Surprised by Grace

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. John 1:16

Shortly after my little incident with the car and the mailbox, I prayed a little prayer: "God, please help me. I know I don't deserve it, and I don't even know what can be done, but please have mercy on me in this situation." I promptly forgot about it.

God didn't.

Weeks later, I am still amazed at the way He answered that little prayer.

That evening after the accident, we drove to take a look at the mailbox. We left a note for the owners, explaining what happened, and letting them know we'd pay for a new mailbox.

That evening they called, and Andrew happened to know them from his childhood church. She said what an encouragement it was to get that note, that she had been praying that morning, and her faith had been restored.

That's wonderful for her, I thought at the time, but my car is still an absolute mess.

Andrew took the car out to a body shop to get an estimate. $3500. Whoa.

But God had a plan.

About a week later, Andrew was talking to our neighbor and mentioned the car. The neighbor's brother happens to own a body shop. The neighbor happened to be going to Myrtle Beach for two weeks.

And this is the part where we experienced one blessing after another.

Our neighbor offered to let Andrew borrow his car while he was gone, so that we didn't have to try to manage with only one car for two weeks.

The body shop offered to pick the car up and drop it off after it was done. (such a small thing, but soooo helpful when you have three kids to juggle!)

Insurance paid for all but $500.

The body shop kicked in $250.

We paid $250 instead of $3500.

The car is now sitting in my garage looking brand new. I just love how God loves to surprise us. Why are we surprised by His grace?

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11