. They orchestrated all the events which led me to solve my problems.

As the enormity of what had occurred came into my awareness, I felt more peace than I can remember feeling in a very long time. I’d been presented with an opportunity to learn. At an emotional moment I’d asked my angels for help, then, I did something I rarely do. I surrendered. I stopped trying to fix my own problem. I got out of the way and let them. In doing so, I received a valuable lesson. I received a lesson in faith.