a hilarious reminder of how God takes care of us...

Throughout my life, I have been in a few situations that could possibly have ended in death. None of these situations, however, have even ended up in an accident. For that, I am eternally grateful.
I think that God gets a kick out of reminding me that I'm not supposed to die yet, that I have a great work to do here on this earth. For someone who used to be suicidal... that's an incredibly humbling and beautiful reminder.
Saturday, after a fantastic last week and performance with Opera Atelier, my friend Abby and I were off to a wedding. I didn't know the bride and groom. But Abby's friends had created excuses not to go and I became her 'plus one'. Why not. Free food? Road trip to Hamilton? Sounds like a good time. Little did I know that God was going to incredibly bless us the entire day!
Abby lives in Mississauga, but came to Toronto to pick me up. We were flipping a U-turn to go to Starbucks before hitting the road, when a couple on the street flagged us down to tell us that our back right tire was flat. Wow. If that had happened on the highway, we could have gotten into an accident, or worse. Ok, no worries.
We drove to a gas station that I knew about, filled the tire up with air, were just about to check the pressure when BAM. Right in my ear, the tire bursts. I thought it was hilarious. Abby, not so much. But after a call to her parents, and a stern 'Gods got this' from me, the tears dried and we got to work. We pulled out the spare tire and were about to start changing this sucker in our skirts when a lovely gentleman, who was clearly on his way to the office or to a wedding himself, pulled into the station and helped us. We had a nice chat. The tire was rusted on a bit and so another gentleman came over and helped him pry it off. After giving them bottles of water and much appreciation, they left and we were on our way, planning to stop off at Abby's house to change cars.
We were on the QEW, I believe, when she heard and felt something... we pulled over to the side of the road, looked out the door and bam. More tears from her, more laughter from me. Left front tire, flat, on the side of the highway. AGAIN, no accident, we were safe, we were good. As she was calling her mom, a guy from a side street beside us, came over to see if we were ok. We were, I motioned to him, and he left, to get back into a tow truck! What are the odds!? We pulled off the highway into a parking lot and got Starbucks :o) Which was fabulous.
Her mom showed up and we switched cars to her step-dads. Her mom, bless her heart, then dealt with the other car problem. 2 flat tires down... and we're on the way to the wedding.
Knowing we were going to be late, but hoping to catch at least the ending, we showed up to the location right when everyone was streaming out of the door. Opps! Oh well, we still got to go to the reception!
We had about 3 and a half hours in between, so we spent them at a Wendy's, studying out music and me teaching Abby some Italian for her junior recital.
While we were there, Abby's step dad called to inform us that the car that we now had, had a slow leak on the back left tire. No problem, we would fill it up and keep an eye on it.
Before we drove out to the reception location, we topped the tire up and were on our way.
The reception was fantastic. Even though Abby only knew one or two people there and I only knew her, the girls at our table embraced us and we had a fantastic time on the dance floor! The DJ, and 2 other guys chatted and danced with the girls from our table (us included) the whole night as well and it was a fabulous time. It really was!
We left around 10, with promises of finding some of our new friends on facebook, and headed to Dairy Queen for a little snack.
When we came out, we checked the tire again, it looked fine, and we set off.
Now, why we ended up where we did in Toronto, I'll never know. We were extremely north... and I live very south... but when Abby heard something, we were north of Finch on the 427, a 3 lane highway. We pulled over to the side of the road, and sure enough, the tire was flat. More tears, more laughter.
It is now 11:15. We're exhausted, but this is just too hilarious for me, so I'm hardly able to contain myself as we set to work to change this tire. I'm calling a few people to help us, to come get us, anything. Abby told her parents not to bother coming, that we could do this and it would be fine. Bless their hearts, they came anyways. We loosened all of the nuts and were looking for the jack when we realized... we didn't have a jack. WHAT THE HECK!?! No jack. This is when I start calling more friends... no one is answering... and the one person who does tells me that he doesn't know where we are, so he can't help us. Wow. Nice. Thanks for leaving us stranded on the side of the road because you can't look at a map... Kind of bitter about that. 2 friends DID call back however. One who was, unfortunately, extremely far from Toronto, and one, my dear, David Ross. Dave, before I was even able to tell him that I was going to need a ride home because Abby's parents were now there and were't too impressed and wouldn't want to drive me home, offered to come and get me. Bless his heart.
We sat in the other car, while Charles, Abby's step-dad, tried to get the tire off. But it wouldn't budge. Dave showed up, all knight in shining armor like, in his blue mazda, and around 1:15 in the morning, 14 hours and 3 flat tires after we left, Dave had me on my way home and Abby and her parents had taken the car to a parking lot where it would stay for the night.
Throughout the whole situation, I could see Gods fingerprints. He took care of us every step of the way. While we were stranded on the highway, NO ONE stopped that third time. Until Charles was out trying to get the tire off and Dave was on his way. One, single biker, stopped to see if he could help. That was it. Abby and I, clearly not planning on harming anyone, in skirts, dressed up, on the side of the road, trying to change a tire... and no one stopped. But you know, through it all, there was never a paniced moment for me. There was never any real fear. Because God had taken care of us so brilliantly... because Abby had noticed something wrong every time there was a problem... because there were no accidents, no broken bones, no even chance of death... I was completely calm. God was with us every single step of the way.
What a beautiful reminder that we can praise Him through it ALL. Through the most ridiculous of circumstances. When we are exhausted and at our wits end, He still is there, He is constant, He will take care of us and provide. Even though sometimes, in His incredible wisdom, He will say 'no' to us... He is always there. Constant. Providing, taking care of us. In the little things and the big things, He never gives us more than we can handle... and even when a situation seems crushing, seems like we cannot survive... with Him, we can. Anything is possible when God is in the picture.
What a fantastic day. What a fantastic reminder. What a fantastic story. What a brilliant God we serve and love :o)
Blessings and love
Deena