My Favorite Bible Verses

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God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.

The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

PSALM 46:1-3,7 NIV

As I write this today, I’m perplexed. Car troubles have a way of stirring up uneasiness. We are seniors on a fixed income. We planned on getting through perhaps two more years before purchasing a new car. Though our current model’s odometer reads nearly 130,000 miles on it, it has served us well … until now. 

The other day, on the way home from a worrisome hospital visit with our daughter, the car suddenly died. Nothing. And the gear shift locked. We were in a dangerous situation on an Interstate.

God did watch out for us.

While we were on the phone with 911, a deputy sheriff from a neighboring county happened by. Though not in his jurisdiction, he kindly referred us to the Maryland Department of Transportation who towed us to a safe position. We still had to wait over three hours for our auto club assistance. Dark and a traffic jam on the highway beside us, we were trapped in the car. When help arrived, all of a sudden the car started up. How and why is a mystery. The auto club gave us a tow back to our apartment, and we let it sit overnight. Two diagnostics by a shop revealed nothing wrong with the car. Umm.

We chalked the situation up as a crazy, “one of those things.”

And we were grateful our daughter was home from the hospital and out of immediate danger.  A few days later, coming back from the grocery store, the car did an encore. Dead. On an Interstate. This time we were able to coast off the side of the road. But again, our auto club gave us an estimate of three hours.

After an hour, it started again. We almost made it home, but the car gave a repeat performance just as we turned on the road to our apartment. Within walking distance of our place, we took turns babysitting the car until it decided to start again.

At this writing, it is at the dealership waiting to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Today, this verse came to mind:

Be still and know that I am God Psalm 46:10a.

Though a car rental while waiting for repair is not in our budget, we know God will provide. And if we need to replace the vehicle, we are reminded our Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills. We are grateful for church friends who have helped us with transportation until we pick up the rental.

Psalm 46 reminds us of God’s unlimited power amid struggle. We are never promised clear blue skies all our years through. But we are promised God’s unfailing love. I need to put on my T-shirt that says, “Don’t worry. God’s got this!”