God is not an ATM: a lesson in perseverance & family discernment

Did you know that Gwendolyn is our sixth child?

Here she is at 4 months old:

Yes, we agree. She's cute. Only problem is, with her arrival our family outgrew our 7-passenger minivan. 

Months before she was born we looked and looked and looked for an 8-passenger vehicle within our price range. We couldn't find a single one. 

After she was born we figured we could just squish like sardines and make do for the few short months we'd be Stateside...this global pandemic thing surely must be ending soon, right?

Wrong.

 

Since Josephine had been pestering us for weeks to call a school family about their 12 passenger van, I finally swallowed my pride and dialed the number for a woman I had never met before. 

She answered right away and I clumsily tried to explain who I was: my daughter is in your son's class...we're looking for a larger vehicle for our family...where did you get yours?  

That very day she invited me over to take a look at her 12 passenger van. It was a 2017 model, and her family was planning to order a new one soon. The also had six children. They were accustomed to buying a new vehicle every few years and then selling their used one to someone they knew. Matt was available to come with me so we went together and took it for a test drive:

This happened on January 14, 2021.

Almost instantly Matt and I agreed this van was the right vehicle for our family. It was is excellent condition, had very low miles, plenty of space for all our children and still a full size trunk. 

But of course, it was out of our price range. We were $8000 short on funds to buy it. We figured if this was really the van, God would provide the funds. We told the woman that we'd reach out to our mission partners and see if we could raise the extra amount. 

In less than two weeks, God moved hearts and minds to give to this real need for our family. We called the owner of the van to let her know, yes, God provided all the extra funds! She and her husband went ahead and ordered their new model. She said that because of the pandemic there would be a delay,  up to 16 weeks for their new van to come in. 

No problem at all. We're used to waiting. What's four months?

That's Gwen four months later, at 8 months old. 

After five months we heard their new van was done but stuck in quality control. 

At six months it was waiting to get on a rail car. 

A week later it went missing. 

Two weeks later we found out that it was never made.

At this point we were pretty confused about this van situation. 

But God had been working another miracle. 

He provided a modest rent home a few blocks away from school. 

Matt and the kids could walk or bike to school. 

So perhaps we didn't need a big van after all?

We told the owners of the van not to worry. We'd be fine without it.

School started and we moved into our new home. With school came opportunities for the kids to participate in other activities. But how would that work with just one vehicle that doesn't even fit all eight of us?

Matt suggested he fly up to Milwaukee and bring down his old painting truck that had been in storage. We agreed that was a sensible idea. Matt was invited to join his old men's group on retreat at the end of October. We booked him a one-way ticket to Milwaukee and figured he'd drive his truck down after the retreat.

That all seemed well and good.

Except, while the two small cars would resolve the problem for getting around town, it didn't address the bigger issue. All of our family lives out of state and we hoped to see them over the holidays.  

So I started looking again for a used vehicle, anything with at least 8 seats. I called dealers around the nation and used apps and visited several dealerships. Every car that I found sold before I could see it, or just wasn't quite right. There was an 8-passenger mid-size SUV available in Lafayette, but the third seat took up the entire trunk. 

Then there was an 8-passenger full-size SUV right here in Abbeville. We took it for a test drive. It was older than our minivan, had almost as many miles, but was in our original price range. We figured as long as it checked out with a mechanic, it would be ok. 

Two friends, both mechanics, looked over the vehicle. It seemed in decent condition. But they both agreed it was an older, well-used vehicle. Costly repairs could be required sooner than later. They noticed a few minor repairs and suggested we ask the seller to take care of those before buying it. 

Matt and I agreed that although it wasn't a great option, it seemed it could get us by, in a bare minimum kind of way.  The seller agreed to making the repairs and we brought all the kids to the lot to see it.

Oddly enough, not one of our kids was content with the vehicle. Even when we explained if we got this vehicle, they'd be able to see their grandparents for the holidays, they weren't sold. 

At first I thought nothing of it. But then more red flags appeared. Our insurance agent couldn't get in touch with the seller to add the new vehicle to our auto policy. Our request for the extra funds we had raised in January to be transferred was denied. When I called to explain the situation, all the funds were there, but could not be released for us to use in one lump sum. 

Thanks be to God, I reached out to my spiritual director. She knew this need for a vehicle for our family had been weighing heavily on me. She also knew it was time to pause and pray together as a family, asking the Lord to guide us with this decision. She suggested our family pray The Memorare once each day for nine days. 

During those nine days we prayed and waited on the Lord. 

We didn't transfer funds or apply for a loan or search for other cars -- as tempting as it was to fix this problem ourselves, we leaned closer to God. 

"Wait for the Lord, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the Lord!"

- Psalm 27:14

On the 9th day I got a call from the woman (now a real friend) with the 12 passenger van. That very day the dealer called her husband with news: Their brand new 12-passenger van was coming in any day. If we were still interested in buying their 2017 model, it would be available for our family.

"Call to Me and I will answer you, 

and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know."

- Jeremiah 33:3

We had no idea that the big white van was even a viable option. 

But God knew.

It took a few more weeks to sort out all the details. 

We picked up the van on the first day of Thanksgiving vacation -- 309 days after we first test drove it. 

The kids are elated. Gwen is 14 months old. For Matt and I, its still rather surreal. 

God isn't in the business of offering the bare minimum or an instant transaction.

God desires real relationship and transformation - both of which require time and trust.

Best of all, we are blessed to celebrate Thanksgiving with both sets of grandparents in Florida.  

And, we are now accepting name suggestions for our big white van. 

(Keep in mind, we favor alliteration: Betty Buick, Debbie Dodge, and Ruby Red have been our faithful automobiles in the past.)