TRAVELING DOWN THE HIGHWAY IN THE DARK

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Mike and I recently celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary by spending 2 days in Michigan. God is so awesome in his creation and the diversity of it. I praise Him for Who and what He is! He also was watching over us on our journey. 

To make a long and trying story short, our alternator was burning up on the van when we were 15 miles away from our destination at 8:45 PM in the pitch blackness of night. We lost a few of the little things first like the radio, mileage light and then the wipers while it was raining! Then my ABS light came on and then I realized I didn't have turn signals or brake lights.

Talk about scary driving!  We were on Interstate 31 heading up the east side of Michigan looking for the Shelby exit.  We saw our exit and I took it and headed to the nearest gas station.  I pulled in, popped the hood and Mike took a look under there and told me not to shut off the engine but to turn off the headlights.  I did, but the headlights stayed on.  We then thought it was an electrical short due to the heavy rain we were driving in.  We decided to keep going and got back onto Shelby Road.

Michigan does not have street lights like Ohio or residents security lighting on their property.  I had gone about 2 miles when my headlights went out, and then, I really started to panic. Not to fear, I kept praying as we tried to see in the dark by following the 2 vehicles in front of us. I only had 8 more miles to go in the rain!  We were OK till a car was coming up on my back side, so Mike shined the flash light out the rear window to let them know that there was someone ahead of them with no lights. It was getting difficult to see in the dark even with the tail lights to follow so I got as close as I felt safe.We were close to our turn and one car turned 2 miles before where we needed to go and the other car turned off 1 mile before our destination. I kept praying asking God to just get us to the cottage and we would worry about the van repairs tomorrow. We were driving along Silver Lake with no outside lights whatsoever looking for street signs in the rain with a flash light! I NEVER want to do that again!  Mike kept saying we will have to find a place to pull off and park but there wasn't any place that we could see so I kept driving.  I was losing power and slowing down on that mile stretch.

ONLY BY THE GRACE OF GOD did Mike see the street we needed. Mind you I was losing power and could only move in 3rd gear. I down shifted to see if a lower gear would help but it wouldn't move so I kept it in 3rd. Before I made the turn the battery light came on and we were barely moving. After I made the turn, I could see we were going to have to climb a hill and I didn't know how we were going to do it. I told Mike he may have to get out and push!  I kept asking God to lead us, get us there safe and if we lost the van, I didn't care.  Someone could always come and get us or we would rent a car if needed. The cottage was the last on the left before Duck Rd. but in the dark we had no clue how far we had to go. I kept praying “God get us there”. We were slowing down as we climbed the hill and I kept praying. Mike read the directions again and then I saw a green road sign and asked if that was Duck Rd but neither of us could see through the rain, no wipers and pitch black till we were closer. I suddenly saw a house with lights on inside and recognized it from the pictures the owner sent me and yelled, "where's the driveway???!". I opened my door and Mike showed the light on the fence surrounding the drive and it made a perfect lighting situation to see to park. I pulled in and nearly started crying and praising God all at once! He got us there!  We said we'd deal with the van tomorrow.

We got everything carried in and a good night's sleep. In the morning I told Mike I'd fix breakfast and then we'd go to a neighbor for a phone book. I was just putting the food on the table when the owner pulled into the driveway! We told him our plight, he told us to eat and he'd be back. Mike was able to remove the alternator, the owner drove him to a place to have it rebuilt, they both got it back on and everything worked!!!! PRAISE GOD!!!! He worked everything out to his timing and God's hand was certainly upon us! I cannot thank Him enough. God is there working behind the scenes all the time and we don't recognize what He is doing for us. Some would say "man that was good luck". Sorry, luck had nothing to do with it. It was all God. So this week, I hope you see God in the little and big things. (Charlene)

This TRUE Life story was submitted by Mike and Charlene Fisher.
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding,
In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy paths."
(Proverbs 3: 5 & 6)