I like to record the miracles I experience in my life. I have received so many over the years, I can hardly keep track of them all. This one truly humbled me, and I want to share the lessons I learned from it.

Leadup to the Miracle

On the morning of Wednesday, November 2, 2022, my wife informed me that our van was showing signs of being extremely low on power steering fluid. This has been happening off and on since June. I’ve been meaning to get it fixed, but I haven’t been able to yet. As it so happens, that was a fortuitous turn of events.

My wife takes our daughter to school each morning, so that’s why she was able to discover that problem early in the day. I decided to go take care of that problem as soon as possible. Before we had to pick up my daughter from school.

So at 1:30 I started the engine and headed out. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the fall season’s first day of snow. And it snowed a lot. Thus, I was a bit on edge as I drove. I was torn about where to go. Should I go purchase power steering fluid from a car parts store or take my van to a trusted car shop that offers free top-offs of all fluids in between oil changes? I try not to take advantage of their generosity too often. They’re so awesome, but I just feel awkward about it sometimes. One of my personal failings.

Coincidence or Miracle?

Despite my misgivings, I decided to go to the car shop. I parked near the entrance to the garage and turned the engine off, and then I handed my key to an attendant. I told him the problem I was having and then walked into the waiting room. A minute later, one of the cars they had been working on exited, opening a spot for my van to enter. However, it didn’t for a few minutes. I found that odd, but I figured maybe they were waiting for the other spot to open up, too.

But then the main mechanic, who I’ve enjoyed working with over the years, came in and asked me why my car won’t start. I was shocked. I felt so bad for dumping such a big problem on him. I walked outside and, sure enough, my van was totally dead. No electricity. I couldn’t believe it. And my car battery is hard to reach so it’s not easy to attach jumper cables to it. They would need to remove a large cover above it, and that’s a major challenge in the blinding snow.

Finally, they put the van in neutral and rolled it into the garage. Thankfully, it’s slightly downhill from where I parked. They worked on it for a few minutes and told me that the wires connecting to the battery had been loose. So they tightened them, and the van started just fine after that. But they recommended I drive around for a while to recharge the battery. In the snow.

I drove around the city for 40 minutes, and I’m happy to report that I arrived home in time for my wife to pick up our daughter from school at 3:30. The van had plenty of battery charge. And I didn’t get into an accident on the slippery roads.

Two Lessons I Learned

Speaking of no accidents, this reminds me of Oogway’s famous quote from Kung Fu Panda, “There are no accidents.” Isn’t it amazing that I hadn’t gotten the steering fluid leak fixed, leading to me need to get that refilled on the one day that the van was about to die, which could have led to my daughter getting stranded at school? And isn’t it coincidental that I decided to take it to the one place that knows my vehicle well and could fix it for me? I’d like to call them out: Lube Doc. They’re incredible, and I can’t praise them enough!

I plan on getting the leak fixed soon, but this experience taught me two things:

1. Act Quickly on Promptings

What if I had waited to take care of the low power steering fluid? The van might have failed to start when we needed to get my daughter from school. Or if I had gone to the car parts store instead of the car shop, I could have been stranded. Maybe someone there could have helped me, but it gave me a lot of peace of mind to be in a place that specializes in exactly the kind of problem I was having. I was in the right place at the right time because I followed my feelings, even if it made me a little uncomfortable at first.

2. Don’t Be Afraid of Challenges

It’s easy for me to panic when things don’t go according to plan. Of course, that’s narrow-sighted of me. Because I’m not the only one with plans. God has a much better plan than I could ever come up with. I do my best to trust Him more and more. He never lets me down when I endure challenges well and seek to learn and grow from difficult times.

There Are No Accidents

I could easily chalk this whole experience up to coincidence and luck. But I won’t. I see everything that happened as divine providence. It was God who put me in the right set of circumstances to increase my faith in Him. Once we gain the right perspective, we begin to see that everything that happens to us, good and bad, is far from random. There are no accidents in this story, both literally and figuratively.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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