It's Those Little Blessings

So, yesterday morning around 09:45 I my drive to Arlington, VA for my meeting with a representative of Banner College, which has a massage therapy program I wanted to learn more about. Before I left, I purposely found a route that avoided the tolls (not the toll road, but the toll part of it). So I started out, and everything was going ok. Well, the one road I was on was supposed to turn into 297 E., but I saw a sign that said 297 but I'm slow about noticing things, and so, unsure if that was where I was supposed to go or not, I took it. It was then that I realized that it said 297 W.. So I was like, "Ack! Darn it!" And then realized that this direction was taking me towards a toll booth. And there was no way to turn around. So I went through the toll and was frustrated because this meant I had to turn around and go through the toll again. So, I finally manage to get myself going the other direction, go through the toll, and after a while notice myself coming up to another one. I recognized the area. This was one of the tolls I had wanted to avoid. Not only that, but I knew I had to hit the other one as well. So not only did I have to go through the tolls, but I had to go through 4 as opposed to none, or even the two I had originally planned on avoiding. But I was finally on my way. The rest of the trip was ok until I got to Arlington where I made U-turns or a couple left turns to make a U-turn, at least 5 times. I never pin-pointed the exact building that the school was in, but I knew that it must be among a few certain buildings on this one particular corner. Also, I wasn't sure where to park, if there was a parking lot for the school, or if I had to pick a meter and park at it, and I was a half-hour late by this time, so I drove until I found normal parking, and tried to call home to get the phone number of the woman I was going to meet. I had forgotten to program it into my phone or take it with me on paper. No one answered at home, so I called my mom's cell phone, and found that it was off.

By this time I was so upset and frustrated and doing my best not to start bawling right there in my car. So I left that parking lot and headed back towards where the school was. But then I took a wrong turn on my way back because on my way I had taken one of those slight turns and wasn't sure if I had to go this way or that way to pass the buildings again, and I took "this way" and realized it was the wrong way. So I groaned, and when I realized I was pretty much heading away from the school again, I decided to just head home. I had no idea if the woman even had any more time because it was now about 40/45 minutes past the meeting time, and I still wasn't sure about parking, so yeah, I just kept heading away for home. I called my mom's phone again and left a message asking her to find the lady's phone number and call her for me and let her know I turned around due to many difficulties, and that maybe I'd set up another time or something when I got home. I was frustrated, and just got so upset because my trips to new places (especially city places) always seem to have some sort of trouble about getting there or back and I wondered, "Why can't these things ever go smoothly, and I get to where I need to be on time, and without U-turns?!" Plus, I had started out with half a tank of gas still left, and I had been hoping that it would last at least another half week to whole week, and all the driving around had used up more than a quarter of a tank of gas. I was like, "God, please make this gasoline last, I know You can; please let it last at least another half of a week."

Well, today, I was over it, I got over it yesterday and now it seems so far away. So when this happened I didn't even think about it until tonight when I was relaying this story to Joe Bumba and Christina at Bible study. Today, sometime in the middle of the afternoon my dad said that he wanted to go to Safeway so I needed to either move my car, or tell him where the keys were. So I told him where the keys were and he asked, "I can take it?" Making sure I understood that that's what he was going to do if I let him take the keys (as opposed to moving it for me and taking another vehicle). I nodded, I didn't care. Actually, it did cross my mind and I wondered, if he noticed that the tank was almost on empty, if he would fill it up for me? But I didn't care if he didn't, I was over it, was like, "Well, I don't have to drive far for work, it'll probably last at least two more days." and didn't think anything more of it.

So my dad comes home a couple hours later and as he walks by with his bags of stuff from the store, says, "Oh, I filled up your gas tank for you, the receipt is on your seat if you want to see it." Man, the LORD is watching over us, let me tell you. I was ok with everything, He didn't need to do that at all. But it was an amazing blessing that He did, just to let me know He had heard my prayer on Saturday, and said He felt like He'd go a little bit farther with His blessing than making the gas I had last longer. Now, if there are no surprise trips across the country or anything :-), I don't have to fill up for another week-and-a-half to two weeks. I am just...man, I am just speechless. I stand in awe.