In December of 2008 the “check engine” light came on in my car….DUN DUN DUN! I took it to several mechanics (because I was certain that it was going to blow up at any moment) and they all said that a part in my engine was bad and needed to be replaced. It was going to cost several thousand dollars to fix. AHHH!!! At the end of our first year of marriage, we did what any other poor newlywed couple would do…PRAY! The mechanic said that if we didn’t replace the piece, the car would be a goner within 3 weeks. With Christmas around the corner we decided to pray and deal with the car when we got back to Houston after the holidays. But when we got back and had not miraculous won the lottery or inherited thousands of dollars <wamp wamp>, the only thing we could do was pray since we couldn’t' afford to fix it.
A few months went by; we were still praying, and the car was still running. Every morning, I would leave a extra early in case that was the day The Brown Fawn (the name we gave my car) decided to breakdown. We minimized how much we drove the car to keep it off the road and as safe as possible for us AND everyone around us. We prayed that God would show us the next step, but what He ended up doing was showing us how to save and budget, how to make educated financial decisions (not just picking the first good thing that comes along), patience, and most of all, trust in Him. Isn’t it awesome how God uses a challenge as a lesson?! He is so good like that!
For 3 years, my hubby looked for cars that would fit our budget, lifestyle, and plans for the future. After years of prayer about cars, we never got the “go ahead” from the Lord. Since we never even found a car that met all of our prerequisites and we didn’t have the OK from the Father, we kept actively waiting. In the mean time, Phil's car went dead! So with all of our budgeting and car research we replaced his car. Since he needed a car first to go to work, it was back to the drawing board for my car.
The mechanic gave the car 3 weeks. The poor mechanic had no idea what God had in store for us with this car.
Three YEARS later it was still running.
June 2011 rolls along…..Phil emails me a link for a car (which he has done about once a day for 3 1/2 years for my opinion because he is awesome like that and cares about my input). After 3 years of looking at cars, we felt God say “It’s time”. Not only did God say “yes”, but this car matched all of our requirements for a new vehicle as far as price, mileage, age, life expectancy, and large enough for Phil to fit into safely and comfortably (my hubby is 6’7 so this is no small request!). We had extremely unrealistic high expectations for this new car, but they were all met, and we still came in UNDER budget!
My sister was in town, so Phil had taken my car (The Brown Fawn) to work and left us with his car so we wouldn’t get stuck anywhere (Isn’t he so sweet?!?!?). When he left for work he took my grungy old car, traded it in (can you believe we were able to trade it in?!) and came home with a brand new car!
Bye car I bought in high school and ran into the ground!
See ya car I drove from Virginia to Texas when we moved!
Goodbye shattered windshield!
Chao large dent in the passenger door!
Later chipped paint and rust!
Peace out Brown Fawn!
Hello leather!
Hola working sound system!
Hi new tires!
How do you do clean & functional engine!
Howdy awesome air conditioning!
Hey there Black Pearl!
Thank you Lord for your challenges and lessons! Thank you for leading us and growing us in the process of car shopping! Thank you for a car of your testimony!!! Praise the Lord!
