-Chapter Seven —
I needed to buy a car. Though I’d participated in the selection of cars before, I had never actually purchased one alone. I worried about haggling over prices, partly because of a terrible experience my husband and I had had a few years earlier. A flood of relief rushed over me when my friend Gary came to mind. He was my hairdresser’s husband who had been in the car business for years. I decided to ask him for help.
“Yes,” Gary agreed, “I’d be happy to go with you. As a matter of fact, I know a guy who sells Hondas. He’ll be fair.” So we decided on a day and time to meet at the dealership.
“Lord, You know I don’t have a clue about buying a car,” I confessed while backing out of the driveway on my way to meet Gary. “I’ve heard stories about salesmen who gouge prices and pressure you into buying. Lord, please protect me. Give me wisdom to do the right thing.”
After a quick introduction at the dealership, Gary’s friend told me about a special sale going on. “All the cars you’ll see today are new; but they are last year’s model. The newest models will be delivered in a few days so we have to move these out as quickly as possible. Let’s take one out to see what you think.”
I got behind the wheel and we pulled out of the lot. After several minutes into the test-drive, I was momentarily taken off guard when the salesman, with genuine sincerity, said, “Gary told me a little about your situation. I want to help you as much as possible.”
Instantly, my concern about being ripped off completely vanished. Then, totally out of the blue, I blurted out to this perfect stranger my deep concern for my husband. “He is emotionally in trouble” I insisted. “I know he’s made a terribly dreadful mistake, but I’ve been begging God to bring him back home! I wish he knew my heart! I wish he knew that I would do anything to help him!”
“I’m so sorry,” he responded sympathetically.
Thankful for a diversion, at his suggestion I checked out the new bells and whistles as we headed back to the lot.
“What got into me back there?” I thought. I’m embarrassed just thinking about it!”
I looked at a couple other cars with a few more frills along with a higher price tag, but settled on the mint green car I’d driven. With that, the negotiations started. Because the color was new that year, the dealer knocked off a few dollars. He also deducted the maximum trade-in allowance for my old station wagon. After the paperwork was completed, I was handed a new set of keys. The only glitch was the floor mats. This car didn’t have them. They were out of stock and had to be ordered. The salesman asked if I could stop by the next week to pick them up. That worked out well, because I had planned to go see my dad that next weekend. I would pass right by there after picking up my sister at the airport on our way to visit our dad.
As I drove away in my new car, I thanked God for Gary and his friend as I caught a glimpse of them in the rear view mirror waving goodbye.
Later that evening, I called Gary to thank him for helping me. “No problem. By the way, I wanted to let you know that by making your sale, our friend won the bonus for the month! It really helped.”
“How neat! Maybe God blessed him for being so kind to me!” I replied.
“There’s something else that might interest you,” Gary added. “After you drove away, my friend confessed that he had messed up his life big time by getting involved with another woman. I don’t know what you said, but whatever it was certainly made an impact!” He said that he needed to go call his wife.
Astounded, I put the receiver down as we ended our conversation and backed up against the wall. “Lord, that’s why I was so bold! You put those words in my mouth!”
The next week, I hurriedly picked up my sister at the airport and headed out of town. We exited the interstate and pulled into the dealership to pick up the mats.
The receptionist informed me that my salesman was on the lot with another customer. “I’ll page him, Ms. Christensen. You can wait in his office.”
As I walked toward his cubicle, another woman was sitting in a chair next to his desk.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “I didn’t know anyone was here.”
“Mrs. Christensen?” I heard faintly. “Is your name Donna?”
“Yes.”
Then the tears.
Could this be his wife? I wondered silently.
“I just want to thank you for what you shared with my husband last week. I’m here to have lunch with him for the first time in two months. We’re trying to put back the pieces.”
With that we both embraced and cried unashamedly, knowing the pain we shared.
Cars and floor mats! Who would have thought God would have used floor mats to give me a glimpse of His omniscience!
“God, only You could have planned this!”
With unbelievable exuberance, I got back in the car and exclaimed to my sister as we drove out, “Joy, you’re not going to believe this!”
She was my captive audience to the whole story for the next couple of hours!
“But we have this treasure
in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of
us”
(II Corinthians 4:7 NKJV).
Copyright 2001, 2004 Donna Christensen
All rights reserved.
Published Online by: The Biblical Reader
www.biblicalreader.com