Yesterday was not the day I wanted it to be. What was supposed to be my first full day of rest, at home after ending my full time job, the day where Jesus and I drank smoothies by the pool and listened to David Crowder Band together, turned into a no-showed ministry appointment in Glendale and car shopping in the valley with a desperate friends who's car was totaled on Sunday. While the morning worked itself out exactly how it was supposed to, it was not meeting my expectations. So I went over to my bestie's in North Hollywood. It was well past my lunch time and my energy tank was beyond empty. There's this AMAZING pizzeria there called PizzaRev where we decided to go for lunch. The day was looking up. We were walking back to the car in a plaza parking lot when I noticed a frazzled little old lady staring diffidently under the propped up hood of a very dead car. Sarah and I had been yapping as only bff's do, but upon my going unusually quiet, Sarah wondered what I was thinking about. I pointed out the lady and said I was thinking that we needed to go over and help her. As we got closer, we noticed her equally unnerved husband sitting in the driver's seat trying all sorts of buttons and gears with no success. The elderly couple reminded me SO much of my own grandparents I couldn't NOT stop to help. I asked her what was going on. She said the car just wouldn't start and she didn't know what to do. I told her we were missionaries and asked if we could pray and ask Jesus to start the engine. Her name was Rallie, and she got all excited, telling us she was a Sunday school teacher, but could prayer work for that? Sure! Of course!! We told her. We had seen it happen before. So we held hands, spoke a really quick 2 second prayer, and asked Jesus to use his resurrection power to make the car engine go. Rallie's husband, Bill, got back in the driver's seat, turned the key. VOILA!! It started purring like a kitten. Rallie's face lit up like rays of sunshine after a rain storm. "WOW!" she exclaimed, "God is SO good!! I had no idea He would do that! Do you have to have more than one person to pray like that or could I have done that by myself, too?" "Nope," we affirmed. "Anyone can pray like that at any time." We exchanged hugs and she asked if we would stay to make sure she safely got out of the parking lot, which she did.
Sarah and I made our way back to my car. I was blown away. God can move any where, any time, even when we think we're having a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day" (an exaggeration of my day, since it really wasn't bad, just unexpected) if we are just willing to focus on what's going on around us instead of on our own situation. It's also interesting that even though Rallie was a Sunday school teacher, she had a misperception of the power of prayer and what we could pray about. I have no doubt that she is the type who prays faithfully for every single member of her family and blesses every meal. But she had no idea Jesus could instantly answer a prayer of desperation in a parking lot.
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