Something fantastic happened to me last week—something that I wouldn’t be so crass as to call a miracle, but it certainly was miraculous, and very once-in-a-lifetime.
A couple weeks ago my car started to make a funny noise. For a moment, I was pretty despondent about it. I tend to take the “maybe it will just go away” approach to such annoyances. And sometimes it works!
But this time, it didn’t. The noise had something to do with my breaks, and it was making me nervous. I was fretting pretty hardcore about paying for car repairs—at the moment, I’m also trying to figure out how to put a wedding together, and maybe get around to getting health care. Fixing my car was not on the list.
Of course, I prayed about it. Not in a “oh God please fix my car” way. But in my usual running conversation with God that plays in my head. I decided I wasn’t going to stress too much about it—no matter that I couldn’t afford to fix it. I mean, what would stressing do to fix the situation?
So, finally I called the dealer to make an appointment. As I was talking with the receptionist, trying to finagle a time I could bring the car, she said, “Hold on.”
And then, she never got on the phone again. Instead, a man got on the line.
“Hi. Is this Lisa?” He said my name like he knew me.
“Yes?”
He said, “I understand you’re having some trouble with the car.”
I gave him the details. Then, the bombshell.
“Well, here’s what’s so amazing,” he said. “Just as you were calling me, I was in the computer, reading your file to get your phone number so I could call you. And I noticed that the receptionist was in your file too, and I realized you were already on the line.”
I was a little nervous. “You were calling me the same time I was calling you? Why?”
He said, “Well, the corporate guys asked me to call around and see if we couldn’t get some of the older models into the shop so they could take a look at how they’re holding up. But here’s the deal—anything that’s wrong with the car…we’ll fix it. Free.”
I couldn’t quite believe it. But he assured me: he was 99.9% certain that if I left my car with them, they’d fix anything that was wrong. So of course, I called in a few favors (thanks David and Erica!) to get my car up there. And I had to leave it for a week.
But, when I went to pick it up, the bill had come to over $1,000—waaaaay out of my budget—but I didn’t pay a dime. They fixed things that I didn’t even suspect were broken, PLUS gave me a free oil change.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, they give me a $50 gift card—a thank-you present to me for letting them look at my car! Talk about wild!
These kinds of things don’t happen very often in life—but when they do happen, it’s amazing. I’ve got this funny little feeling of being taken care of in some special way, and I’m not going to let it go.
Anyway—that’s my story. So, leave a comment to enter my LOVE TO READERS giveaway to win a gift of your choosing! The month is almost over, so get those comments in. Tell me: Have you ever felt like there was an angel on your shoulder?
ALSO, I’ve decided to keep the contest for Judi Fennell’s book open just a few more days—so head over there ASAP and write a note to be entered to win it. I don’t want anyone to miss out!
All love,
Lisa Dale
I feel like there is a certain angel on my shoulder watching out for me. This angel is my husband who died in 2001. I loved the post of My Minor Miracle This Week. I have had many small miracles in this last nine years.
This is not as great but about 2 weeks ago I had my kindle, my precious Kindle, sitting on the coffee table. Well, my son decided to throw my cell to me and lo and behold, guess where it landed? Yup, right on the screen of the much loved Kindle. Yes, the screen was wasted so I called Amazon to find out if they do repairs for them. Nope. However they do offer a replacement plan for them. For 89 bucks I can get a brand new Kindle 2, snce I originally had the original Kindle. Well my laptop had died the week before and had to be replaced so to me this was a miracle. I was sick about trying to come up with another 200 to get a new Kindle or just going without. Well the 89 I could go. So that was my awesome experience this month. I felt like someone was watching out for me. I sure couldnt afford another 100 on top of the 89 but I couldn’t imagine not having my Kindle either.
That is so wonderful, God was really watching out for you. I do believe in miracles and I think this was one. And I’m so glad you got it taken care of before you had an accident with the brakes being involved. Have you got all your wedding plans done ? I’m so glad that both times I got married (been divorced twice too) that they were small simple ceremonies, I couldn’t have taken the strain, I’m not a planner. Well have a wonderful rest of the week. You need to get you one of those car angels to hang around your mirror or put on your visor.
That story is amazing. As a fellow New Jerseyan, I’d like the name of that dealership. My dad is in the market for a new car and it would be nice to deal with reputable people who treat their customers well.
This is a strange story but it did really happen to me..
When I was a little girl, I was very attached to my Grandpa. I would wait for him to get home and he would spend all evening playing with me. Three days before my 6th birthday he had a massive heart attack and died in the gas station he owned. I was heart broken. I was to young to understand why he wasn’t around anymore and the adults at the time were to shocked to explain.
(At the time I didn’t know any of this but this is the part that is unbelieveable.)
MY Pap died on a Sunday morning, but that Saturday evening he was bugging my Grandmother about my birthday. He wanted to get me a gift right then not wait until Monday or any other day or time, he wanted to do it that afternoon. My Grandmother had so much to do she kept telling him” we will, don’t worry ” , but for some reason it was worrying him.
Well the next morning he was gone.
My birthday came and went and I felt it was the worse day of my life with out my Pappy. But as time went on it gets a little better.
about 10 yrs later my Grandmother was going through some old chest and on the bottom of this chest was a small box and a card with my name on them. She knew the writing and called my mother who grabbed me and we went to see what it was.
He meant for the gift to go to me on my birthday that year he died but no one knew about it. The card was a note from him say he loved me very much and that he was going away for a little bit but that he loved me and would always be with me. Also that he knew that everyone would be so sad about him leaving that they would forget to talk to me about him going and that he wanted me to know that is was ok that he was going to visit old friends and that I would see him again someday many years from now and to say Happy Birthday …..I don’t think there was a dry eye in the whole house that afternoon. He thought to comfort a 6 yr old so that I would not be scared and upset when the grownups were trying to get everything else handled.
In the box was a tiny little bracelet with a heqrt on it with my name on it…its my most treasured gift…
through the years I have felt him with me…I was in a car accident that I shouldn’thave walked away but during the accident I felt protected like inside the car was a bubble and nothing could get in it. The outside of my car was gone but the inside was fine.. It was like my car took all the impact and the passenger area just stayed the same…
I even feel I saw him standing next to my newborn daughter on the evening we came home from the hospital. It was late at night I just nursed her and layed her down in the craddle next to my bed and I dozed off . I little later I opened my eyes to check on her and he was standing at the end of the cradle looking at her and smiling, then he was gone.
my guardian angel is always around,,,
Thanks
Heidi
I often feel like I have a guardian angel when I am driving.
Talk about Universe Providing … congratulations, Lisa, and thanks for sharing this uplifting story.
We have a history of breast cancer in our family, in fact we lost a younger
sister to this disease in 1975. Since that time, we have had mammograms
each year. Of the remaining four sisters, I’m the only one who has had to
have breast biopsies for suspicious areas. Three biopsies, three benign
results! I consider that the angel is not just sitting on my shoulder, she’s
taken up residence there and her name is Audry!!!
Pat Cochran
That is a great story I wish I had one – but you never know miracles happen every day and in many different ways.
What a great Universe Gift, Lisa! And Heidi, I can’t even tell you how much your story touched me.
My grandfather’s death story is that he won the lottery the day he died. He always played, but would only hit for like $5 or $10. So, for whatever reason, my grandmother was adamant that we watch the drawing that night and darn if he didn’t win $400 – enough to pay for flowers at his funeral that my budget minded grandmother said we didn’t need. I guess he wanted flowers.
And then, several years later, a stray all-WHITE cat crawled out of a drain pipe in our yard in the middle of a snowstorm and we just happened to see him, we adopted him and named him Kimba. One day he was walking across the yard, meowing for all he was worth to my sister and me. We both looked at him and said, “What do you want, Whitey?” Then we both looked at each other: our grandfather’s name was Whitey and this cat liked to watch me garden – our grandfather was a huge gardener. We had that cat for 7 wonderful years and I still miss him terribly. He wasn’t just a stray cat to any of us.
That was a very uplifting story! I think that we all have an Angel on our shoulder but sometimes we are so busy or so worried that we don’t realize that they are there helping us.
That is such a serendipitous event! I would feel exactly as you did, that an angel was looking out for me. I have had blessed things happen to me, I once avoided a serious car accident by the narrowest of margins.
Long before there were seatbelts I was in a rollover car accident. I was thrown out and if the car had rolled again it would have rolled over me.
Talk about having a guardian angel!
Mine mostly are that I didn’t know something was really wrong with my car & toke it in & they said it Iwas lucky something bad didn’t happen while I was driving it. And also anytime my car brakes down I always make it home first. LOL. Your story is wonderful. That sure saved you a bunch of money.
Thank you, Lisa, for your story; and for the rest of you who have added your own. The events told by Heidi and Judi are especially memorable.
I received Lisa’s write-up in my e-mail box this morning. At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to respond. How could I possibly write about a miracle? In my religion, Buddhism, everything works according to karma. Therefore we don’t have miracles.
But something happened just a few hours later. For the past month I’d been down because I was afraid I’d lost one of my four cats, Archimedes—Arky for short, a black-and-white adult male. He came in for a snack on July 20, then disappeared. He’d always been a wild one, but he would at least come in when he needed food or loving.
Arky had a habit of losing or pulling off his collars. The last time I’d seen him he wasn’t wearing one, and was in such a ferocious mood that I didn’t dare try to replace it. Therefore he was lost without a tag.
I put an ad in the paper, called the local animal control office, and asked my friends and acquaintances to be on the lookout for him. Still, the weeks went by without a sign of Arky.
I reported him lost to my veterinarian and my pet insurance company. I figured he must have gotten sick or injured and passed away, so I included him in my prayers for the dead.
Then suddenly this afternoon a woman in the neighborhood answered my ad. She had Arky; within minutes I got him back. I was overjoyed! I fed him, then took him to the vet for a checkup (he’s fine) and his overdue yearly vaccinations. That made him mad, of course; but it was necessary!
Once we got home I let him go; keeping a wild boy like that in the house would be cruel and unusual. But this time he had a new collar and tag. And a few hours later Arky turned up again. So maybe he’s gotten the message that it’s okay to come home frequently. I’m determined to show him more attention and affection, to give him plenty of reason to want to stick around the place.
How I wish every story about a lost pet could end this happily!
Wow! That is incredible Lisa! Yes, God sure does work in mysterious ways. I have had many miracles happen to me over the years.
I believe this miracle is worth mentioning since it scared the daylights out of my hubby and I. This was a while ago, when my hubby and I were still going to college. Well, anyway, it happened to be a very snowy, winter day and I asked to borrow my dad’s car to drive to school. My dad told me to be very careful and not to get in accident. What a prophetic thing he said!
My hubby and I took classes together so we always drove together. The college is in Westville, Indiana, and is the Purdue North Central campus. As we were driving home that night, which was around 10:00pm at night, we were driving down 421 and almost to the highway exchange of I-94. Just before that is an intersection that used to be a crossover road, now it has a stoplight there. Well, a big SUV was coming up to the highway as I was traveling north on 421. I was driving and my hubby was the passenger. He started yelling to me, “That guy isn’t going to stop!”"Look out!”"Stop!”.
Well, the guy skidded right through the stop sign on the snowy highway, right in front of me, but I gunned the car, swerved around the front end of his car, narrowly missing his front bumper. I never lost control of my car and just kept on driving. Al couldn’t believe what happened and couldn’t believe I missed hitting him. My guardian angel was watching over us that night also! Yes, I believe in angels and God and his awesome powers.
Lisa-that is an awesome occurrence. You do have an angel looking over you. Those things don’t just happen, they happen for a reason and only God knows what that is. Off hand I can’t think of anything that’s happened to me like that but I’m sure it has.
Hope you have good things continue to happen to you.
whoa Lisa! I would definitely call that a little miracle or a lot of luck,lol
I’ve not had anything big like that happen, but once I was reeeally broke, so broke I couldnt afford groceries for the week I had to wait till my next check, and found $40 in my apt. I NEVER leave cash lying around so Im not sure where it came from or how it happened but I was greatful.
That was definitely miraculous. We have had a year with a lot of repairs and the costs can definitely add up.
Holy cow that’s amazing. What great fortune. Did I miss it? What kind of car do you have?
Wait…what? They took care of your car…and gave you a gift card? Holy moly, good grief and where do I sign up? That’s just too great!
Wow, that is a miracle for sure! I don’t often feel like there is an angel on my shoulder but my friend often tells me the story of her angel’s whisper.
She had a part time job a, well sort of, department store and a second part time job at a grocerystore. One day she was talking to her younger colleague, with whom she normally never spoke. They had little in common and now they were having lunch together for the first time. He said: yes he heard they were going to let a few people go (including her!) and they also were in need of a new cashier for a fulltime contract. My friend joked a bit and said, “why don’t they offer me the job?” He pushed her to ask her boss about it and she did. She got an interview and at the same time lost her job at the department store. What was she going to do now???
Two weeks later she got the job as the cashier. It might not seem like a dream job to many but she would have been without an income and is a single mom so it was very much needed. She’s convinced that her angel whispered to her to seek out that colleague who knew about the job.
@Rebecca, I love that your husband is near to your heart all these years later. Thank you for sharing with me!
@Vicki, That’s great news! Score one for Amazon!
@Linda, Still working on wedding plans—picking out a dress is next on the list. But we’re keeping it simple too! Thanks for your kind words!
@Philly Lass, LOL! I drive a little Hyundai. I mean, it’s golf cart. But it keeps on going!
@Heidi, Your real-life story absolutely brought tears to my eyes and gave me goosebumps. I’ve never heard of anything like that before—so, so amazing. You are fortunate in a hundred ways—your grandfather obviously loved you very, very much. It’s amazing how powerful that kind of love can be. Thanks so much for sharing!
@runner10, LOL! Do you live in Jersey too? Here you need one!
@Suzz, thanks hon! Miss you!
@Pat, I’m so sorry to hear about your sister. Thank goodness you’ve been so proactive in staying healthy. I’m sure you sister is watching out for you!
@Audra, Thanks for coming by! That’s what so cool about miracles. They happen when you least expect them.
@Judi, Those are both amazing stories—and sound far too unusual to be coincidental. Call it God or Universe, or whatever, it’s there!
@Rosemary, such a great point. Taking time to be thankful is so important!
@Scorpio, Thank goodness you were safe!
@Estella, Oh my Gosh. Yes—that is definitely a guardian angel moment!
@Sue, You must have a really good relationship with the spirit of your car LOL!
@Mary Anne, I’m so glad you found your cat! My cat when I was growing up was a little wild too—and I just loved him that way. I so glad you had a miracle just in time to tell us the story! Thank goodness your kitty is okay and home safe!
@Michele, Isn’t it funny how you can just have a “feeling” about something like that, the way your Dad had a feeling about your near-accident. Maybe he was meant to say that to you so that you took extra precautions. Thanks so much for sharing!
@Nancy, you are so so sweet! Thanks , always, for your comments!
@Bella F, “Little miracle or a lotta luck.” I like that! Forty bucks is nothing to sneeze at! It must have been elves.
@Maureen, Repairs stink. I hope you’ll get a little miracle of your own
with them!
@Alice, It’s a little Hyundai. When I got it, my girlfriend’s mother, who is Korean, told me “Thank you for buying a car made in my country.” LOL! I just liked the price.
@Kirsten, That is very cool and very fortunate for your friend! Whew! I bet she was relieved. Thanks for sharing!