Blessings Apparent

Sometimes it takes a few hiccups in life to put things in perspective. And when things are in focus I realize this life I have is pretty good.

Late one night a few weeks ago Chris told me the light bulb in the fridge wasn't on. "Light bulbs burn out. We'll get a new one" I replied and we went to bed. The next morning the light was still off, and things were feeling a bit warmer than they should be in the fridge. Hmm. Dang.

An aside: I usually can and process my jam in jars because a) we don't have a ton of room in our freezer and b) I would be so sick if my berries and jam went to waste in a power outage. So of course we went berry picking a month ago and the strawberries were so good I couldn't stand to process them. So I made freezer jam. Yeah.

I was starting to get sick about losing everything in our fridge and freezer, so right after breakfast I start formulating plans to save our food and decide I better google if there are any ideas for quick fixes we might try to save ourselves from having to buy a new fridge.

1: Make sure the fridge is plugged in.  Since the plug is behind the fridge, there is no way it could have come unplugged.
2: Check the breaker. We'd already tried that one and it wasn't the problem.
3: If there is a GFCI, check it. Click. Light on. Fridge on. Compressor working.

And just like that, the fridge was saved. Saving us a chunk of change and food in the process.


Later that week we drove to Lake Michigan and had a great time. On the drive home we stopped for gas and the car was making a weird noise after that. I start assuming the worst. Chris and Nick got out and there was a wad of electrical tape in the wheel well. Pulled it out and things were smooth.

After we got home, shook the sand out and scrubbed the baby, I decided to make a quick run to Target. I wandered for too long and it was too late, but I got what I needed. I pulled into the driveway in third gear, not first or second. Nelly did some little hiccup, the battery & brake light came on, I coasted to park and turned her off. Yeah, so I still occasionally kill our car.

We head to church the next morning and the battery and brake lights are still on, even when the car is running and the brake is off. And we have no power steering. I remind Chris we only have to turn five times to make it to the church and to crank it hard. Then I notice the A/C isn't working. So we roll down the windows and start to worry a bit more. Chris says Nelly is driving funny. The check engine light comes on and I glance over and realize the thermometer is sky high hot. Uh oh. Say more prayers.

We see a friend's car in their garage and debate stopping. But decide to go the next mile to the church. And then Nelly starts losing power. We're both sick with worry and I'm dying with the thought that we just cooked our car. We make it into a Baptist church parking lot and I decide I'm walking back to the Jessica's house. I see her coming down the road and run as fast as I can in my heels to flag her down. Thankfully she sees me and stops to pick us up. We transfer a car seat and buckle up, making it to church just on time.

We hypothesize with Jessica's husband, Jonathan, about what could be wrong. I suspect maybe a belt and he thinks radiator. He knows way more than I do, so we go with his thought. After church Jessica brings sleeping Millie and me home while Chris and Jonathan go to assess the damage, both riding on his motorcycle. Cute.

As soon as they open the hood Jonathan spots a belt that has come off. They drive the car back to their house to see what they can do. After a quick look in the owners manual, getting the belt back on looks complicated. Then Jonathan tells Chris to wait a bit while he runs next door to his neighbor Chuck's house.

Chuck is home and tells them to bring the car over. They take it to his garage where he has a mechanic's lift. He hoists up the car, uses his pneumatic tools to take apart the car and his stocky strength to man-handle the belt back on. Good as new, minus the check engine light that needs re-set.

Really? That's it? Yeah, really.

Twice in one week we were incredibly blessed to come away so easily from potentially expensive situations. (I must admit I got excited at the thought of a new car. Until I realized what we could afford would probably be worse than our already paid off auto. Suddenly, not so exciting.) Often I focus on what I don't have or what's wrong instead of everything I do have and all the things that work so well. The balance will always tip heavily in favor of everything I don't have. But that's the wrong thing to measure. In the showdown between what I need and what I have, the abundant blessings win. Every time.

The experiences were a huge reminder to me from where our blessings come. What a generous Heavenly Father. We are so blessed.