Today I got four new tires for free.

Through Gods grace and faithfulness, it’s a story that I hope encourages you.

This week has been a rollercoaster, well really the past few months have, but those details aren’t important right now.

Two weeks ago, Ricky and I were driving on the interstate heading to see the fall colors when my tire blew out. Which resulted in lots of tears from me, and a slight change of plans for us. I remember right after sitting on the gravel, leaning against my car that was at the moment completely useless. Ricky’s hand in mine, the sun beaming down. I was so upset that we were in that situation, that we’d argued because of the stress of it all and that now we were stuck until a repairman could come and help us get the tire fixed. I wasn’t in the mood to look at the bright side of the situation, but Ricky so gently reminded me that God was there and that we had each other and we were okay. As he prayed in that moment, I found myself slowly changing my perspective and reminding myself that God provides and that somehow we would figure it out and it would all be okay. So I leaned my head on Ricky’s shoulder and allowed myself to cry and to also thank God for providing and for being with us in that moment.

The next few days as I tried to sort it all out I was reminded of the conversation my roommate and I had about the Israelites in the wilderness and the way that God provided Manna for them every single day. That they weren’t to store it up because he knew each day what they would need. The past few weeks she had been reminding me of how God does that in my life, and even when I’m stressed or anxious or don’t see answers to continue to look for that Manna in my life.

I was able to get a used tire that would work for a few months while I saved up for new tires and I thought that would be the end of my tire issues. But to my surprise, last Thursday I woke up to snow and trudged out to my car to start scraping it off only to find that the same front tire was completely flat. For the next couple of days I borrowed my dad’s car while I tried to figure out what to do, and eventually just made the decision to get all new tires. I knew I wanted to make sure I was safe on the road as well as to avoid having to worry about more tire issues. After paying for the tires, I’ll be honest I was pretty stressed out financially. But I knew it had to be done and that God would provide somehow.

I left the tire shop feeling good about my decision and happy to know that I had good tires on my car. So you can imagine my surprise that night when driving home my tire went flat. I immediately pulled off the road and called Ricky crying and telling him that I had another flat tire- same front one. He came and rescued me, and after we tried to no avail to blow up the tire enough to get it to the tire shop my roommate ended up coming and rescuing me by helping me get my car towed to the shop.

At this point I was really upset, stressed out and also unsure of what to do. We wondered if maybe something wasn’t wrong with the rim of my car because to have three tires go flat in a week and a half isn’t coincidence.

I waited today to hear from the tire company, only to get a call from them telling me that somehow they had never put the new tires on. That I had gotten a call to come pick it up, paid for the tires and then drove off with no idea I was driving off with the old tires still on. Which explained why the front left one went flat again. How this happened I don’t know, but I immediately found myself relieved because at least the chances of the problem being bigger was slim and they were in the process of putting on the new tires.

Ricky and I went in after work to pick up my car and the manager came and talked to us, and long story short ended up refunding all my money and so I walked away with 4 new tires completely free!

Talk about Gods provision.

I am still so blown away by this and find it incredible the ways that God works. And I am reminded that God does truly provide us with the “manna” that we need in our lives daily. The past few weeks this has looked different every day. Some days it was through the provision of people giving me rides to and from work. Some days it was through sweet friends who sent me money so that I could do something to treat myself because they knew I was stressed out. Other days it was through Ricky praying with me and for me, and being willing to rescue me when I was stuck. It came through my roommate helping me tow my car to the shop, through my dad lending me his car for a few days, and through the tire company somehow not putting tires on my car.

I hope that this story encourages you and that you find as much freedom in that simple reminder that God provides. It may not look like you think it will, but he doesn’t fail to show up when we are surrendered to him and seek his heart.

^“  Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day” – exodus 16:4