Our home was so lifeless after our beloved dog, Champion, died. We decided that we wanted another pup right away and found one in Arkansas. The breeder said that she would organize a ground transport for us that would have him arriving on Wednesday, November 11. We waited impatiently for the call from the transport people, but when we did not hear from them, we called the breeder.
“Where is our puppy?” Ben asked. Sheepishly, she said that he was still there in Arkansas. The ground transport had fallen through. Ben and I scrambled that Wednesday and were able to get me a flight to Bentonville, Arkansas for the next day. I arrived in Bentonville Thursday evening with plans to pick up a rental car early Friday, and meet the breeder with the puppy at the hotel before 9 am.
I left Bentonville with puppy in tow at around 9:30. It had been mild in Arkansas, but as I headed north, the temperatures dropped and there were flurries of snow and severe side winds that buffeted my car as I drove.
If you have ever had a puppy, you know they need bathroom breaks frequently! Shep, our new pup, was true to form. We stopped every 2-2 1/2 hours, got out and ran around. It was crazy cold, and the windchill was pretty bad. I’d bought a couple of containers of nuts and a gallon of water, so the only stops were gas and potty stops – for Shep, and for me. Over the course of the day on Friday, we got gas 3 times. It was getting late when I noticed that my gas gauge was at around 30 miles left until empty. There was a road sign that indicated gas at the next exit, so I exited down the ramp expecting to see a station at the bottom of the ramp. Nope. The sign said gas 1 mile to the left down a dark two-lane road. I really had no choice.
I pulled into the ramshackle convenience store/gas station and reached into my purse for my wallet…. No wallet. Uh oh. I was in the middle of rural Iowa – a very long way from anywhere… and a longer way from home! Frantic, I searched my car. Nothing.
A man – a bit rough around the edges – asked me if everything was o.k. “I’ve lost my wallet! And I only have 30 miles of gas left!” He talked me “off the ledge”, and then suggested we go inside the store where it was warm to see if we could retrace my steps. My last stop was a full tank behind me – several hundred miles of travel. We called one of the gas stations, but my wallet was not there. We called Ben and he called ahead to Sioux City, Iowa to get me accommodations for the night – without I.d. required. The man – an angel in disguise for sure – put $20 of gas in my tank and I again headed north.
Ben was teaching on Saturday morning, so we agreed that I would be at Western Union in Sioux City when they opened at 8. After an hour with the woman at the counter, we had made no headway – without I.D., she simply could not give me any money. I went out to the car to sit while Ben got ready for his day. Ben called corporate Western Union and they told him that he could go to the office in Kalispell where he could show his ID, tell them a secret question, and, if I could answer it, I could get a maximum of $300.
It dawned on me that when my friends are in crisis, I frequently reach out to friends I know who pray, to pray for the issue at hand. I was most definitely in crisis! No ID, no cash, no credit cards, in a city where I knew no one, a long way from any kind of help. I texted quite a few friends and asked for their prayers.
About 10 minutes later, as Ben drove down our driveway, he was impressed by the LORD to call me and ask me to search my car one more time. As he spoke, I felt the LORD say, “Look in your glove compartment.” I reached forward and opened it up. There it was! (The strange thing is that I had not been in my glove compartment – and I always return my wallet to my purse after using it.)
I had held it together – no tears! When I saw my wallet, I burst out crying. Such relief! Such joy! Such an answer to the prayers of my friends!
As you might imagine, the rest of the day was spent praising the God I love – He Who hears our cries, and answers our desperate pleas for help. He is the Finder of the lost, and an ever-present Help. What a remarkable blessing. What a joy!