THANK YOU SO MUCH GOD!

Psalm 7:17 "I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High"

I write this blog to give many thanks to our great God. I will do this blog today like we do what we call "God moments" at church. The concept is pretty much a testimony of how you see God's hand at work in yours or someone else's life.

I have heard numerous times from my wife that "we need a van". We have a Jeep Cherokee, which has been a great vehicle to us and one we both like. However with three kids under six, we have three car seats crammed in the backseat, kind of like sardines packed in a can. While the front where me and my wife sit is also crammed to give them leg room, which puts me pretty much eating the steering wheel when I drive. The simple solution to this would be to go get another vehicle that's bigger, right? Well, that won't work because I owe way more on the Jeep than it's worth and I can't afford on a single income to go out and get another, making two car payments a month. I know I could roll over the negative equity into the next car, but that has happened on the last two cars and it just seems to keep growing larger and larger. A never ending cycle with a vicious appetite. I owe two more years and I will go the length of the loan so I own it, no more negative equity to pay interest on.

So when my wife says we need a bigger car I nod in agreement and say I don't see it happening soon even though I really want it to. So I put it in God's hands. My neighbor has a child with a condition (I can't for the life of me think though of what it's called) that keeps her bed ridden , unable to walk or talk. I would like to note that her name is Faith, she's six years old, and if anyone reading would add her to their prayers it would be greatly appreciated by me and her parents. Poor little Faith has had some difficulties lately that have resulted in several operations, which are done by specialists a good drive from here. Her dad ,bless his heart, stays with her when she has to stay in the hospital, sometimes days to a week at a time. Well naturally this has put a strain on their finances as it would most single income house holds. Faith's grandpa passed away this past year and left his van to them in the inheritance. You starting to see God's hand at work yet?

Their family already had a van and this made a work car for M. (Faiths dad). Well it started to act up and M. parked it on the street over this winter. It was brought up a while ago that they might sell it, and I merely brushed it off because it is a very nice van that appears in good shape and well taken care of. I surely thought that it would be way out of my budget of straight out buying it. We have savings but we need that for emergencies and unforeseen expenses. So last week my wife mentions they want to sell the van because they could use that financial help. Again I brushed it off like before, then my wife told me the price. I couldn't believe it, it seemed unreal. Well I didn't know that it was acting up, which what it was doing was sputtering like a cylinder or two were misfiring. I asked M. if I could test drive it and if he would go with me, and on the trip we stopped at advanced auto and put the actron code reader machine on it to diagnose the problem. It came back with three:1)p0171 System lean bank 1 2)p0174system lean bank2 3)p0301 misfire detected in cylinder #1
I understand the misfire but the system lean had me. I was thinking cat converter or O2 censor. Well we agreed on a price, I did not by the way haggle them like I usually do car salesmen or private sellers considering they are my neighbors and their situation.

I am not a Ford guy, been raised working on GM and am a foreigner to Ford. Wasn't sure how to approach the fix on this so again, I put it in God's hands. The verse that kept coming to mind was Phillipians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" I prayed for a van and He came through with a real nice one in our budget that needs a little work , so surely He would have His hand in the fixing. I did a plug wires, plug , pcv valve tune up on it quick to see if that would do it. Started it to hear the same sputter. Well, ok, gonna take more than that. I'm at work and my wife texts me that she googled the codes and found a ton of information. Even a website that had very detailed pictures of the entire fix from start to finish. Wow. So I called the Ford dealer and they had the parts in stock. Apparently this was a problem all Windstars had that it took Ford several years to change the problem, which were faulty isolator bolts causing carbon buildup and the port seals to fail causing a bad vacuum leak leading to a sputtering engine. I had to take off the cowl , the splash shield, unhook the throttle, remove the air filter and it's housing, and remove the upper plenum, and lower plenum exposing the intake and problem area. It was a pretty big job. I did it all without losing my cool,or coming out in the end with all my knuckles bloodied. That for sure has God's hand in it. While I had access to it I also changed the coil pack, old days they were distributor caps, to complete my original tune up of wires and plugs. So now its time to start the van to see if she works.

My wife was out there for the starting, and I was nervous. It wasn't lack of faith in God, I was just worried that I wasn't worthy for it to be fixed. I knew God could do it Luke 1:37 "For nothing is impossible with God" So I started it and it was fixed! No sputter at all,rather it purred like a kitten so to speak. It cost me under two hundred dollars to fix and the dealership charges seven to nine hundred to fix this problem. God's hand was at work since last year bringing us a van that our growing family really needed. We took a chunk out of savings but didn't have to deplete it. He brought us the info, parts, and a steady hand to me to fix it. God is great and I will sing praises, for His mercy and grace shine so bright in this world if we just open our eyes to a fraction of the big picture that He sees.

I pray for all those reading this that God opens your eyes more and more each day to His plans and will for you. Call upon Him in ALL things and have that unwavering faith and attitude to give Him praise and glory in ALL things. May God touch each and every one of you. With love and prayers always.
C.