When my original plan for getting our kids to school changed unexpectedly, I did not skip a beat as a revised matter of fact plan of action transpired.
On this winter morning, once we were all in the car ready to go, I started it up and noticed the tire pressure light was on. At first, I assumed the light was indicating a decrease in tire pressure attributed to the cold 37 degree weather, but as I recalled a prior tire incident, I immediately felt inclined to walk around the car and quickly glance at each of the tires before driving away.
In doing so, I saw that one of the back tires appeared low. While accessing the condition of the tire, it was a tender mercy that right at that time, my husband had just stepped out of the house to leave for work and observed what I was doing. He came over immediately to assist. As I knew I would not be able to go directly to a shop to get the tire repaired before getting my kids to school on time, right away, I knew what to do. I decisively and proactively, without hesitation, went into Plan B action mode.
While my husband was using an air compressor to add air to the tire, I shared with him my matter of fact plan of action to take our younger kids to school in the car used by our teenage drivers who were not using it at the time. It was a tender mercy the car was available as a backup and the worries I would have had about the possibility of the low tire going flat at any point during the approximate one and a half hour roundtrip commute was alleviated. And, as there was a concern on this very cold day whether the heater in the backup car worked, it was a tender mercy it did and we were warmed up fairly quickly.
Though I had plans to take our car in to have the tire repaired preceding a scheduled meeting I would be facilitating not long after returning home from dropping off our kids, after calling the shop and learning of the lengthy wait time, due to the tight time constraint, I once again moved forward with a revised matter of fact plan of action to instead go to the shop following my meeting and before picking up our kids from school.
By that time, it was then early afternoon and over the course of several hours since my husband had added air to the tire, the tire pressure had dropped from 35 psi to close to 15 psi. Although I was quite nervous about the slow leak causing the psi to drop so significantly and worried if the low tire pressure would hold up long enough to get to the shop 20 minutes away, it was a tender mercy the tire was not yet altogether flat.
In hopes of being able to make it to the shop without getting a flat, I attempted to fill up the tire using the air compressor, but I didn’t know how to use it and when I looked up a YouTube video for a demonstration, it wasn’t any help either. So, I placed the air compressor and an extension cord in the trunk of my car and prayed and prayed and prayed that first and foremost I would make it all the way to the shop without losing anymore air. And secondly, if I did lose more air, I was prepared and prayerful that someone along the way would be able to help me.
Before leaving our home, I examined the tire once again and saw where a heavy duty nail of sorts had become lodged in the tire. Despite my naivety of how physics works, I was hopeful and optimistic that as the tire rotated around and around while in route to the shop, the pressure on the nail as it butted up against the pavement over and over again would lock and seal any air from escaping till I got to the tire shop.
Along the way, although I felt anxious, I tried really hard to keep my mind focused on trusting in the Lord and staying relaxed. It was a wonderful tender mercy that not only did I make it safely to the shop without getting a flat tire, it was super amazing where now that I only had 1 hour before I would need to leave to pick up my kids from school that a garage bay was open and available when I arrived and I was able to pull right in before several other customers came in following behind me and my tire, which was discovered to have also had a screw in it too, was fixed right away for a very minimal charge.
All in all, it was a tender mercy that before leaving home to take our kids to school, I became aware of the tire that was low before it became a full-fledged flat tire.
When have you had an experience to which you became aware of a situation before it resulted in something more so problematic? And, when have you had plans change unexpectedly and you were able to proactively with decisiveness move instantaneously forward with a revised matter of fact plan of action?
tendermercym❤️ments~jld
“How have you noticed Heavenly Father’s awareness and mindfulness of you today?”
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