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Wednesday, June 28, 2006

The color purple

It never ceases to amaze me that when I get honest before the Lord, He always shows up! ;-) My last blog entry detailing some of the stresses of life and feeling a slight bit like Job opened up some real and painful dialogue with God.

Which at times has left me feeling like Job~ not all my questions answered, but with my hand over my mouth and my heart crying out “You alone are God!” and “You alone are in control!” Add to that a healthy dose of humility in the face of shaking my fist at heaven and questioning His love and goodness.

I’m so glad God doesn’t anger at my questions or shy away from them. He shows up. And in some ways, He does answer.

I’ve gotten a real kick telling my recent story of God showing up because as a writer, if I put this into a fiction novel people would shake their fingers about the implausibility of it all.

No matter. I was there. I saw God and He left an indelible reminder of His grace…in the grape shade of purple…

After my blog post a few Saturdays ago, God stepped in pretty fast to answer one of my immediate needs~ transportation to church. A neighbor of ours~ a little girl we’ve watched grow into an amazing young woman~ heard my husband talking to her mom about car stuff and she offered us her car so we could go to church. I was humbled as we climbed in and then enjoyed being with other believers knowing that God Himself had carried us there with a special wink and a whisper to trust Him.

Then He promptly closed every available or even slightly possible door for our getting another car. But my mother-in-law let us borrow her car on Monday so that my husband could run to his office and gather more work to do at home until God provided a vehicle. God also allowed me to borrow that car to go to a place that’s become a special invitation for refreshment and renewal. I went to the Healing Rooms and the prayer team that prayed with me and over me was so perfectly chosen by God that I cried and felt God release some deep “stuff” in my heart. One thing they challenged me to do after our time together was to ask my husband to pray with me through our house and seek His direction together.

Given that my husband and I have been struggling some with our communication, I wasn’t sure how this would go over. But God had already gone before me ~ why I’m still surprised at this I don’t know~ and my husband was excited about what the prayer team had suggested. That night we spent a very long time praying together and I have to say God opened my eyes even wider to the gift my husband is. He’s a fallible and imperfect human, just like me, who loves God too. He prayed with such power and confidence that I was in awe. God whispered to my heart, “I’ve got this covered too.” And God does. We’re still working at this tough and wonderful journey of marriage, but God showed up there once again and breathed new life, His life, over us.

Then Tuesday we received a call about a possible car. Not really wanting to get my hopes up, I listened to the specifics and agreed it was worth looking into. So my husband called the guy about his Saturn and agreed to meet him. The man with the Saturn also asked my husband to bring our van because his neighbor~ also a mechanic~ works specifically on Town and Country vans. Just like ours.

Much longer story a little shorter… the two mechanics were gifts from God. Both neat guys, they managed to fix our van for under $200 (when our regular mechanic had declared it dying) and tell us that we have 100,000 miles of good life left in my daughters’ favorite car.

Plus, the Saturn was one of the cutest cars we’ve ever considered and the guy sold it to us for exactly what we had to spend. Not only that but he took our very dying Corsica and slashed $200 off the cost of the Saturn. That ~ with a gift from a wonderful co-worker of my husband’s ~ and we were the proud owners of two “new” cars with absolutely no debt.

Can’t forget to mention our Saturn has a sunroof, a kicking stereo system, and leather seats. I feel like a teenager’s dream of summer every time I slide behind the wheel.

Add to that my mouth ulcers are finally gone~ praise God! And I’m loving my writing again. I’m 12 chapters shy of finishing this awesome story that God has given me new eyes for and a new appreciation of what it means to trust Him and leave the results in His hands.

Did I mention the adorable paint job on our “new” Saturn???

It’s the grace shade of purple.

What an awesome God we serve!

14 comments:

Meg said...

How could we live a day without God's grace? We couldn't.

Can't wait to see the Grape!

Amy Wallace said...

Thanks, Meg! Your friendship is another reminder of God's amazing grace.

I'm looking forward to dinner and showing off the grape soon!

Amy

Heather said...

Amy,
I'm in tears as I rejoice with you! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

see-through faith said...

GREAT to read this!!!

Amy Wallace said...

Heather,

Thank you so much for praying and walking through some of this tough stuff with me. Makes it that much more fun to rejoice over the high points. ;-)

I cried too writing it all out. God is so good!

Amy

Amy Wallace said...

Thanks, Lorna!

I thought of you when I posted and couldn't wait to share the good that God is bringing out of a very hard time. Thanks for your prayers too and your encouraging posts. God is indeed so good!

Amy

GloreyBHere said...

God always answers! Always - the best thing to do is hand whatever over to Him and tell Him "it's not my problem" and He looks after it - I think we so try to manipulate situtations and things to work in one way when God truly wants to answer our concerns His way - then and only then can we take absolutely NO credit for it. I know this to be true - many times my concern or issue is not resolved until I say "Ok God - I give it totally to You and trust You for the outcome" - Wow and then we just end up praising His name and giving Him all the glory. What a ride!!! No one, no one can tell you that the car you are driving is not a gift from God. Amen and amen.

Amy Wallace said...

Gloria,

Thanks so much for what you shared about trusting God and leaving the results to Him. What an awesome reminder!

I loved your comment: "What a ride!" Sure is. ;-)God is so very, very good!

Amy

Vicki said...

I'm so amazed at God's way of meeting your needs. Did me good just to read your post tonight. I'm still wiping away the tears...but they're GOOD tears:-)

Praise the Lord!

Amy Wallace said...

Vicki,

Aren't good tears awesome! ;-) Thanks for praying with me through this tough time and encouraging me with your words.

Even when life is harder than we think we can stand... God is good.

Love and prayers, my friend!
Amy

Sally Datria said...

Amy!! God is so awesome!! I'm so excited for you!!

You are in my prayers, sweetheart, now as always!!

Amy Wallace said...

Sally,

Thanks so much for your prayers and for rejoicing with us! God is indeed so good!

Love,
Amy

Alison Strobel Morrow said...

It's such a blessing to see God work in other people's lives, because it assures me he'll work (and is working) in mine as well. What exciting answers to prayer. Don't you just love it when God shows up and says, "Sit back and watch this kids!" :)

My first new car was a Saturn, which I named Jupiter. :) I loved that car. Hope yours treats you as well as mine treated me!

-Alison
blog.alisonstrobel.com

Amy Wallace said...

Alison,

Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm so glad you were encouraged by my post and that you let me know. It makes me smile to hear that people are reading and being reminded that God does indeed show up. ;-)

That's so cool that you named your first Saturn "Jupiter." ;-)


Many blessings,
Amy

 
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