Today could have been better

Key word: could have.
But today taught me a lot and while things could have been better, I'm glad it went the way it did.

This morning while I was reading, I was reminded that I need to rejoice in my hardships and count it all joy whenever I face trials. (James 1:2).  I was reminded that I need to trust in Him and He will equip me with all that I need to overcome these trials.

God knew that I needed to hear those words today.

An hour later, I left the house to go do some studying before work, and on my commute to Starbucks at a pretty busy intersection off the loop, my car dies.  The steering wheel got really stiff, the check engine and oil light came on, and I started to lose all power.  I was able to safely pull it into a nearby parking lot but it completely died as I was turning in and it was partially blocking that entrance.

So here I am alone in an empty parking lot freaking out because my car just died and I had no idea what to do.  Now, my dad has taught me quite a bit about my car (I drive an 18 year old car) so I know my battery wasn't the problem (the emergency lights and radio were still on) and I just checked my oil two days prior so I know that wasn't the problem either.  I then try to stay calm and call a friend who lives right by where I was stopped and then start making my way down my phone book.  By the fourth call, I was bawling my eyes out because I was so in shock over what happened and my dad wasn't answering and some friends I called didn't know what was wrong or couldn't come out.  Thankfully, my friend Stephanie showed up and comforted me and about ten minutes later my friend Brandon came and started working on my car.

While Brandon was taking a look at my car, Stephanie and I found a kite in my car that was leftover from camp this summer so, naturally, we flew it.  Count it all joy, right?  After awhile, Brandon couldn't figure out what was wrong so we went out and got cables to tow my truck to the nearest auto shop.

Let me just pause my story to thank my friends for helping me so much today.  Stephanie, thanks for keeping me calm and making me laugh during this hard time.  Brandon, thanks for all of the technical talk and taking time out of your day to help me. Emily, thanks for calling and making sure I was okay and recommending that other auto repair shop.  Daniel, thanks for sending me flowers to make my day better.

Okay, resume.

Well, we went to the auto shop and found out what happened was my time belt had snapped.  Uh-oh.  The original shop we went to wanted to charge me a ridiculous amount to fix it and some other things, and after talking to my dad, the better and cheaper decision would be to get rid of my car completely rather than spend all the money to fix it.  Emily had referred another shop to us, though, and after talking to them, their quote for the repairs was half the price of the first shop. Praise the Lord I get to keep Delilah! We got a tow truck and they took it to the repair shop.

My dad had told me that when a timing belt snaps, there's always a possibility that it could harm the engine when it snaps and if that happened, we would get rid of the car.  I wasn't expecting my car to be ready until Monday, but the shop called me and said they fixed it and the engine's fine, and on top of that, they're fixing my A/C! Woohooo!!!

God is good, y'all.